*Locally grown is the way to go*

Pelican, as a consumer you are free to make that decision and buy accordingly.
I certainly don’t buy food from China, for good reasons :)
But everyone can vote with their own wallets.

I had a look in my pantry. Asparagus from Peru, grapefruit from Swaziland,
guavas from South Africa, mangos from Thailand, peas and beans from
Australia. I remind you that Australia is a major food exporter, but we are
good at growing things that can be mechanised, not where there is a high
labour content. With our workers comp, superannuation, payroll tax, etc,
and nobody wanting to do hard yakka anymore, best we do those
things where we have a comparative advantage, with low labour.

Food miles don’t come into it for me. People tell me about those, as they
fly off for their next overseas holiday. Fact is that shipping is an incredibly
efficient way of transporting things. The Kiwis showed that their legs of
lamb, shipped all the way to Britain, were in fact more environmentally
friendly then the local British lamb. Reason being, Kiwi lambs eat grass,
British lambs are stuffed with grains in semi factory farming systems.

Pelican, as a consumer, you forget that you are king. If my local Coles
branch stopped selling Aussie baby peas and baby beans, as I normally
buy, I would soon be complaining to the manager. At the end of the day,
supermarkets have to stock what consumers want to buy, or consumers can
go elsewhere.

Food at the end of the day, is still incredibly cheap. I once saw the American
statistics, its similar here. In the last 50 years or so, its gone from 50% of
the budget to around 10% of the budget. How much food do you eat a
day? A Kg perhaps? At what average cost?

What is expensive is all those processed snack foods, which are full of crap
anyhow. Work it out at cost per kg, you will be amazed. Yet people still
fill their trolleys with them, as they complain about food prices.

You do make some valid points yabby - the consumer is king and when there is choice the consumer speaks but when there is no choice we pretty much get to choose from what is on the self. For example the other day I bought garlic at the local fruit and veg shop and only had the choice between garlic from Argentina and one from an Eastern European country (I forget now which one). I grow a lot of our food where I can but of course in the humble back yard there is only so much room :).

I still hold that locally grown is better all round. This does not mean that some agricultural activities could not be improved like the grain fed lamb in Britain for example.

If a country cannot grow a particular crop because they are in the wrong climate zone then import it or go without, but if it can be grown why not support local industry and farmers? The benefits to the consumer are minimal despite all this free trade. The tin of tomatoes from OS are not much cheaper than, if not equal to the cost of an Australian grown tin tomato despite the cheaper and unmechanised labour. Someone is benefitting but generally not the consumer nor the labour that produced it.

*The tin of tomatoes from OS are not much
cheaper than, if not equal to the cost of an Australian grown tin*

Pelican, I think you miss the point about how the system works.
If it costs 1$ to grow that tin, then right now its being sold
at Coles for say 1.30. Now if there were 300% import
tariffs on tinned tomatoes, the seller would be free to charge
you 4$, as he lacks competition. That’s the problem, with
a small economy like ours, just 20 million, you land up with
lots of little monopolies, who can screw the system. Only
competition can solve that. That’s exactly what we used to
have and it was a disaster. A few people in the “Melbourne
Club” got very rich however, on these monopolies.

So you benefit every day, without even realising it.

As to your garlic, if you want local, then ask your store to
carry it, if you are prepared to pay the price. I read of
a WA family doing very well out of garlic, bought
by people who don’t want imports. Mind you, I think they
are selling it for around 30$ a kg.

That’s exactly one of the reasons why Coles has been
taken over by Wesfarmers. Decisions used to be made
in head office, not always what consumers want. Wesfarmers
let local store managers decide what they carry, so the focus
is back to the consumer being king, which is exactly what good
marketing is all about. You will see huge changes coming up
in Coles stores in the future.

I have no problem with buying locally produced produce, but
I think it should be consumer choice, not Govt compulsion.

If Govts want more local produce sold, they are free to drop
that nasty payroll tax, which is in effect a tax on local production.

Yabby have a look at these links:

http://www.tradewatchoz.org/guide/econ_glob.html

and;

http://www.corporatewatch.org.au/

These sites sum it up better than I could express it.

Also read Naomi Klein's 'No Logo' for an insight into how globalisation, free trade etc does not always produce positive outcomes for poorer countries. This book is heavily biased for sure but makes some excellent arguments if you have the time to read it.

DB,

This is not the first thread wherein you have patronised Foxy. What the...?

FYI, love is not simply Foxy's department. It is supposedly the duty of every Christian, is it not? You post bible quotes regarding love at her with little pat-pat chuckles...she replies by actually living her religion. You treat her as if she is a rather backward child at times, accusing her of "not getting it", and posting little smiley faces ... she responds with common sense.

I asked you once before to check out Paul to the Corinthians in respect to another thread: dig it up again and see if it does not apply to Foxy. And you wonder that you can be thought of as being holier than thou/smug or whatever!

If anyone other than Foxy talks of love you deride them as being lefties, or not true Aussies. Yet the god whom you worship is supposed to be the god of love?

I think most people on this forum have pretty much made up their minds as to which side of the religious divide they are. If, however, there were any waverers, I am almost certain that Foxy, by her example: her kindness, her forbearance, her non-judgementalism, her tolerance and, most of all her love for her fellow beings, would win them over. On the other hand, your constant unkindness to others, intolerance, unconcern, blindness and prejudice, shovelled on with a load of biblical quotes is not much of an adjunct to your proselytising zeal.

Oh, and although I can't speak for Foxy, I would just like to say that if someone were about to molest me and you smote them with your sword I would consider you a murderer, plain and simple. Of course stunning them is the action I would expect from someone who believed " 'Vengeance is mine' saith the Lord."

Ok Pelican, so answer me these questions. Who are the winners and
losers in the globalisation debate?

1. Australian workers, who are paid more then ever before.

2. Chinese and third world workers, who are paid more then
ever before.

3. Consumers who can buy good cheaper goods then ever before.

4. Ex Melbourne Club bosses, who cannot screw consumers anymore
like they used to, so had to find a new way to make a living.

Think about it!