Farmers operating under supply - management boards
in the Canadian dairy, chicken and
other protected agricultural sectors can be expected to offer justifications for the market power that enables them to sell their wares at prices substantially higher
than in most
other countries.
That this House: (1) notes with concern the impact on the Dairy Industry of the Coles milk pricing strategy and that: (a) dairy
farmers around the
country are today seriously questioning their future having suffered through one of the worst decades
in memory including droughts, floods, price cuts and rising cost of inputs such as energy and feed; (b) unsustainable retail milk prices will, over time, compel processors to renegotiate contracts with dairy
farmers and the prospect that these contracts will be below the cost of production may force many to leave the industry; (c) the fact that supermarkets are now selling milk cheaper
than many varieties of bottled water will be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back for many dairy
farmers; and (d) the risk of
other potential impacts includes: (i) decreased competition as name brands are forced from the shelves; and (ii) the possible loss of fresh milk supplies to some parts of the
country as local fresh milk industries become unviable; and (2) calls on the Government to: (a) ask the ACCC to immediately examine the big supermarkets and milk wholesalers after recent price cuts to ensure they do not have too much market power and are not anti-competitive
in their behaviour; and (b) support the new Senate inquiry into the ongoing milk price war between the
country's major supermarket chains».
Farmers in the Near East — what is today Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and neighboring
countries — began cultivating plants and herding animals about 8000 B.C.E., but there are no signs that they used animal dung for anything
other than as fuel for fires.
At the beginning of the century the opening of the Panama canal increased interested on the Central American
countries, and a knock on effect of that saw a number of
farmers and
other land owners settle
in Costa Rica, but for its natural resources rather
than its long sweeping white sand beaches.