Family farms the big players in cropping

摘要

Despite increasing his 2008 plantings by of 5000ha, Ron Greentree now shares the largest cropping farmer title this year with the Nicoletti family - and that's not all they share. Both have been on a mission in the past 12 months, with Greentree challenging Incitec Pivot while Nicoletti is taking on Co-operative Bulk Handling (CBH). When planting 94,000ha, even small increases in input and storage costs translate into significant dollars, so when fertiliser prices skyrocketed Greentree decided it was time to buy and import his own fertiliser supplies. In May he faced a Senate inquiry into price fixing, alleging there had been abuses of monopoly power and high levels of obstruction by Incitec Pivot as he tried to embark on his project.