I enjoyed a few drinks over the festive season with Justin Harrison and the team from Rabobank Brisbane at their annual Christmas cocktail party.
A great night was had by all overlooking the Brisbane River from their office boardroom and it was good to catch up with some industry stalwarts like Craig Chapman, Bill Loughnan and Peter Kenny.
There was lots of robust discussion from Andrew Adcock, Danny Bukowski and Ben Forrest about 2016 being a year with record cattle prices and the impact this has had on property sales, particularly in the larger scale bracket for both domestic and international buyers.
Elders deputy chair James Jackson and John Burke lamented it would be interesting to see the impact in 2017 across the wider industry once a few of the transactions settle down.
Media legend Peter Lewis dropped by to enjoy some Christmas conversation.
Defence land buy-up impact on cattle industry
An expansion of military training areas in Central and North Queensland could see more than a hundred thousand head of cattle lost to the state's beef industry and farming families that have managed properties for generations forced off their land, AgForce warned.
AgForce general president Grant Maudsley said meetings held in Central Queensland and North Queensland recently had confirmed that up to 60 landholders could have their land compulsorily acquired by the Department of Defence.
"The meetings have been confronting and frustrating for landholders, who have been left in little doubt that the Department of Defence has the power to take their land, either by voluntary sale or compulsory acquisition over the next five years," he said.
"While I acknowledge that for some landholders who want to sell this is an opportunity, for many others who don't want to sell and don't want to move, it is extremely disheartening.
"Compulsory acquisition is a breach of natural justice. Agricultural country is a land bank and diminishes each day in size and quality – taken for conservation, for urban sprawl, to dig up resources and now for military training areas.
"The world is not creating any more prime agricultural land, all there is, is here now. The constant loss of agricultural land just makes it so much harder for farmers to meet the growing global demand for our high quality food and fibre.
"This Defence expansion could see more than a hundred thousand cattle displaced off several hundred thousand hectares of grazing land, and that's going to have a massive impact on the local beef industry and the local businesses that rely on the industry."
Mr Maudsley said AgForce had attended meetings with landholders to provide support and had also organised an information session in Marlborough to assist those affected consider their legal, valuation and financial options.
"It's clear from that meeting that there is a lot of angst around the expansion and a lot more work to be done. The biggest criticism is that people still don't know what they are facing."
New Year – New spot for Stan’s say
I was pleased to hear the news that Terry Hyland will be joining QCL’s markets team in January. Terry and I will share the ‘inside backpage’ of QCL under the new arrangement. I look forward to continuing to bring my mates all the latest from livestock game again in 2017. Happy New Year to you all.
