What They’re NOT Telling You About Australia’s Farming Crisis
5/4/202647 min
Josie Angus built a beef empire from the ground up in regional Queensland.
After more than seven years navigating approvals, regulation and red tape, her family now exports Australian beef to markets around the world.But behind the success story is a system under pressure.
Rising costs.
Fuel dependence.
Supply chain shocks.
And global trade barriers — including tariffs of up to 55% into China and more than 60% into Europe — are making it harder for Australian producers to compete.
At the same time, cheaper imports continue to flow into Australia with fewer barriers.
So what happens when the economics stop stacking up?
This is a raw look at what it actually takes to produce food in Australia — and why farmers say the system is working against them.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJosie Angus· Guest0:00
We supposedly have a free trade agreement with China, right? We're gonna hit an artificially imposed quota limit in China, and we're gonna get a snap tariff of 55%. And my husband and I set about to build our own beef empire.
Karl Stefanovic· Host0:12
[laughs] How many head of cattle?
Josie Angus· Guest0:14
Around about 40,000 head of cattle.
Karl Stefanovic· Host0:15
40,000. Here I always think it's a couple dozen.
Josie Angus· Guest0:18
We exported 10% of Australia's beef to the UK last year.
Karl Stefanovic· Host0:21
Wow.
Josie Angus· Guest0:22
I did actually walk out of the meeting room, slam the door, in tears, and say, "What the fuck is wrong with these fucking people?" [laughs] It truly amazes me that the world loses their mind over Trump potentially putting on a 10% tariff, but you look at China, 55%. You look at the EU, 66%. Uh- Mm ... it's extraordinary. Just at the processing plant alone, we have a 100,000-liter diesel tank. If the diesel tank runs dry, the lights go out.
Karl Stefanovic· Host0:50
How do you plan around that when there is so much uncertainty?
Josie Angus· Guest0:53
Mm-hmm.
Karl Stefanovic· Host0:53
All right, let's go. Josie, lovely to see you. Um, I like to do this at the start of an interview and surprise people I'm interviewing, right? So what shits you about city people?
Josie Angus· Guest1:04
[laughs] [laughs] Um- Where do you start? [laughs] That's quite an introduction. Thanks so much for having me, Karl. But, uh, yeah, I, I mean, [laughs] about city people.
Karl Stefanovic· Host1:15
[laughs] The list is long.
Josie Angus· Guest1:17
It's, um, yeah, it, it's, it's the growing divide.
Karl Stefanovic· Host1:22
Mm.
Josie Angus· Guest1:22
I guess that's, uh, you w- we are the most urbanized country, you know, in the world, and we're, yeah. Um, and we're feeling that. We're feeling it in