Where's the transition industry policy for agriculture in Australia?

It's a sign of the times when newspaper headlines refer to something that went viral on social media. I think back to my journalism studies and it was never envisaged within the definition of news. We were still dealing with the dog bites man/man bites dog paradigm.

Because of personal circumstances, I've been taking a particular interest in the commercial realities and challenges of agriculture in Australia and I came across this article in the Toowoomba Chronicle: Darling Downs Vet's "corporate terrorism" blast goes viral.

It's well written, coherently argued and raises some striking points.

There's also last week's announcement from one of the big four banks of a 12 month moratorium on penalty interest and foreclosure action against drought affected farmers. None of the others have followed.

This prompted me to think about these problems from a public policy point of view.

Living in Melbourne (or any city) it's easy to forget about what it's like to be on a farm during drought. It's one of the most depressing and soul destroying things you can experience. The endless blue skies, unblemished by clouds, become oppressive, rather than welcome. A few years ago when Melbourne was in drought, people complained about water restrictions that meant they couldn't water their gardens every day. On a farm, vegetation disappears and the ground is just bare dirt. Animals are skin and bone. Everything is covered in dust. Hope is burned away under the relentless sun.

Not only is there no water or vegetation, there's no money. Income dries up too. We might feel the impact with an increase in food prices, but they'll creep up without being noticeable.

This image is from the Bureau of Meteorology and shows areas that have had below average rainfall in the last two years. Those red areas are Australia's prime farming areas. From their website: www.bom.gov.au

As I've watched my family's (mis)fortune on the land, I've come to the conclusion that farming, grazing, and any agricultural business is a mug's game. The investment required is enormous and the conditions required for a return - even to break even - are completely uncontrollable. The weather is central, yet is so uncertain. What other business has this challenge as central to its standard operating procedure? Add to this the impact of climate change and "free market" agreements which make market conditions even more difficult the need to borrow money is the only thing that's certain. Banks will lend it too, but have no tolerance for the natural vagaries of the industry. Call it corporate terrorism or at the very least, it's the modern equivalent of the unctuous snake oil salesman or travelling tent evangelist. The hands go out to take the money, but there's no one there when you need help.

One of the things we take for granted in the city is the ability to go to the supermarket and buy whatever food we want. Some of us are conscious about origin and try to buy local, but anyone who has ever tried to buy Australian garlic will know how hard this can be. We have a secure food supply. I don't think its continuity is assured. As more farmers are forced off the land and fewer people take it up, the real question is "who will grow our food"?

My Dad talked to me the other day about how his father was able to raise a family of four on a reasonably small farm. That's not possible anymore. What surprises me is that this is an industry going through the kind of transition that the automotive manufacturing went through in Australia, yet the support for the people who have no choice but to leave is just not there.

One bank promising not to foreclose on drought affected farmers for 12 months is not going to cut it. Where's the comprehensive public policy response? There isn't one. Farmers aren't sexy in the way cars are. They're also not concentrated in particular towns. Most regional towns and villages in Australia feel the flow on effects when the farms surrounding have no money to spend. While 12 months might bring welcome relief for farming families who are affected, it does nothing to solve the problem. What happens at the end of the 12 months? Farm debt will have grown even more and the capacity to pay still won't be there. Perhaps the banks hope that the issue will have faded from public view and they can quietly go about the business of evicting families.

The other aspect is the actions of the supermarket duopoly which distorts the market and puts further pressure on farmers.

Food is pretty important. A safe and reliable food supply is critical. It might be hard to imagine these are under threat, but without a comprehensive public policy response, we're in trouble. Some may argue that the market is operating as it should and weeding out inefficient businesses. That's probably true, but there are plenty of examples where a pure market response has been abandoned and the government has intervened.  Surely feeding the nation in a secure, sustainable way is a priority.

ETA: Today's Daily Telegraph newspaper has a comprehensive story and photographs about the situation in Walgett in NSW's west.

The Commonwealth Bank is running an appeal. Donations can be made here.

PINs, passwords & access codes -- gone walkabout.

My PIN for my ATM card went out of my head yesterday when I was buying some groceries and getting some cash out.  It just left.  I felt it go actually.  I could remember the first 2 digits and after than it all went wobbly.  I nervously tried four numbers and stared at the terminal, expectant.  I was wrong.  I tried another combination - same number but in a different order.  No luck.  I decided not to try again.  Perhaps I'd remember in the middle of the night.

So today, I tried again, with completely different numbers, feeling so certain they were correct.  This time I did exceed my allowed number of attempts.

I rang the bank.  Because it's linked to my business trust account, resetting the PIN over the phone is not possible.  I have to have a new one sent out in the mail.  I am pretty sure I know what it is now and apparently I can try again after midnight because the card resets.  I hope I've remembered it and am not just falling victim to a dose of wishful thinking.

I wonder what makes something like a PIN just walk out of your brain?  It's not like this is a new number.  It's been sitting in there since 2008.  Embedded is what I thought it was.  Just goes to show you can't relax about things like this.  I think I'll need to devise a drill where I run through all of my PIN numbers and passwords on a regular basis.  How regular though?  I can't afford the time to do it daily!  There are so many access codes these days.  I added a new password during the week and it obviously pushed the PIN out.

Do the gates of heaven - or hell, for that matter - have a PIN or passcode? I imagine it turns up in the mail 7 to 10 business days before it will be required in one of those anonymous business envelopes.  They send them like that for security purposes, but everyone knows that envelopes like that have the access code for some kind of money or information in them.

I imagine that one might arrive at the gates of the afterlife in a somewhat flustered state, with a lot riding on your ability to punch the code in correctly.  How many attempts do you get? What happens if you're still wrong on the third attempt?  Or is this the modern definition of purgatory - spending eternity trying to remember the perfect combination of numbers to allow the door to be unlocked?  Imagine never being able to remember but being condemned to trying for ever! Two days of trying has been more than enough for me.

One day we'll just be embedded with a barcode or something.  I think I might get one.

It really does make the world go 'round.

We all need it.  Most of us wish we had more of it.  Sometimes we fight about. We're happy to get it and some people are happy to give it.  We use it most days.  I'm talking about money.

On my way home today I left the city from Flinders Street Station.  It was the first time I had travelled in peak hour in a while and I was amazed at the number of people crammed into this space.  As I descended to the platform on the escalator my mobile phone rang.  I was talking on the phone as I walked along and I noticed a man and a woman coming towards me.  They seemed to be sizing me up and as they approached they closed in on me until they were standing directly in front of me and I couldn't easily pass.  They started to talk to me about their need for money with no regard to the fact that I was actually in conversation with someone else.  I realised later that I had stopped listening to the person on the other end of the phone because I was assessing my personal safety.  When I realised that the two people were no threat to me, I merely walked between them.  I looked back to see they had already found their next quarry.

On this evening's television news, three of the top stories were about money, but angles were all really different.

Firstly, there was the news that workers in the community sector in Australia have been granted a significant wage rise by Fair Work Australia.  The basis of the claim was that workers in the sector were not being paid equally, when compared to other workers doing similar jobs in other industries because they were predominantly women.  If you're into the detail, you can read the decision here.  

I've worked in the community sector (as a fundraiser for an organisation supporting people suffering from a particular disease) and I know that I was being paid significantly less than what I would have been paid if I had been doing the same work in another sector.  Some of this was offset by the ability to salary package and receive a significant tax benefit, but not to the extent of the increase brought into effect by this decision.

The story started by explaining the decision, then focussed on a particular young woman and what the decision would mean for her.  Next it reported on what a dissenting member of the full bench said when they ruled against the majority.  Predictably, next were the reactions of employer groups.  Now there's a headline, I thought: Bosses rail against pay rise.

In stark contrast, was the story of the former owner and boss of Grenda Buslines, Ken Grenda, who sold his family owned bus company for $400million.  He gave $15million of it to staff, recognising the people working there as being critical to the success of the business.  This brought a tear to my eye.  The footage of workers talking to their boss (and about their boss) was moving.  So were the stories of how the significant amounts of money had arrived when it was badly needed.

In particular, I was impressed when Mr Grenda said that many of his employees had been with the company for all of their working life and he felt some responsibility for them, apart from the fairness of rewarding their service and loyalty.  You can read that story here.  It's hardly surprising that the company has been so successful!

What a great point of contrast with the bosses opposed to the pay rise granted to community service workers.

Lastly was the story of 10,000 more people joining the biggest class action in Australia's legal history as  Bank SA and St George Bank were joined to the action against bank exception fees.  A classic story of the little people joining together to fight something that banks have long held as non-negotiable.  You can read more here.

So, there was a lot of stuff about money today.  Hardly surprising really.  Ken Grenda stands out for me and I loved the way this ordinary looking bloke, who seemed genuinely humbled by the attention, showed what being a leader and a boss is all about.  Pass me another hankie.