Indian farmers lost money in bubble burst

Another bubble burst. No this time it's not about asset classes such as real estate or gold or else. It's the farming business. The breeding of an Australian bird-Emu has met its end. Now, "Emu" is a large flightless bird resembling an ostrich and tasting like beef. Farmers across the world including India made some quick and high bucks with Emu farming. Emu raising for its meat, eggs and oil was a lucrative business opportunity some 5 years ago.

However, today the picture is grim. The herd mentality instinct led to mad rush of farmers in this business. Therefore, the feed costs tripled in a period of 3 years. And with the exploding emu population, the price of emu meat fell almost 25% in the same period. Buyers diminished. And farmers lost their money. Hence, killing the birds was the only option left to the farmers in order to reduce their losses. Not just that. The economics pertaining to this business also failed. Few entrepreneurs accepted deposits from the investors to capitalize on emu farming. Almost as high as 75% returns were promised. People were taken on a ride with tall assurances of investments doubling in 3 to 6 months. But the emu scandal plagued by auctioning of emus at fire-sale prices played spoilsport. Payments stopped and investors' concerns surmounted. Thus, oversupply, increased costs and greed led to the fall of the emu farming business. With more than half of India's emu farmers leaving the business and the investors losing money, the emu business is in a state of limbo.