![adm](https://quadrant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/adm.jpg)
Against the Grain
Professor Henry Ergas is an excellent commentator on economic matters. He began his column in The Australian on Remembrance Day with what he described as an “heretical thought”. This was that Australian farmers aren’t idiots. If they’re concerned about the proposed acquisition of GrainCorp by Archer Daniels Midland, their fears shouldn’t be dismissed as ”hysterical rants”.
As he says, ADM is no poster child for global “agribusiness”’, to use that trendy word being thrown around these days.
It has been involved in a price-fixing conspiracy which resulted in record fines and criminal convictions for executives. There are allegations that it has been engaged in corrupt practices. The Cato Institute says ADM is a rent-seeker “drunk on tax dollars” from its very big investments in ethanol.
Nevertheless, Professor Ergas believes the Treasurer should approve the sale. He argues that GrainCorp’s network of ”up-country silos” now faces serious competitive threats. He says that…
Madam: Archbishop Fisher (July-August 2024) does not resist the attacks on his church by the political, social or scientific atheists and those who insist on not being told what to do.
Aug 29 2024
6 mins
To claim Aborigines have the world's oldest continuous culture is to misunderstand the meaning of culture, which continuously changes over time and location. For a culture not to change over time would be a reproach and certainly not a cause for celebration, for it would indicate that there had been no capacity to adapt. Clearly this has not been the case
Aug 20 2024
23 mins
A friend and longtime supporter of Quadrant, Clive James sent us a poem in 2010, which we published in our December issue. Like the Taronga Park Aquarium he recalls in its 'mocked-up sandstone cave' it's not to be forgotten
Aug 16 2024
2 mins