Ruthless supermarkets the cause of our ‘hunger pains’

WITH our population now at 25 million, how does Australia plan to feed itself into the future?

The government has to seriously address issues around our food supply.

For government to advance financial aid to our farmers is all well and good, but how can this be paid back when they do not have the capacity to repay.

Our producers are under ferocious price pressure from the big supermarkets where their own profit is the only focus.

With their ruthless buying tactics, no consideration is given about the sustainability for suppliers. Supermarkets chew up suppliers and spit them out, they offer no allegiance and no certainty for producers, simply squeeze the lowest price until there is no profit in it for anyone else but themselves.

Financially ruining our producers and forcing them, in many examples, to give up and leave the land. This means fewer producers and far less locally produced food being available.

Forget all the fuzzy feelgood coloured smoke and PR stuff from these juggernaut retailers, they are ruining Australia’s primary production.

It is critical that our government take control of this mess, because it could be that in the near future we will have to import basic staple produce because we stood back and did nothing constructive to protect ourselves.