Australia is facing an investment gap in rural research and development, a Melbourne breakfast has been told.
Agribusiness Australia chief executive Tim Burrow said Australia’s productivity growth was virtually flat. “There has been an under investment in research and development (R&D), it’s been a key driver in the slowdown in our productivity.”
Mr Burrow said to regain its mantle of a “clever country in agriculture” Australia needed to “increase its productivity, its public R&D investment and collaboration amongst the private sector.”
Private investment should be seen as complimentary, rather than a substitute, to public sector investment. “Industry can’t rely on private R&D alone – generally the return on investment is too distant for private, for all but the biggest of corporates.”
But he said there were positive signs, particularly in terms of sustainability.
“Australia’s agricultural production has increased by 37pc, in the last decade, and increased in volume by a third,” Mr Burrow said.
Te land area dedicated to farming had declined by 10pc, in the last decade alone. “That’s sustainable to me, producing more from less, year on year, decade on decade and almost half century on half century.”
Equipping farmers with knowledge, training and skills to improve productivity was “a must.
“Out of approximately 125,000 farmers, just six and a half thousand of those farmers put out 80pc of all produce.”
Mr Burrow said investment in infrastructure also needed to continue.
“The cost of transport of some agricultural commodities from farm gate to overseas markets can exceed 40pc of the value of that product.”
