I'm not very knowledgeable about the agri-sector. Hasbeen seems to have some interesting practical information-

There used to be some employment agencies that organized workers for farms in different cities and also helped with transport. I found the farms themselves to be criminally careless about safety- in one case someone with a sore back was told that they needed to train their back muscles up. Both the farms and the farm helpers are price takers- sounds like a race to the bottom- sometimes helpers get free produce as a great side benefit. But there are issues in the agri-sector I'm not sure how to solve. Usually these sorts of problems are solved by analyzing the business processes and through-puts. Some ideological groups perhaps want to see us less self sufficient to their advantage.

In regards to Hasbeen's interesting comments-

If perhaps the tomatoes and fruit were bottled into paste- citrus into juice- there would be less waste, also dried tomatoes/ fruit which produce better prices- but the government "red tape" around packaged food is different than fresh.

I suspect that expeditiously scattered bottling and drying facilities could stop waste crops- especially at the moment when many keep stocks of non-perishables- when trucks may not run as expected due to restrictions. I haven't seen much concentrated orange juice here for example- but in the US appears to be very common.

The Coles/ Woolworths duopoly also plays a role in the agri-sector.

Maybe they could run some chickens or other animals in with the crops- to keep the fertilization costs down- and reduce reliance on transport and supply networks- probably wouldn't work- but that's what I'd try.

The current restrictions demand that different resources are available and so different practices may be required.

Regarding Hasbeen's comment on fruit fly- I heard somewhere that pests are harder to control in the tropical zone rather than seasonable climates.

Somebody recently said that they and some kids put up some netting to protect the lemon tree from the birds- not sure how effective it will be.

On similar vein, I'm pretty browned off with the Australian business class. Their latest lurk has been to start a rumour that there will be shortages this Christmas, so buy, buy, buy now so you don't miss out. A couple of days ago they started chirping about the 'best November ever'. All the drongos have believed them, panicked, and started buying up - probably on After Pay. It's not hard to con people who rush to buy toilet paper when they hear the word 'lockdown'.

Australian businesses, including agribusinesses, are about as trustworthy as politicians these days.

The clocks just been turned back 150 years. In the days of beché de mer, Pearl shelling & Cane cutting they brought in Pacific Islanders by force, through visa applications or whatever other ways there were to get workers in. Now they're doing it again.
Talk about progressive regress !

Paul1405,

There will be more robots picking fruit into the future. We can't afford to pay too much (across the board) or people will simply be 'priced out'.

http://youtu.be/3vAKuWUQb0I

Canem Malum I grew up on a peach, nectarine & grape orchid in Young NSW. Thankfully no fruit fly down there. Our problems were fungicide spray required weekly, & hail storms which would wipe out an entire years income in 20 minutes.

Birds are a big enough problem for small crops or fruit tree crops, without introducing chooks as well. You would need a lot to fertilise a 50 acre small crops or tomato farm.

The idea of preserving crops is nice, but running any sort of farm today requires specialisation & a lot of hours work. A mate had a dairy farm, & kept some pigs to utilize any excess skim milk. His son did the math & found it cost more in labor to raise the pigs than they earned.

Dairying has become so unprofitable that he & his son, alone were milking 150 cows, maintaining a 300 head breeding herd, working from 5.00AM to 600PM 7 days a week for less income each than a labour would earn. They sold some of the herd, but gave most away, no one wanted dairy cows, subdivided 100 acres, & now live comfortably. The son has gone to uni, vowing never to work on the land ever again.

Another mate had an apple orchard at Bilpin. About half their fruit went to a local cannery. Lousy return for hours worked. They sold & went back to teaching.

The 10,000 acre farm across the river from me lost 7 kilometers of fencing in the last flood. Replacing it cost 2 years profit. They sold to Japanese interests last year.

The only "farmer" I know who is doing well is a bee keeper, who owns no land, & uses other peoples properties for his hives, & a shearer. He sells sheep as pet lawn mowers to city folk, & contracts to crotch, pest treat, & sheer the sheep. His wool sales are quite profitable.

With the price of meat graziers should be doing OK, but I don't know any of them well enough to ask.

Thanks Hasbeen for your reply.

I've been making jerky which I've noticed sells for good per kilo prices- of course I'm not allowed to sell it due to "red tape"- it takes about a quarter of the space- but I still keep it in the freezer.

It's tragic to see a business go to the wall.

We were once able to get a side of lamb for pretty reasonable prices before we exported it. Now it's $35kg or more for some cuts.

I suspect that the supermarket duopoly gets most of the profits these days- they have some pretty impressive contracts- not sure what Ayn Rand would think of their "all or nothing" contracts. If farmers were able to form a local co-op fund to set up a shop- city folk might be willing to travel for a side of lamb or two. Though less people have deep freezers these days. Of course these would need to be marketed correctly- maybe someone could "take orders" for the co-op at the country markets.

Yes- I understand the need for farmers to focus on their core.

I try to come up with solutions rather than complaints but must admit that the problem has gotten worse over the years.

If I was a diary farmer I'd be looking at investing in a "drum dryer" to make powdered milk again perhaps through some sort of co-op- then you can sell when the price is high- but again lots of government "red tape". Surely with modern testing machines farms and independent labs should be able to put a packet past the "test strip" once a day or month without too much government interference. There seems to be a prevalence of non-productive jobs appearing to regulate the strangulation of industry.

Thanks again Hasbeen for your feedback. Kudos.