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50 Business View Australia - July 2015
our goods and an example of this
is where Parmalat or Brownes or
someone else is processing the
milk before it gets to the retailer.”
Environmental
impact of farming
An issue which is coming to the
fore in Western Australia is the rising
salinity of the land and its impact on
farming. This phenomenon has long
term implications and it requires
the combined energies of the
government, farmers and other stake-
holders to find a workable solution.
Commenting on the issue Dale Park
says, “Dry land salinity has been a
real problem and the whole art of
broadacre agriculture is to try and farm
products cheaper and cheaper but
not do damage to the land and keep
the land in good condition for the next
generation which is where we have
a lot of problems with bureaucracy.
We take a generational look
at what’s happening, whereas
the politicians are too busy and
interested in just the electoral cycle
of four years for the state and three
years for the federal elections.
We are constantly battling our
longer term view with the short
term view of the government.
In fact, some corporations have a six
month view and they see only what
happens till the next reporting period.
That’s a constant battle that we have.
Our members are interested in making
sure that we have got something
to pass on to the next generation.”
Supportingfarmers inevery
aspect of their operations
WAFarmers is an organisation which
has reinvented itself during its century-
long existence but its prime focus
of supporting the farming industry
Dale Park
ASSOCIATIONS