Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Australia Organic Imports

After reading my previous research outline, erkie commented that Singapore gets most of its organic and sustainable produce from Australia - the world's largest exporter of organic produce. Now that's a good point about FTA - if they can just turn to Australia, why get Malaysia to do better? But that's controversial in terms of food miles.

However, at the same time, you also have Singapore going directly to Indonesia to invest in sustainable farms. Is that an alternative to Australia?

But looking at Australia, it's not surprising they are the largest exporter of organic produce because they are so particular about controlling their organic imports, making sure no pathogens pass the custom. However, Malaysia and Indonesia are so far off in terms of taking care of their agrarian sector. How will they compare in terms of trade?

In a way, it would appear that Singapore government is making the right move to invest more in sustainable agriculture. Is that a direction they should do more in? But wouldn't getting consumers aware of such issues be important? If consumers totally stop buying from non-sustainably producing sources, then would it not make an impact?

Knowing the cheapos in Singapore, price is still everything. What then?

Consider competition when interviewing farmers.

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