RICHARD Clark plans to enhance the profile of agricultural research and development as a core national economic driver, in his new role as Chair of the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations.
Mr Clark is also Chair of the Grains Research and Development Council and replaced Selwyn Snell in late February who had led the Council of RDCs since 2011.
The NSW grain farmer has extensive agricultural research experience but is also in-tune with the political necessities and realities underpinning organisations like the Council, given his vast agri-political background.
Currently, five statutory RDCs and 10 industry owned not for profit entities exist, covering grains, dairy, pork, eggs, wool, cotton, grapes and wine, meat and livestock, live exports, meat processing, forestry and wood products, fisheries, horticulture, sugar and rural industries.
Mr Clark said he decided to step-up and Chair the Council of RDCs believing he could add some value to a group that packs a combined $1 billion per year punch in agricultural research and development spending.
“It’s quite a challenge because I’m trying to lead a group of strong leaders and sometimes it’s a bit like trying to muster cats into a wheelbarrow,” he said.
“But we’ll try and identify issues where we can all agree on a common tactic and try and push that agenda.
“The main issue before us now is that the general community and in fact the government doesn’t quite understand the value of innovation in agriculture well enough.
“We are the innovators and agriculture is probably more innovative than virtually any other sector of the Australian economy but we need to get that message out to a wider audience.”
Mr Clark said improved communications and convincing politicians about the economic and social value underpinning the RDCs extensive work programs, were two core ways to improve the sector’s profile.
He said collectively, the RDCs managed a $1 billion per year investment portfolio with $480m provided by the individual Councils and the remainder matched by industry, university or research sector contributions, on various projects.
“That puts us right up there with the biggest of the public research funders like the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Fund” he said.
“We have real influence within the research sector.
“Australia’s research and innovation policy is under open discussion at the moment but I don’t think the RDCs are participating in that debate enough.
“We need to get on the front foot more in terms of innovation policy so we can accentuate the value of the RDC system which, at the end of the day, is the envy of the world in agriculture.
“When overseas, I’m constantly asked how the Australian agricultural research system can be duplicated in the countries I’m visiting and it’s one of Australia’s last, really strong, competitive advantages, in agriculture.”
Mr Clark said the Council’s role was strictly apolitical and they did not become involved in political arguments.
He said leading into the May federal budget, they weren’t asking for any more government funding “although I’m sure we would use it well, if we got it”.
Ultimately, the Council is about ensuring the right public policy settings are in place to enable them to achieve the most efficient use of money received from government and other sources, especially farmer levies, he said.
“Research and development in agriculture has no use until it adds a dollar to a farmers’ bottom line,” he said.
“So we need the right policy settings in place which is about how the universities are funded, how the RDCs are funded and how people are rewarded for innovation.
“Many of these broader policy issues and settings can affect the efficiency of what we do and the ease of how we can return research benefits to farmers.”
Mr Clark said the RDCs could prove their value to politicians in a transitioning national economy with a revenue dilemma - but an expanding innovation and science agenda - by “doing the best we can and keeping the rate of productivity improvement high”.
But he stressed the farm sector was talking about profitability improvements - not just increasing productivity - to enhance financial viability and sustainability and add to the nation’s budget bottom line.
“Farmers can produce more and more but if they’re not making more money by doing it, the incentive is just not there,” he said.
‘We actually need to look at more than just productivity improvements - we also need to look at how we improve the value of pour produce or improved market access for our produce.
“They’re all areas where we intersect with different areas of government, all of the time.
“We need to understand how trade policy influences agriculture and we need to understand how the higher education and university sector influences agriculture.
“There are many elements to us delivering the best possible outcome we can and we need to be a bigger part of that conversation.”
Mr Clarke said RDCs like the GRDC recognised research was a global issue and were increasingly looking for ways to structure innovative deals, with global partners.
He said the foundation philosophy of the Councils was that agricultural research was more than any individual farmer can fund alone, “so we’re better off doing it collectively”.
“We’re now seeing more and more issues arising that are clearly more than any Australian industry can fund by going it alone which is why we’ve needed to network with global industries, to achieve outcomes that we want,” he said.
