Yes $12 a kg and often more.
No fault of the growers and not the first time.
Cyclones have destroyed the crop and prices have shot up.
NSW ,market days see local grown on sale at $5 but those profits do not go to those who lost the crops.
So like any issue, any one, views are very many in number and very different.
On Land line a grower said producers should consider leaving 5 to 15% on the ground to rot.
To bring prices up.
Others knowing the Philippians could bring them here and sell very cheaply say let them do it.
That is saying let us destroy our industry, but is it any worse than bringing the price up by such means.
I am unsure, but think if either happened it would be wrong for us all.
It however is a miss judgment to tell those you need to support your industry you intend to force them to pay above fair prices.
We need to consider for 40 weeks before this last cyclone prices paid did not equal production costs.
My view.
No fruit rotting on the ground growers should, with government help, demand it! form a buy out and reduce the crop by helping others leave the industry , we pay but fairer.

Belly,

Considering that the majority of those getting $12/kg are farmers in non affected areas, whether we import bananas makes no difference to those that lost their crops, only to the consumers.

I cant see why it shouldn't work just like any industry. If an overseas competitor can do it cheaper then that industry should burn and die.

I'm sick of Farmers getting a license to make a living.

If I made televisions and tried to compete with the Chinese people would say I was insane. But when a farmer does it there is all this 'salt -o- the earth' , 'backbone-o-the-country' type rubbish.

Either you're for globalisation and exploiting cheap labour and cheap fuel costs or you're against it. Why does the sentimental protection of some industries cloud the issue for some.

Is a farmer's job more worthy than a city bloke and his business?

Where are the handouts to city folk who decide to over capitalise and plan only for the peak times and ignore the existence of business risks like draught and floods and fail to adequately protect themselves, diversify or change industries.

What is 'food security' really but a poor rational of imagining war torn conditions and projecting them onto your cause. I'm sure we need 'manufacturing security', or many other 'security's' to make us totally self sufficient in the event a war will break out. Hell, let's stop trading altogether, we don't want to rely on anyone else. See how far that gets us.

Shallow Minister contained in my post was the information, you just gave me.
The $12 up to $15 is going to producers not even in QLD.
Houlie our Bananas are unique,and not a new crop.
We only have one breed and not from seed it is vegetable reproduction.
We, as we do in many things, try to isolate other country's bringing in fresh produce, to protect our stock from rampart disease's.
So ok, you say we dump products and kill our farmers,at least in this product.
We have dumped in the name of world trade other industry's manufacturing is one.
A Cyclone not man bought about these prices.
So what next dairy industry, stop growing apples and import from NZ.
Some balance and understanding is needed.
If we dump we stop our industry, if we continue to over produce but rot some to raise prices?
Cheaper fruits will become a substitute for a shrinking market pears less than $3 now.

Not sure but over heard a report in part that a move to import them is coming up.
Once every kids lunch box had one and it will be that way again.
We gave to the fund to help these folk so why not wait to help them again?
First fruit will be in stores for spring.

Belly ache,

When the local farmers cannot supply the country, then you import for a short time, from countries with approved harvests. Too often this fear of disease is a thinly veiled import barrier.

SM,
You certainly like arguing with Belly and I have had many debates with him also, but frankly what you say about importing produce from overseas is rubbish. If there is the slightest risk that our industry will be harmed by imports carrying disease the answer should be NO.

Like many, I enjoy bananas and as the current price is too high for me to buy I try other fruits and am quite prepared to go without untill the next crop of bananas comes on.

People are not going to starve because the price of bananas is high.

You are simply giving voice to those that dont care about risk to Aussie industry.

I am agast at the ammount of imported produce we have now.

I find myself in agreement with Banjo.

Thought I'd start my post with that announcement - as I usually disagree with Banjo - nothing personal.

I will wait till prices drop - I buy fruit according to season and try to avoid imports.

My only concern is, what if the extreme weather events become the norm? We may need to change where we grow our produce. Just a thought.

We don't actually need to import anything.

Who needs any form of luxury?

Why on earth would anyone need anything of ours?

I agree with Houel.

Do we want to go down the path of no imports? Cause I think you’d have to say don’t buy anything that is exotic to Oz, in fact if you can’t grow it on the balcony of your apartment then you shouldn’t be allowed it anyway.

Why do you import – cause your stuff doesn’t taste as good. It’s why we like Spanish ham, Italian cheese, NZ lamb ad infinitum.

Bananas considered luxury items in Aussie? :P They’re like the perfect food and the ones from Ecuador are nicer… don’t tell the little Aussies cause unless they get to travel it might upset them.

A question then Hollie and Jewerly.
Do we,for much the same reasons stop all forms of welfare including Social welfare.
No for subsidy heath education transport let the markets rule.

Banana farmers income vs health care and education Bellybabe?

It doesn't have to be all one or the other.

The term 'free' trade is a furphy. There is nothing free about free trade under the terms of many agreements especially with clauses which include compensation (paid by local taxpayers) for foreign investors.

There is little genuine oversight over dumping, shadow industries, safety and biosecurity regulations and exploitation of labour. Free trade might benefit one sector of Australian agriculture but greatly damage others. Why on earth would you buy food from overseas that can be grown here and where exists governance around wages, pesticide etc.

The dubious behavior of some countries forcing others to adopt policies that favour a one-sided self interest is the biggest problem. The Wikileaks documents exposed what can only be described as threatening behaviour by some US companies (via government) over accepting GM products and seed into Europe. Some industries, like tobacco, have been known to threaten legal action if domestic policies do not favour certain products including harm minimisation programs.

Do nations have a sovereign right to choose what they import?

The cost of imported food is shown to be no cheaper in the long term especially if you factor in social and other costs to the price. Often prices are the same as locally grown food with cost benefits made by middlemen over the consumer.

If you don't believe in it, don't buy imported food. These issues are not limited to agriculture. The collapse of economies in the West surely act as a warning bell that our economic mindsets need to change.

'Do we,for much the same reasons stop all forms of welfare including Social welfare.'

Hmmm. So your thesis is we should subsidise farmers rather than have them on the dole. Sounds good Belly. We should do this for any business or industry that cant compete internationally. Heaven forbid they start a profitable business or re-skill or move to land that's actually viable for farming.

All call centre businesses and staff should be subsidised by the government as a social welfare for the staff, and for the racist old people who cant understand the correct form of English used by staff in Bangalore.

'What? I live in Straya, what the hell is Aus-tra-li-a!'

We should pour billions into the TV industry in Australia, and then we'd still be able to buy AWA TVs! The cheaper CHina makes them the more we can support the industry via government grants. Then if there's a war, we will always have TV security.

In fact, any business that pours 110% of its profits back into the business, and bases it's viability on governmnet handouts should be bailed out continually no matter how inept or infeasible the business is.

In fact, I'm off to grow mandarins in the desert, and I await the governmnet subsidies for the 'drought' and I will enjoy the sympathetic ear of those city folk who are riding on my back. I will call Myself Mr Backbone. The backbone of the country.

I cant talk I suppose, I'm a working family. The best things to be in Australia is a working family or a farmer. Both groups are untouchable, and live their lives with their hand out reaping governmnet money while simultaneously crying about how hard they've got it and how they're doin' us all a favour.

SM,
Basicly it comes down to risk of introducing disease and we should take ALL steps to keep our products disease free. Phillipines bananas and NZ apples have diseases we do not have so should not import them.
If you seen the conditions some seafood is 'farmed' in Asia you wouldn't eat imported stuff either. Then there has been all sorts of additives put in food in China.

There are some that say if we can get it cheaper bring it in and to hell with the consequences. Lots of our industries have gone down the tubes because of that attitude. We have to look after our own first.
I try to buy Aussie products if possible but is getting harder.

With our wonderfull climate for growing things, there is very little foodstuffs we should need to import and at least we can set our own standards and controls.

I don't care if bananas in Equador are tastier, if there is the slightes chance of importing disesase they can keep them. Some time ago there was talk of importing cooked chook from somewhere. Low risk of disease they said, well yeah, trust me said the used car salesman. Even Chinese toothpaste was contaminated and we found kids clothes were being treated with formulin. Powered milk had ground up plastic in it

Would you buy beef from Indonesia if it was dumped here cheap?

No, and I will wait for the next crop of our bananas.

'We have to look after our own first.'

Really?

I don't understand that position.

I have no more allegiance to an 'Aussie farmer' than to a Chinese one. In fact, a true altruist would support the poorest farmer. So, instead of aid money and charity, we should campaign for people to buy the products of poor overseas farmers and factory workers.

Buying Australian Made is anti-charity, and by proxy is equivalent to a hand out (via overseas aid) rather than work for the dole (by supporting foreign made products).

The Australian Farmer really doesn't need a further free ride.

If bananas could be imported safely would you still oppose it.

The reality is that to import fruit, one has to follow very strict quarantine guidelines, and while there is always some risk, with the proper controls it is miniscule.

The shortage does not benefit the consumer, nor the farmer whose crop was lost, so there is no moral prerogative not to import.

Houlley
Trade can and often does benefit workers in poorer countries but only if the agreements are mutually beneficial. Often one sector does well while another suffers under FTA and two speed economies affect the poorest who may have given up some smaller landholding and a level of self-sufficiency to particpate in globalisation. Then there is the issue of food security.

It is a huge distortion to argue that FT has positive benefits on developing societies in all scenarios and particularly where the relationships are unequal.

This quote best represents my view.

"For the neo-liberal, individuals make rational economic and social choices only through the market. For the statist, the state is the sole custodian of society’s interests, and its decisions their only reliable expression, with or without free elections. While the one ideology seeks to subordinate state to market, and the other the market to the state, what both succeed in doing is subordinating society’s will and the means of its expression. The alternative is that both state and market should be the servants of society rather than society being the servant of either. Whether the next century will be marked by unity and harmony rather than division and conflict depends in no small part on what democracy and citizenship are to mean in the age of globalization." — Brendan Martin, In the Public Interest? Privatization and Public Sector Reform, Zed Books (London), 1993.

Some good perspectives here where this quote was obtained:

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/38/free-trade-and-globalization

Banjo at least you and I sometimes agree.
Jewerly yes same reason we fund health and such national benefits in the long run.
Banjo here is the reason we SM and me do not get on.
I the communist/socialist red under the bed devil, am defending our small businessmen SH is saying let them rot.
I doubt some know of the blight other Bananas carry, and that it could kill our crops, forever.
Or have considered this trade was once controlled in south America by both Mafia and CIA.
Now if we import fresh fruit our trees die or are dug up.
What then if imported prices rise even higher than todays and we no longer produce?
Say we grow coffee but it fails because of imports do we keep growing here or import every thing.
How tell me can conservatives find room to say we should abandon AUSTRALIAN FARMERS.

Houie,
You are stirring again. You do understand.

My allegence is to Australia, not specifically to Aussie farmers.

If our government denies imports because of threat of disease that protects the whole industry. Wholesalers, transport workers, rail, road, forklift operators, office workers, fuel suppliers,maintenance workers, all the first and secondary people associated with or have business with that industry. Similary if the government imposes an import duty on imports, it protects all associated with the industry and the government gets the import duty. There is no subsidy paid to farmers. You seem to think, or imply that there are subsidies paid out to farmers.

Of course we have to look after our own first, the same as others do. Th japs used to buy nearly all our wool, not now they use mainly synthetics and do you think they care that we now only have half the sheep we used to and shearing employees and others are no longer employed. Some countries buy our wheat or coal and if they can get it cheaper elsewhere they will. They care not if we loose or our workers loose jobs and/or their homes.

No, it is not just farmers, it is for Australia as a whole.

Our governments duty is to look after our citizens not promote employment in other countries, which is what happens when we take our business off shore and import goods we can produce here.

While Bananas are extremely expensive.
And we know why.
I am constantly amazed by just how uninformed some are.
Over heard every view from lets import them, show farmers for ripping us off.
To well it is not their fault.
A host of issues exist, do we protect anything, NZ has won a case against us, Apples now can be imported from there, we claim it is dangerous , because of a blight we do not have.
I understand this is not just about prices whole areas, factory packing houses back packer hostels road transport company's, grew on the back of this industry.
We do no good in ignoring the complex question do we grow only foods others can not sell us cheaper.
Free trade/world trade has its detractors, but surely no doubt exists ,on balance our farmers and our country benefits more than not from it.
Right now in food matters
we must look at things like if supplies stop,as a result say of the German problems/war or strikes weather or such, do we suffer.
I think we,in the short term, should not risk, now or ever actually our crops .
But if artificial ways of raising prices gets in the way all bets are off, import.
Hollie loves to stirr,the larikin Aussie thing does not come across well in print always

The price of bananas is ridiculous i havent had a banana in 7 weeks :)

KREE IS A GANGSTAA BIATCHH TRUESKISS!!?? :)

Lost me, American Negro slang when used by them can be harsh, whites even worse.
talking about a man haveing sex with mum.
And that other word?
Hate to be so insecure again hope you grow up ok and soon.

Well killed the thread it was my fault.
I should not have responded to the juvenile kree.
Or done it better.
After all a Monkey without a Banana for 7 weeks must be torture.

Quote from Houellebecq ; “Where are the handouts to city folk who decide to over capitalise and plan only for the peak times and ignore the existence of business risks like draught and floods and fail to adequately protect themselves, diversify or change industries.

It’s called the regulated labour market houellebecq, that’s the handout subsidy that is built into the cost of everything sold in australia, except for agriculture produce. let’s get rid of the labour market subsidy , it’s called free trade, so should be no trouble for free trade believers..

That’s should bring down production costs for farmers a lot, bring it on.

Dunart welcome.
Our Houlie is a quandary, likes to prod us all, often trys humor.
I can not bring myself to believe he actually thinks like that.
If you get an answer it will not be until Tuesday ,he informs us he only posts here while at work, to break the monotony.
Seems some one is supporting his leisure

sounds normal for a urban person on a labour market subsidy, wants the regulated income for less work.
bet the world market would not support that. (one of the reasons they are cheaper)
I say, if the world market is good enough for any section of the Australian economy, then it has to be for all. The principal of “fair go and fair trade”

Hello dunart I like your idea

Get government out of people’s pockets and leave them to live on the consequences of their own effort

I agree we have too much money-go-rounding with middle class and corporate welfare

Cut it all out

Let the market prevail and leave government to simply regulate against corruption, like anti-monopoly actions etc.

All that government do is tax the industrious to subsidise the indolent –

and socialist governments are worst of all, wanting to tax the air we breath (or at least some of its constituent compounds), without proper economic regard for the consequences of their meddling, based on a discredited theory founded in lies and scare campaigns (Global Warming)

Like dearest Margaret Thatcher said a few years back

"The bigger the slice taken by government, the less cake is left for everyone."

Better we leave money in the pockets of those who earned it and let them decide how they should spend it… and it would save a lot of taxes presently needed for bureaucratic meddler paypackets – like the wasted millions being spent on the mob run by Garnau

Dear old Margarete, have the fondest memory's of her.
The day her party dumped her she was at her best that day.
we need a closer look my new poster here , a very real fear exists about importing a diseases that very well could kill our crop forever.
Australia stands very well for its distances away from other country.
In past days we did not get some very bad plant illnesses.
Any [only a miracle stops us due to travelers smuggling fruit and plants, then being flogged with a wet feather] infestation threaten our food chain.
It may well be true farmers may be using this , but lets not drop our boarder protection if doubt exists.

Yes indeed, Col.

>>Like dearest Margaret Thatcher said a few years back "The bigger the slice taken by government, the less cake is left for everyone."<<

Such a pity she didn't believe in it enough to turn it into government policy, wasn't it?

When the divine Margaret came to power, the slice of GDP taken by the UK government in "net taxes and national insurance contributions" was 33.4% of GDP

When she was finally prised out of her chair eleven years later, the figure was 35.9%, an increase of 7.5 percent. And in 1984-5, it actually reached 38.7% - a level straight out of the socialists "tax and spend" handbook.

Here's the whole gory story, if you have the patience to download the government's own statistics. It's a spreadsheet, so you might need your wife's help to understand it.

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/A/9/pfd_210808.xls

Amazing what a bit of spin can do, if you repeat it often enough, eh.

Cols admiration for the old girl is something I share in one way.
Her insulting British construction workers, letting non trade do their work sent many good folk here.
I got to know some great ones.
Apart from that, unkind to think about the gutless attempt to murder her, her being removed is my favorite memory.
Say Col did you come here at that time.
PS market day tomorrow 5 bucks for my bananas might just get some

Ah Belly “Dear old Margarete, have the fondest memory's of her.
The day her party dumped her she was at her best that day.’

Of course, she was “dumped”, as you so enviously put it, after being the Prime Minister of GB continually from 1979 to 1990, the longest continuous incumbent of the office since 1827.
So Belly, please tell us - how long did the leaders of the Australian Socialists survive their back stabbing partners in political crime?

Well Hawke was the longest – 8 years 9 months and 9 days – before being stabbed in the back by the scurrilous mortician, Keating.

Keating in turn failed to find favour with anyone, least of all his wife who gave him the boot as soon as he lost the job -

when he was "terminated" by John Howard

John Howard as a Liberal, sat in the seat for 11 years, 3 years more than the Labor record holder.

But even that splendid attendance was second only to another Liberal, Bob Menzies.

Actually, Belly when we look at the records for the Socialists, we find they feature, less as the longest holders of office, more as the shortest

For instance, even the brief and disastrous tenure of that Arrogant socialist pig, Whitlam. 2 years 11 months and 7 days before being head-butted out of office by the then governor General – in a sober moment was not the shortest

The shortest prime-minister ship was the 8 day run of Francis Ford back in 1945 – who got his stabbing done by Chifley

And we then have dear old Milky-bat kid, Kevin 07 who was royally carved by Julia

Being a dyed-in-the-wooly socialist, belly, I wonder how you dare comment on the tenure-ship of political office when the labour party both in UK and in Australia has a history of back-stabbing and expedient execution of leader in a way Joe Stalin would be proud of.

But the demise of labour party prime ministers is not the worst of things…. What is the worst of things is their undeniable incompetence in office.

Good morning Col, see you are in fine form this morning nasty and much as usual.
Comrade, thought you would like that, my party has Socialist terms in its current statements but ignored believe me.
However your joy in being uniformed is such that I will not take your toys away.
Did not get my Bananas yesterday, it was a Col day, wet windy, totally unpleasant.
Maggy Thatcher like come to think of it.
Have you Col, come Friend smile or I will tickle you, any sympathy for Mr Thatcher have to live all those years with her?

Her departure was indeed accomplished somewhat ungraciously, Col, that much is true.

>>Of course, she was “dumped”, as you so enviously put it, after being the Prime Minister of GB continually from 1979 to 1990, the longest continuous incumbent of the office since 1827.<<

But someone had to stop her tax-and-spend ways. She was acting just like those nasty socialists. Just check that spreadsheet again.

Oh, I forgot...

5 maybe 6 weeks Bananas will be back,good luck to those growers who have done it so hard for so long.
Let us leave the idea of letting fruit rot to keep prices up die however.
A Banana in every kids lunch box soon.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/bananas-safe-after-kidnapping-20110622-1geml.html
Hang on!
Not that bad.

*if you can’t grow it on the balcony of your apartment then you shouldn’t be allowed it anyway.

Posted by Jewely, Tuesday, 7 June 2011 12:08:59 PM*

A very good point Jewely!

Ours are hidden at our city property because it the local council see them there is a fine and there are removed. Same as our farm but its not policed like city areas.

The fines for growing them are huge- all while they want to import and risk disease.