Sad Truth About Sow Stalls
Animal Housing, Animal Processing, Consumerism, Livestock, Society — by Doron Francis June 17, 2010
by Doron Francis, CERES Food Connect
Sow Stalls, legal in Australia
Recently I was chatting to a bunch of seemingly well informed people about Food Inc the movie. One of the comments made was that the film was about industrial agricultural in the USA, so wasn’t ‘relevant’ to Australians. It’s interesting to see how very little we actually know about where our food comes from, how it’s produced and how we are willing to believe that it ‘couldn’t happen here’. The truth is often obscured because it’s ugly and bad for business.
Comments (2)Shedding Some Light on Food Prices
Commercial Farm Projects, Community Projects, Consumerism, Economics, Food Shortages, Markets & Outlets — by Doron Francis April 9, 2010
by Doron Francis, CERES Food Connect
Food prices have been going up for some time now. According to OECD data Australia has the highest food price inflation in the western world, and, for the first time, Australia is now importing more fruit and veg than it exports. The reasons for this are many: global demand has pushed up prices as populations increase, severe and prolonged drought locally has lead to shortages, demand for oil is increasing whilst production is decreasing and the loss of biodiversity as our land becomes infertile due to unsustainable farming has caused widespread soil erosion, salinity and depletion of water resources.
Australians are spending nearly 20 percent of their weekly household budget on food and the promise of cheap abundant food is diminishing rapidly. Most of us are well aware of the problems, however this isn’t the whole story. Unfortunately food prices are hugely inflated by retailers and middle men. According to the The National Farmers Federation, “producers receive as little as 5 per cent of the price paid by consumers”. The duopoly of Coles and Woolworths enjoy a 87% share of the grocery market allowing them to dictate pricing to producers and inflate retail prices at will.
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