THE need for farmers and wider food and fibre supply chains to anticipate changing consumer expectations around their carbon and environmental footprint, and adjust, was driven home by the Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt at the big government ag forecasting event Outlook 2023 in Canberra this morning.
Mr Watt called out environmental stewardship, biosecurity and labour shortages as the priorities for agriculture as he opened the main conference of the year hosted by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture Resource Economics.
He also indicated small but very positive steps had been taken towards stablising Australia's relationship with valuable agriculture trading partner China, particularly for beef, dairy and lobsters.
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Adapting to climate change was, quite simply, the key to agriculture's future, Mr Watt said.
The days of arguing for resisting changing societal sentiment around the environment - fighting back and telling others to bugger off - were done, he said.
"All that sort of approach does is deny Australian producers the markets they need and the incomes they deserve," Mr Watt said.
"Farmers work in some of the harshest environments and they are stewards for our environment.
"The disasters we've seen over the past few years are by no means new to our country but what is new is the severity and frequency of these events as the climate warms around us."
Indeed, ABARES data shows average farm profit has fallen 23 per cent over the past 20 years due to changing weather conditions.
"Fortunately, agriculture has already made great strides towards becoming more sustainable," Mr Watt said.
"And I take every opportunity to inform our trading partners in London and Berlin of this.
"But we must continue to maximise the returns from our natural resources through ever-improved land management practices."
Mr Watt said continuing to develop sustainability credentials was vital to the future of Australian agriculture for many reasons, not the least being to secure and grow changing international markets for food and fibre exports.
"In Europe and other regions there is a growing trend of attempting to enforce local sustainability practices as universal standards," Mr Watt said.
"It's not a one size fits all approach, we know that, and we've had many discussions with European ministers around that.
"The way Australia tackles the challenges will be different to the way they are tackled in other countries like Europe - it's a little bit warmer here, for one.
"But carbon and environmental footprints are also becoming more significant factors for capital markets when deciding where to invest or whether to provide loans.
"And Australian consumers are becoming increasingly interested in the origins and environmental impact of the food and fibre they buy."
Mr Watt said his government wanted to work with industries "to be honest, forward thinking, collaborative, to acknowledge these changing expectations and proactively anticipate them and to adjust how we do things due to the impact of climate change."
This, he argued, would be a massive opportunity for agriculture going forward.
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
