The Farmers Club

The “Club Notes” for Monday, the 22nd of April, 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

The great divide

It’s been an ongoing love/hate relationship. I’m talking about the relationship between Farmers and Processors. We all know supermarkets have blood on their hands when it comes to price gauging at Farmers expenses. But the one in the middle, the processor, can rile the Farmers to the point of making them angry with their actions; here’s an example: “Had Merino Wether lambs booked into the Processor at a good price. Straight off a Bean Stubble weighed up well and sent off. The kill sheet came back, and they reckoned all the Lambs under 24kg dressed weight didn’t have enough cover, so they paid us over $1/kg less, and for the rest, they paid us 10c/kg less than we contracted them at. Took $10/head off a b-double load. What could we do? Agent rang up and argued the case, but the Processors just did what they wanted”. The divide is real, but it’s typical of dealings in Ag, where one organisation's gain is another one's pain. At points in time, the Processors make huge margins when prices are low, and at other points in time, it's the Farmers that win when prices are high. But you know what the funny thing is? Both parties need each other. How can we get along better? As a farmer, how do you view the Processors and vice versa if we have any Processors in the audience? Reply to [email protected]

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