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Ever since the pioneers settled, agriculture has been the life blood of Australia. Even with all the new technology available, with the bigger trucks and the improved efficiency, the industry is still one the hardest to make successful. In 2008 there still are many concerns for the industry, but there are also a many positives for the industry.

THE WEATHER

No matter what type of farming, the weather is always too unpredictable to determine just how good or bad a year will be for farming. From the wheat growers that have failed crops, or the cattle producer that can't feed there animals, its all inter connected. In 2008, the drought it still an ongoing concern.

The issue of the drought though, really depends on the were in the country your talking about. One of the worst effected by the brought, Queensland has seen some amazing rain these past months, with some cases resulting in significant flooding. Although this type of rainfall seems out of the ordinary, it is in fact, typical monsoonal weather for the area, its just we've not seen it in such a long time.

So Queensland is now in the black, but what about the rest of Australia. Parts of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, are still in major crises, and although there has been higher rain falls then in previous years, its still not enough to have broken the drought.

THE TAKE OVERS

Even with all the technology that has been developed over the years, there still continues to be hardship in this industry, and small farmers still are walking off there land. Instead, the larger corporations are coming through and buy out, and merging the smaller farms, to manage as a whole operation. This is particularly the case for Tasmania, some parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Why is this happening you say? It appears that the larger organizations have found that there is a much higher economics of scale that can be achieved, bringing on more expensive technology that the small timers could not afford, and by improving management, which are all leading to unseen efficiency on the farm land, which of course means more cash.

There are then further benefits where investment is scattered through out Australia. Often the case is that high yielding farms can take the slack required, for farms not doing so well, for whatever the reason, therefore smoothing out any effect those poor producing farms have on the corporation as a whole.

FOREIGN TRADE

The foreign trade within the agriculture industry is currently a double

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