Commissions for agribusiness projects are too high and may be damaging to the long term interests of the industry, according to the Australian Agribusiness Group’s managing director Marcus Elgin. "Agribusiness commissions are substantially higher than for other investment products", Elgin notes. "Today, commissions of 10% to 15% plus rebates for marketing activities are common, figures which and are simply too high."

He points out that while these commissions are paid by the promoters of the investments to financial planners - and not paid directly out of investors' pockets - commissions are built into the initial cost of the investment so investors are...