Renewing our focus on food

Reinvest in knowledge: after two of three decades of disinvestment in agricultural science, technology and extension, policymakers need to understand that these hold the key to our future food security, and maybe that of our region also. Instead of continuing slashing the public investment (as the Productivity Commission has blindly recommended) we should double it.

In particular we should invest in:

• irrigation and land and water science – areas that have suffered irrational demolition in recent years.
• soil microbiology with a view to enhancing the biological potential of our landscapes and crop and pasture yields.
• building bridges between organic and high-intensity farming with the goal of developing science-based low-input eco-agricultural systems that recycle, re-use and conserve.
• developing food systems (including urban ones) which are cushioned against climate shocks
• research into frontier science areas such as re-engineering of the photosynthetic pathways in crops and trees, to boost yields and lock up more carbon.

Share knowledge: to help stabilise our neighbouring region against food insecurity (and ease the disturbing trend to foreign acquisitions of Australian land and water) we need to build a new multi-billion dollar knowledge export industry, based on our expertise in areas such as landcare, dryland farming, water management, drought strategy etc. The mining sector has already done this, so it is perfectly feasible for agriculture and NRM.

Reinvest in people: our agricultural education system is falling apart and is in desperate need of reinvestment and revitalisation. We need to train a new generation of farmer and urban food producers equipped to overcome the scarcities ahead. We need to encourage our best youth back into a field which will be central to the human destiny this century.

Re-educate Australians about food: up to half of all the food produced in Australia is wasted or sent to landfill calling for an urgent effort to end the waste, through education, technology and recycling. Up to half of all Australians, including our children, now die from diet-related disease, This calls for national education about healthy eating, both to save lives and to rein in the biggest budget blowout in Australian history, in healthcare. We should educate our children to eat healthily, sustainably and with a renewed respect for food. This can be assisted by introducing a Food Year in every junior school in Australia, teaching all subjects through the lens of food.

Reinvest in food: FAO points out that massive global reinvestment will be needed to head off food scarcity in the mid-century – yet warns this will not happen while farm incomes are so bad and farm productivity sliding. This is due to a market failure driven by the growing imbalance in market power between 1.8 billion producers and the handful of corporates who now dictate the world price of food. Finding a solution to this economic distortion, without harming price signals, is a key challenge – otherwise new technologies and sustainable systems will not be adopted fast enough. One option is to compensate farmers for their stewardship, on behalf of society, of land, water, atmosphere and biodiversity. Others should be explored.

If Australia can successfully address the challenges outlined here we will earn the right to be a leader of the endeavour to sustain the global food supply. It is a role for which our farming, scientific and technical expertise equips us well. All that is presently lacking is awareness of the scale of the risks we face – and the political and societal will to overcome them.