Agriculture

The challenges and opportunities of premium markets in agriculture

Consumer trust should be a major focus for Australia’s agriculture sector as farmers increasingly target premium markets for their produce, ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh told the International Farm Management Association Congress in Tasmania today.

“Most of the growth in the total value of Australian agricultural output in recent decades has come from an increase in the average value of products, rather than an increase in the volume of output,” Mr Keogh said.

Small business in focus - 1 July to 31 December 2018

This twice-yearly report provides a summary of ACCC activities in the small business, franchising and agriculture sectors.

Bulk grain ports monitoring report 2017-18

Report into the bulk wheat port export activity for the shipping year 2017-18.

Former Murray Goulburn MD Gary Helou to pay $200,000 penalty

The Federal Court has ordered former Murray Goulburn Co-operative Managing Director Gary Helou to pay $200,000 in penalties for being knowingly concerned in Murray Goulburn’s false or misleading claims about the farmgate milk price it expected to pay dairy farmers during the 2015-16 milk season.

“The penalty imposed against Mr Helou reflects his seniority at Murray Goulburn and involvement in misleading representations about the farmgate milk price,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.

Dairy processors agree to amend farmer contract terms

Dairy processors Brownes Food Operations, Lion Dairy & Drinks, Norco Co-operative Limited, Parmalat Australia and Fonterra Australia have each agreed to amend specific terms in their milk supply agreements to address the ACCC’s concerns these terms were unfair to dairy farmers.

The ACCC has been working with dairy processors over the past year to ensure that terms in the contracts they offer farmers comply with the business-to-business unfair contract terms law enacted by the Australian Government in November 2016.

Honey investigation concludes due to testing uncertainty

The ACCC has concluded its investigation into allegations Capilano Honey Limited (Capilano) breached the Australian Consumer Law in relation to representations about its ‘Allowrie’ honey and other products.

The investigation followed allegations in the media that a number of honey products including Capilano’s ‘Allowrie’ honey, labelled ‘pure’ and ‘100% honey’ were adulterated with sugar syrup.

ACCC commences market study into wine grape industry

The wine grape industry will be the focus of a new ACCC market study, announced today. 

The study will examine competition, contracting practices, transparency, and risk allocation issues in the wine grape supply chain.

“We are undertaking this market study after wine grape growers raised concerns about a range of competition issues and contracting practices in the industry,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said.