Image by Getty Images via @daylifeOutback Australian farmers - hardened from dealing with extreme weather, fires
and pests - now have to wrestle with modern trading tools and technology after a
tough day tilling the land as they adapt to the rigors of a deregulated
market.
For many, especially older farmers facing a bewildering host of new choices,
the changes mean they may miss out on the best prices or even come under
pressure to sell up to bigger farmers or foreign investors.
Farmers visited during a Reuters crop tour in eastern Australia last month
had mixed feelings on the ending of the monopoly held by the Australian Wheat
Board (AWB), which meant they now had to keep close tabs on day-to-day global
prices.
Wayne Dunford, 60, who grows wheat near Parkes in central-west New South
Wales state, said many farmers faced an uphill task coping with the new
system.
"They're not used to things like forward selling, futures and hedging,
preferring the old system where they just delivered to the wheat board under the
single desk system," said Dunford.
Some older farmers were also less technologically savvy than younger farmers
or lacked the business skills required to market wheat on their own after the
single desk system ended three years ago.
For nearly 60 years until 2008, AWB had sole marketing rights over the
country's wheat export sales.
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