There is little doubt that the introduction of the National Competition Policy (NCP) in the 1990s has created significant benefits in the Australian economy and provided value to consumers through lower prices for goods and services, new products, and innovation. However, the introduction and execution of competition policy has not…
Summer 2020: Are competition measures delivering farmers a fair go?
Home » Shop » Farm Policy Journals » Summer 2020: Are competition measures delivering farmers a fair go?
View cart “Summer 2020: Are competition measures delivering farmers a fair go?” has been added to your cart.
Summer 2020: Are competition measures delivering farmers a fair go?
$60.50
Five years ago, the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper noted ‘a fairer go for farm businesses’ as a priority action area. This year’s AFI John Ralph Essay Competition asked respondents to consider whether current competition measures are delivering that promised ‘fair go’. The submissions covered an intriguing range of ideas and responses, with one clear emergent theme: competition policy in Australia is not serving agriculture well.
Competition measures, malfunctioning markets and the ‘fair go’ provide an almost-endless source of discussion in agricultural economics policy. Stories about power imbalance and monopolistic (or monopsonistic) behaviour invoking the classic David and Goliath battles make for engaging narratives. While there are many examples of poorly functioning markets which have had a significant impact on farming businesses and industries, once the ‘big versus small’ dichotomy is removed and a more dispassionate analysis is performed the topic proves itself wickedly complex.
The two winning essays – Open and Novice categories – bookend this edition of the Farm Policy Journal. Fittingly, the Open category winner for 2020 is Chief Economist and General Manager Trade for the National Farmers’ Federation, Ash Salardini. Novice category winner Michael Wellington is a PhD student at the Australian National University. The AFI congratulates the 2020 winners along with Emma Scholz, Pete Mailler, Alexandra Lobb and Danielle Captain-Webb for their thought-provoking, and sometimes challenging, takes on this byzantine topic.
In promising ‘a fairer go’ for Australian farmers as a headline priority, the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper represents a statement of intent by government that family farming businesses should continue to form the backbone of Australia’s agricultural production. The headline also contains an implication that the first two decades of…
The short answer is no. Now I could wax lyrical about issues of consolidation, oligopolies and market asymmetry, but inevitably the contest of ideas around neoliberal economic theory and trade liberalisation just gets bogged in a boring ideological fervour and achieves little in changing entrenched positions of the proponents on…
Competition policy and Australian agriculture have come a long way. It is hard to believe that less than 30 years ago Australian agriculture was subject to anti-competitive market arrangements including statutory marketing boards. National Competition Policy reforms in the mid-1990s and early 2000s dismantled market distortions and Australian agriculture began…
The Australian primary production industry has often been championed as a cornerstone industry in the Australian economy. However, market based competition principles frequently see the industry suffer as unconscionable and unethical practices often result in a race to the bottom at the expense of primary producers. Australia’s identity attempts to…
Australians value the spirit and notion of a ‘fair go’. The phrase is the catchcry of national egalitarianism and is bandied by policy-makers as a result. The prioritisation of a ‘fairer go for farm businesses’ in the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper should thus have come as no surprise. The Paper…
Related Products
Published 18 Dec 2020
Farmers can suffer significant economic consequences from land use conflict. However, this research shows the most severe impacts from these disputes are largely non-financial. In key informant interviews conducted for the study, mental health, social and physical amenity, industry decline and erosion of trust emerged as the primary impacts of…
Published 14 Dec 2020
From Dec 7-11th 2020, the AFI and the Sydney Institute of Agriculture hosted a series of conversations about the future of conservation ag. The online conference is available as a webinar series of 5 x 2-hour videos (10 hours total) – FREE for AFI members and $49.50 for non-members. (Members…
Published 1 Dec 2020
Early in 2020 the Australian Farm Institute undertook a research project on behalf of the National Farmer’s Federation for Phase 1 of the Australian Farm Biodiversity Certification Scheme, which is a component of the Australian Government’s $34 million Agricultural Stewardship package. This project reviewed best practice management standards and collated extensive feedback…