We must act to secure our food supply future
Michael is joined by Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Minister for Agriculture & Resources / Labor’s Federal Member for Hunter, regarding COVID-19 putting a spotlight on the extent to which Australia relies on others to provide the things we consider essential, but tend to take for granted.
Mr Fitzgibbon writes, ‘Last year we imported about $20bn worth of food, and imports are growing. Most Australians would be shocked to learn that up to 95 per cent of pork sold in supermarkets is imported, along with 70 percent of our seafood — and about 25 percent of our dairy products.’
‘Possibly the biggest wakeup call of all is the extent to which we now rely on the importation — mainly from China — of the crop-protection products our farmers need to maintain product volume.’
‘If the supply of those chemicals were cut off our production yields would collapse.’
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