Tony Perret’s vision of $30 million of agricultural production (GT 24/1/25) may sound good, but in the absence of viable paying markets, it could become a very expensive failure.
It should be remembered that, even after deregulation ,Queensland had as thriving and productive Dairy industry with multiple factories employing thousands of people directly and indirectly.
That industry embraced all of technical and educational concepts that Tony now promotes, and it was efficient and productive.
So why does Queensland now have a mere remnant of that once great industry?
Simply because there was not a viable paying market for the extra milk, most of which ended up as powder on the export market.
Current commodity returns to the producer indicate that most primary production markets adequately supplied, and will be so for the foreseeable future; so unless there is a big change on the marketing side, more products will become scarce and more expensive, eggs for example, and any plan to increase agricultural production is little more than a feel good political stunt.
