No 462 - Monday's Club Notes

The “Club Notes” for Monday, the 17th of March, 2025.

By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

A false floor

We wrote a story about tariffs on Friday and how we can't be worrying about something that hasn't happened yet. A subscriber sent me this: "It's interesting Dwain, in regards to tariffs. I'm no good with exact dates, etc, but as I remember it, we were all happily going along at around $700 for Lentils. India imposes a tariff, and they drop to the high 500s. Very few sell, the price drifts just north of $600. A few sell. Many like us don't sell a Lentil Harvest for 2 years. The tariff was lifted, and prices went north of $800, and sort of settled. It feels like now, very few will sell for less than $800. India just taught us that they are capable of paying north of $800, and if they hadn't imposed the tariff, maybe we would have never known that". What he is saying here is a tariff might have unearthed what buyers can actually pay for Lentils. So, this is where sellers can shift themselves from uninspired price takers into much-admired price makers. If only a very few sell Lentils below $800 a tonne, then they create what we will call a false floor in the market, which means that the buyers know they have to be above this to buy anything. I know it's tough to get everyone to conform to a minimum price in an industry because there are so many differing circumstances, but it may be a way an industry can pool together and demand a great price. Easier said than done. Do you know an example of this? Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

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What’s in the paid section today:

Story 2 - There has been a significant drop in Mechanic Apprenticeships from 12 months ago……

Story 3 - Starting a clean-out-the-Dams fund……

Number of articles and images - 68 snippets of valuable Farming and Ag info and news, including 26 funnies and 6 just sayings.

Number of Farmer replies - 6 in total.

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