It was announced earlier today that Singapore-based agribusiness corporation Olam International has acquired the almond plantations of failed MIS operator, Timbercorp, at a price well-below bargain basement.

Olam is already a major player in Australia’s water market, being the owner of Queensland Cotton.

The sale includes the acquisition of “rights” to 40,000 megalitres of water, “worth” in excess of $100 million. The value that Olam attaches to the almond crop itself is clear: the total amount it paid for the 8,000 hectares of plantations, including the price of the water rights, was $128 million.

Australia will continue to lose control of its water resources until such time as the Commonwealth Government rescinds the 1994 decision of the Council of Australian Governments "to implement a strategic framework to achieve an efficient and sustainable water industry", emphasising "the adoption of pricing regimes based on the principles of consumption-based pricing"; in essence, privatisation of the nation’s water.