GLOBAL cooperation between nations and between the public and private sectors in terms of agricultural research and development will be critical in keeping the global ag sector ahead of the curve and capable of feeding a rising world population.
This was a major message from Australian agricultural research specialist Philip Pardey.
Dr Pardey, director of global research initiatives for the University of Minnesota, spoke in Australia recently at the annual conference of food security advocates the Crawford Fund.
He said the sobering truth was that billions would have to be spent in research just to maintain the status quo.
"There will need to be a lot of work to stop yield losses from things such as climate change, loss of arable land with increased urbanisation and potentially from the requirements of government sustainability programs," Dr Pardey said in Canberra.
"All this is just to keep things as they are, it is not to increase food production to cater for a growing world population, so it's clear we have to be advocating for governments to recognise the importance of agricultural research," he said.
Dr Pardey said one thing in the agricultural community's favour was the clearly demonstrable benefits of ag R&D.
"The returns from ag R&D can seldom be matched in other fields and with food security issues being highlighted with the war in Ukraine hopefully governments and the private sector are prepared to make the investments necessary."
"For every dollar invested in agricultural R&D, there is a return of 10 dollars in social benefit, yet agri-food R&D spending is a declining share of total R&D spending."
Dr Pardey had a stern message for Australian authorities, saying Australian continued to slip behind.
"Since 1980 Australia has lost about one-third of its global share of agri-food R&D spending it was 3.2 per cent in 1980 down to 1.9pc in 2018."
He said China was leading the way in the research space.
"China now outspends the US in both public and private agri-food R&D, and the world is continuing to split into the scientific haves and have nots, with the poorer countries falling further behind," he said.
"China has been really strong in its support of its ag sector and others need to follow that lead."
Dr Pardey said from a global perspective he would love to see more research done with the developing world in mind.
"We're seeing more food produced by the developed world and less relatively in the developed world, I would love to see more investment in Africa which in turn would decrease the reliance on imported grain which can be impacted by geopolitical unrest like what we've seen in Ukraine."
He said there was scope to make rapid productivity gains in developing areas.
"The yield gains we saw during the Green Revolution could be mirrored to an extent in Africa with improved agronomics, machinery and genetics."
Dr Pardey said it was concerning to see ag R&D become concentrated in just a few major countries.
"Just 10 countries, with Australia sneaking in at number 10 on the ranked list, account for almost two thirds of the total spending worldwide."
"What is important is how open these countries are to sharing their knowledge for global food security," he said.