this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
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Finally watching the Four Corners piece on Woolworths and Coles, and nice to hear the farmer talking about how much of a hold both stores have on the farming community. I come from a farming (beef and bananas) family myself and I've seen first hand the damage they do by being the only option for farmers to sell their produce.
Also howling at the CEOs, they really don't give a single fuck, and they aren't even hiding it.
My old mans doing the whole "hobby farm" retirement things. I say retirement but he'll still be trying to install shit as they lower him into the ground. Anyway. So went to a lot of stock yards and stuff to buy his like 2 cows and 3 sheep or whatever. Said farmers were selling livestock below cost and in some cases animals who couldn't be sold were killed rather than continue to basically starve them, cause the cost of feed was soring.
As much as Woolies and Coles are to blame (and lets be VERY clear: They are!) Why were the media not calling this shit out?! Is it not the responsibility for journalists to investigate this shit? If "Cattle killed because cant be sold for next to nothing whilst Coles beef prices skyrocket" was the headline of the age, questions would be asked without the need for a royal bloody commission or whatever.
I think it's more to do with the consumer is everyone, the farmer purchasing feed is not.
You're right in that it should be a huge discussion point, but at the end of the day everyone has to go shopping for groceries, so that's the story we're going to focus on.
The farming lobby has had no problem diverting attention away from farming practices that have been destroying the environment the past 100 years. iow, they know how to get a story across.
I think the exact problem here is that it's market gardeners who have problems with supermarkets and market gardeners are family businesses and have little power and voice.