IN the wake of widespread crippling drought across the state, shadow minister for agriculture and Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon says significant changes must occur to preserve the country’s food bowl into the future.
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And it begins by acknowledging – and accepting – that the climate is changing for the worst and drought is now a “normal” situation.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the agriculture industry had to adopt a whole new holistic approach, which included changing the way food was produced.
This would see farmers focus on producing premium products that grew well in their area and secured a higher return when sold, especially in export markets.
There would be less focus on putting the same products into the same commodity markets where there was increasing competition that forced farmers to be price takers.
He said that would put more money in the farmer’s pocket which would help them survive bad seasons, including droughts and floods.
If Labor wins the next federal election and Mr Fitzgibbon becomes the agriculture minister he will start work on this new holistic approach.
Read more: How you can help farmers battle drought
“We have to face the reality that unless we dramatically change the way we manage our natural resources then many people will continue to struggle,” he said.
We have to have a complete re-look at the way we do food production and we can’t keep just applying European methods on the Australian continent because we will continue to deplete our natural resources and we will further struggle with things like salinity.
“One of the misconceptions in the Australian community is that we are a land of abundant soil and water resources.
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“We are the driest inhabited continent in the world and our soil and water resources are limited and confined to certain parts of the country - the Murray Darling Basin being the most obvious example.
The trick is to make sure our resources are allocated where they secure the highest return on the investment so in other words not growing high volumes of commodities in markets where we are simply price takers but rather making sure they are allocated to premium products where we receive a premium return for those products. The best way to do that of course is with a market mechanism.
“Farming isn’t just about volumes and producing more and more and more, it is about the quality of what we produce.”
So what would this mean for our food bowl?
Mr Fitzgibbon said the domestic market would always require staple foods like fruit and vegetables, meat and milk.
The overseas market would focus on producing premium products for new markets where a higher price was received. This would include items such as cheese and chilled meat.
Mr Fitzgibbon stressed the farmer’s chosen path had to economically viable.
“All of these things have to have an economic return. If it’s viable to do it and it doesn’t have an adverse impact on the water table or water flow then of course,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“If farmers are only doing commodities that secure a limited return then it’s probably not economically viable.”
Aussie farmers’ reputation key to success
Mr Fitzgibbon said Australia’s longstanding reputation when it came to food production was something they could capitalise on in the export market.
“In feeding our own people, they are more interested in how it was grown and the quality. In the overseas markets we need to be delivering things that play off our reputation … we need to have value so instead of milk it’s cheese and instead of a steak (standard frozen commodity) it’s a chilled commodity that’s fresh; straight off the Australia farm.”
Mr Fitzgibbon said farmers who sold into the same commodity markets were facing new competitors, including those from South America.
“Freight costs are falling dramatically so the South Americans for example can get their product to the same market just as cheaply and that’s a problem for Australia unless we change course,” he said.
“Our greatest advantage is our reputation of produce that is clean, green, safe, high quality and ethically produced.
“We must both defend and leverage off that reputation not so much in big volumes delivering the things someone else can do but doing things only we can do, the quality only we can do, the food safety standards only we can deliver.”
Belinda-Jane Davis
Passionate about community news
Passionate about community news
