Resilience is certainly required in good measure when operating an agricultural enterprise in this country - a more obvious statement you would struggle to find.
Drought, COVID, floods, mice plagues - if you are keeping tabs on your Biblical bingo card, you might get pretty short odds on volcano activity being the next cab off the rank!
If COVID did not reveal to the average punter the importance of the ag sector to their day-to-day lives, then Putin's Napoleon complex has certainly rammed the point home, and created a tidal wave of ancillary effects that are about as welcome as being slapped in the face by a Siberian sturgeon.
There is no doubt that the inflationary genie has a number of fathers, but Putin's folly is a considerable driving factor (but it is not the only factor as President Biden would have you believe).
And there has been significant commentary on the worldwide ripple effect of removing Ukrainian and Russian crops from the global food equation.
Without a hint of hyperbole, the famine we are about to experience in several third world countries that primarily rely on wheat for their diet, will well and truly put COVID mortality in the shade.
To top it all off, furious Dutch farmers have recently issued an ultimatum threatening to block their country's airports, ports and distribution centres after Dutch politicians decided to close dozens of cattle properties to purportedly comply with EU regulations on nitrogen emissions.
While their actions are being condemned by the politicians, 75 percent of the Dutch population support the farmers and their actions.
All of this is to say that there is never a dull moment in agribusiness, and there is a lot to be excited about over the next two years for Australian producers, but there are still plenty of headwinds to ensure that we do not get too far ahead of ourselves.
The Dutch example is absolutely 'the canary in the canola crop' we need to be intensely wary of.
Let's be honest, our politicians have an uncanny habit of getting wind of what is happening on the continent, and five years later wanting us to give it a whirl too.
A famous Japanese proverb says that if you 'fall seven times, stand up eight'. I am certain that plenty of Australian ag producers already live by that creed, but the next few years will certainly test the very best of us.
Hopefully, we will all be still standing in five years' time.
- Trent Thorne, agribusiness lawyer
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