Being a farmer is a genuine blessing. It is a vocation of purpose and meaning. What purpose can be greater than feeding the world?
Half of the globe’s inhabitable land is owned and managed by farmers. Just about everything we enjoy in our society is enabled by humankind’s pursuit of agriculture. It is the very foundation of our civilisation. Any effort to build a framework to improve the lives of all Australians—indeed, of every global citizen—and the sustainability of the world in which we live must have farmers at its core.
My forefathers migrated to Australia during the Great Depression in pursuit of financial security for their families. It was a great sacrifice. My great-grandfather died in Melbourne having never seen his wife and some of his children again. My grandfather was left as the provider of the household at age thirteen, carting citrus for wealthy landowners in a cart on the back of his donkey. He recounted stories of minding flocks of sheep from wolves in the middle of the night, beating a drum to scare the predators away while, in all reality, still a child.
He followed his father to Australia, arriving in 1938, leaving his own new bride pregnant with their first child. He picked fruit and vegetables around regional Victoria. Subsequently World War II broke out and he did not see his son or my grandmother for another ten years, when they too made the perilous six-week boat journey to the ‘land of opportunity’, all in the search for a better life.
When the reality that we were not immune to the COVID-19 pandemic started sinking in to the minds of Australians, what transpired in our supermarkets was nothing short of amazing. People with a level of privilege had the capacity to raid shelves of staple items, creating shortages that deprived the most vulnerable in our society. Fear and hysteria set in where security and blissful ignorance had previously resided.
I had a new revelation about the massive sacrifices my grandparents had made, a deeper understanding of what it means to be facing the fear of not being able to feed one’s family. The last time there was food insecurity in my family, they got on a boat. They literally became food producers in their own right to create food security for themselves. I had never been so grateful for my farm.
COVID-19 has certainly prompted a new respect in the wider population for farmers and farming. It was the first time in living memory for most of us that food security became a cause for concern. The task to convince Australians that we had enough food began. People who had become disconnected from their food supply (doesn’t food come from the supermarket?) didn’t realise that the shortages were caused by their actions, not by a genuine lack of food. Yet 3 million Australians face food security issues every day.
Not only do we have enough food, but we produce the world’s best food—the cleanest, greenest and safest food and fibre production, built on the highest-quality biosecurity, safety and reliability standards, and strong environmental protection. And not just for Australians: we export enough every year to feed another 60 million people around the world.
Twelve weeks on from the first wave of panic buying, just as supermarket retailers had announced that all limits on food would be lifted, we saw a second wave. I hope the renewed respect for farmers continues and leads people to turn their attention to this often overlooked but vital industry sector. Moreover, there must be a recognition that globally we already produce enough food to feed everyone. It is our social systems that perpetuate wealth inequality and global hunger or food insecurity for 2 billion people. Conversely, worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. Approximately 2 billion people worldwide are obese or overweight.1
Food waste—whether it be food that never leaves the farm, food that is lost during transport, or food that is wasted by the hospitality sector and households—has significant economic and environmental effects. Of food that is produced globally, one third of it is wasted.2 Pardon the pun, but there is some really low-hanging fruit here. Yes, agriculture must continue to innovate in order to produce ‘more with less’ to feed the rising global population. But we already have enough, and at least 30 per cent of our environmental impact could be reduced if we just addressed the issue of wastage.
Food production is often seen as the greatest culprit with regards to anthropogenic climate change and the reduction of worldwide biodiversity, but the pandemic also showed us something else: the waters of the canals of Venice running clear, flamingos turning Mumbai pink, the Himalayas visible from the Punjab for the first time in thirty years. Clearly, the insinuation that farmers are solely responsible for the degradation of the planet is actually somewhat insulting to the 50,000-plus farmers who are the environmental stewards of more than half of Australia’s landmass. These farmers are at the centre of sustainable agriculture, the cogs in the wheel. Undoubtedly, the role of farmers as stalwarts of environmental stewardship and biodiversity solutions is not commonly acknowledged. Far from it: farmers have been burdened by direct and indirect costs associated with environmental protection.
Here’s an interesting example: reductions in land clearing imposed on land managers by state government regulation have been the biggest sectoral contributor to emissions reductions in Australia since 1990, with net emissions declining by 85 per cent from 1990 to 2012. Our total emissions are equivalent to 535 million tonnes. Yet the recent bushfires in our country burnt about 20 million hectares of land and emitted 306 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The reality is that sustainable agricultural practice is our business. It is the only way to survive in agriculture today. The scale, diversity and variability of the Australian climate demands the highest standards of land management and animal stewardship. Farmers throughout our nation have committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 through our peak body, the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF). Not only do we have the capacity to become carbon neutral, we have the ability to sequester carbon by adapting our farming models. As it is, our sector produced a 63 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 1996 and 2016.3
There must be an economic framework that rewards farmers for our services to the environment on behalf of the population. Successive governments have failed to implement meaningful carbon and energy policies, let alone biodiversity policy. Ideology must not be allowed to get in the way of solid, practical and implementable ideas.
Our various peak commodity groups have developed sustainability frameworks to guide their practice into the future. We have developed tools to ensure best practice on farms. Prior to COVID-19, 87 per cent of farmers surveyed by Rabobank expected to increase their investment in their farm this year or, at a minimum, keep it at current levels.4 This demonstrates our farming community’s commitment to systems of production that prioritise the health of the environment, the welfare of animals, and safe and nutritious food.
Agriculture plays a significant role in a low-carbon future. Greater technological investment will ensure that agriculture can contribute to Australia’s emissions reduction goals while allowing farmers to grow food and fibre for an expanding global population. This is why we were pleased that the Australian Government, in its Technology Investment Roadmap, recognised that in agriculture ‘there are opportunities to improve soil carbon levels and livestock productivity, as well as deploying technologies to enhance fertiliser use, carbon storage in vegetation and improve fire management’.5
The NFF’s 2030 Roadmap6 prioritises greater biodiversity markets, cementing a competitive advantage through a carbon-neutral approach and reducing the farm sector’s reliance on fossil fuels in favour of biofuels and renewable sources of electricity that are affordable and reliable. But we need a paradigm shift in our thinking on some of these issues.
We need a comprehensive approach that unlocks sustainable finance instruments in the agricultural sector to provide incentives and rewards to farmers and other landholders for improved environmental outcomes. We should emulate financing mechanisms that have been used effectively by other sectors, such as the construction industry to retrofit buildings.
Our sector can benefit from financial instruments such as green bonds and pay-for-outcome funds, and provide investable agricultural options for institutional investors, government, industry and philanthropists directed towards improving the environment and delivering social finance options for the market.
As the agriculture sector is facing a $160 billion capital shortfall to fund its growth ambitions, accessing these new or refined sources of investment could not be more critical to providing sustainable ways to deliver returns.
Sustainable finance has the potential to deliver against defined sustainability outcomes today and to reframe how our farmers can intersect with industry, investors and consumers. Not only would this approach widen and deepen incentives for farmers, it would also catalyse levers available to both public and private investors to overcome typical adoption barriers and drive sustainable land use and management practices across the agricultural supply chain. This will reposition and futureproof the entire food and agricultural sector towards greater resilience.
The agriculture sector provides one of the best opportunities for economic growth in Australia’s regions. There is a tendency to retreat from globalisation during global recessions, but that would be a big mistake for the Australian economy—particularly for our primary industries, which rely on free trade and global markets to sell the majority of our produce. Greater global recognition will drive increased demand, resulting in expanded production opportunities. It will further our penetration in existing markets and open new markets, ultimately attracting further investment.
Victoria is Australia’s largest agricultural producer. As an industry sector, it is worth around $15 billion annually. The multiplier effect of food manufacturing in Victoria is worth more than $38 billion to the Victorian economy. Agriculture is the economic driver of the state and the lifeblood of its rural and regional communities, which contribute more than $76 billion to the Victorian economy annually.
Victoria is also the nation’s largest food and fibre exporter. Half of the state’s total exports come from the agricultural sector. These exports contribute $14 billion per year to our economy. Before COVID-19, our exports were on a trajectory to double within the next ten years. At the national level, we are aiming to become a $100 billion industry by 2030.
Moreover, the free movement of people across borders is vital for the agricultural industry to secure the workforce it requires to function. Particularly during tough economic times, though, the tendency to believe that migrant workers ‘steal’ Australian jobs takes hold among sections of the population. The reality is that migrant workers help create jobs for Australians throughout our entire supply chain, help regional communities to grow and thrive, and underpin Australian food security. Thoughtful and holistic migration programs will be key to our economic recovery and to ensuring sustainable economic growth.
From an employment perspective, in the May 2019 quarter Victoria’s food and fibre production and manufacturing sector employed 199,600 people, making Victoria the largest employer in Australia within the agriculture sector. More than 80 per cent of these jobs are in regional Victoria.
Tax reform is required across all levels of government to support our vital agricultural industries. It is time to offer to agriculture what government provides to the mining sector: attractive compensation packages, and total rewards packages that include onsite or nearby family-friendly accommodation; vehicle, food and seasonal bonuses; and other lifestyle benefits. That means passthroughs for stamp duty, payroll tax and land tax, and balancing the differences in local government rates that see farmers pay significantly higher rates, taxes and charges than other Victorians.
Elevating and promoting agriculture as a flourishing growth industry in the mind of the Australian community is crucial to getting the right people in the right places. We need to sell the message that the agriculture industry can accommodate demand for work, recognising it as an industry with a skills shortage and promoting awareness that it can provide a career pathway, whether your interest lies in business, technology, engineering or the environment.
Critically, agricultural supply chains must pay a fair price for food. Price squeezing farmers results in low wages for workers and poor environmental outcomes. The irony that the people identified as essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic are some of the lowest-paid people in the nation must be addressed. Those workers who are the foundation of our economy must be adequately rewarded with a living wage. This is not as simple as just raising wages: we must address the systemic issues that have led to no real wage growth in over ten years.
Australian agriculture today grapples with a multiplicity of issues. It is complex work. The sector is undergoing significant change. Advances in robotics, pre-packaging materials, digital and wireless technology, and biotechnology will have profound effects on the supply chain. Climate change continues to present challenges, particularly when coupled with the threat of biosecurity incursions and natural disasters.
Balancing production growth and productivity improvements will require the development of new business models and innovative ways of generating more output from the land, and from scarce resources such as water. Water should not be treated first and foremost as a tradeable commodity: it must be respected as the lifeblood of our nation. The value of water is far greater than the highest price paid for it by the highest bidder: the environment and regional communities rely on it. Governments must listen and act on the reports and inquiries they commission. We must not allow the politicisation of our greatest resource.
Education and research will be vital in ensuring that the sector can tackle these challenges and that agriculture in Australia continues to thrive. However, at present the agricultural workforce is ageing and has lower qualification levels than the Australian workforce as a whole. Equally, many farm businesses have identified business management, leadership and technical capabilities as key skill sets they require in the future. On top of that, farming businesses are grappling with red tape, unfair tax burdens, and rising energy and transport costs.
Australia is uniquely positioned as a global leader in food and fibre. In the current environment, in which food security and provenance are top of mind, we have the opportunity to further strengthen our international reputation and secure even greater global recognition. There is a real opportunity with the right policy settings to build and secure supply chains, grow the markets to which we distribute produce, and support farm businesses through strategic investment in technology, capital, research and development, and education.
The land of opportunity that my grandparents migrated to and subsequently flourished in should be the Australia we are all able to access and enjoy. Just as Australian agriculture offered my family the ability to recover from economic depression and prosper in a new life, it can drive the economic recovery of our nation today.
To achieve this, we need a national agricultural action plan, bipartisan in its approach and backed by industry. It must be aimed at enhancing our competitive advantage nationally and internationally, furthering job growth and income security, and increasing trade and investment. With a collaborative approach to agricultural policy, our nation’s food security can underpin a fairer, more equitable and more sustainable Australia for all of us.