Dear Larry,
Thanks for the great work you are doing... information is the one thing that can help every citizen... and make a better world for our children!
Thanks for doing more than your share... for the growers in the 'designated area'!!!
Merry Christmas...to everyone... and all the best in 2009!
December 22, 2008
A SENATE committee will hear new allegations of monopoly behaviour in the fertiliser industry after prices almost halved in a week following the entry of a new importer, and the man behind the scheme received a death threat.
South Australian farmer Leighton Huxtable, a partner in a new company, Direct Farm Inputs, which plans to import about 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser for next year's winter crop, will give evidence to a recalled Senate committee early in the new year about a threat he received on Saturday, and the recent plunge in fertiliser prices, The Australian reports.
NSW Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has called Mr Huxtable to a reconvened hearing of the Senate select committee on agriculture over his plan to import about 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser at a price that initially undercut the major players.
Senator Heffernan told The Australian he had referred the threat against Mr Huxtable to the Australian Federal Police, and had asked corporate regulators to examine potential "unconscionable conduct in the industry".
Mr Huxtable and businessman John Huxley plan to import 38,000tonnes of the fertilisers MAP and DAP and 25,000 tonnes of urea in a co-operative arrangement with farmers.
The announcement of the imports, initially at $1030 a tonne for MAP and DAP, sparked a fall in fertiliser prices from about $1600 a tonne to below $1000 as companies matched the price.
The movements in fertiliser prices come after an interim Senate report released this month found Incitec Pivot may hold a monopoly in eastern and southern states and CSBP may hold a monopoly in Western Australia.
Mr Huxtable said the threat would not deter him from the import plan. "It's OK for me, I can handle it, but it is very difficult for my family to cope with this pressure."
Thanks for the great work you are doing... information is the one thing that can help every citizen... and make a better world for our children!
Thanks for doing more than your share... for the growers in the 'designated area'!!!
Merry Christmas...to everyone... and all the best in 2009!
December 22, 2008
A SENATE committee will hear new allegations of monopoly behaviour in the fertiliser industry after prices almost halved in a week following the entry of a new importer, and the man behind the scheme received a death threat.
South Australian farmer Leighton Huxtable, a partner in a new company, Direct Farm Inputs, which plans to import about 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser for next year's winter crop, will give evidence to a recalled Senate committee early in the new year about a threat he received on Saturday, and the recent plunge in fertiliser prices, The Australian reports.
NSW Liberal senator Bill Heffernan has called Mr Huxtable to a reconvened hearing of the Senate select committee on agriculture over his plan to import about 60,000 tonnes of fertiliser at a price that initially undercut the major players.
Senator Heffernan told The Australian he had referred the threat against Mr Huxtable to the Australian Federal Police, and had asked corporate regulators to examine potential "unconscionable conduct in the industry".
Mr Huxtable and businessman John Huxley plan to import 38,000tonnes of the fertilisers MAP and DAP and 25,000 tonnes of urea in a co-operative arrangement with farmers.
The announcement of the imports, initially at $1030 a tonne for MAP and DAP, sparked a fall in fertiliser prices from about $1600 a tonne to below $1000 as companies matched the price.
The movements in fertiliser prices come after an interim Senate report released this month found Incitec Pivot may hold a monopoly in eastern and southern states and CSBP may hold a monopoly in Western Australia.
Mr Huxtable said the threat would not deter him from the import plan. "It's OK for me, I can handle it, but it is very difficult for my family to cope with this pressure."
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