There's the 'C' word. It's been popping up across most major news outlets and prompting outrage, sometimes rightfully so, around the country for most of the year.
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I don't believe anyone was surprised when agriculture, specifically wine and barley, took a major blow over the last month or so, considering that as a nation we have steadily increased our dependency on our Asian exports.
It's also no surprise that Australia has lashed out and condemned tariffs and trade disagreements that have been coming across from the Indo-Pacific.
Now I'm certainly not an expert on foreign diplomatic relations or advanced trade negotiations but I can say with reasonable certainty that neither nation has dealt with the issue in a way that will end up benefiting anyone.
Regardless of who is in the right or wrong, I believe the current situation calls for a much deeper look into the reason why Australia has been placed in a position where 39 per cent of our exported product goes to a single source, one that has been reasonably volatile for decades and has never really seen eye-to-eye with our values and morals.
The simple saying "don't put all your eggs in one basket" would have to be the easiest way to explain the conundrum we find ourselves in today.
Due to hundreds of thousands of big and small decisions over the last three or four decades, Australia has negotiated its way into being in a vulnerable position that places an already vulnerable and volatile industry, agriculture, into the firing line.
This is not a cry for help or a plea for pity, it is only our annual reminder that we must support those around us.
Local industry has been fighting the uphill battle against cost of production, labour, and material for as long as I can remember.
Sure, some of these are self-inflicted, but after spending my life in both the production side of agriculture and now the processing side, I can see why it's worth the extra few bucks.
Go on, it's Christmas. Be a little festive and support Australian product.
That's me signing off for the year, thanks to everyone, enjoy time with those important and hopefully some rain on a tin roof!
- Youth agvocate Callan Daley
