Page 4 - National Poultry Newspaper

10-year ag RD&E plan needs more action
THE Queensland Gov- ernment recently re- leased its 10-year RD&E Roadmap and Action Plan for agriculture – a document designed to underpin a productive, profitable and sustain- able agriculture sector.
As the government’s vi- sion for RD&E through to 2028, the Action Plan is its strategy for how to capitalise on our competi- tive advantages and real- ise the opportunities for the sector’s growth.
First, it is encouraging that the government has developed a forward- looking blueprint for the state’s agriculture and food RD&E, recognising the sector’s fundamental importance, continued strength and ongoing tran- sition.
A vision from govern-
ment for our sector has been lacking and Queens- land Farmers’ Federation welcomes and commends this step.
But plans are only as good as their implemen- tation, with the level of resourcing key to this.
There remains a discon- nect between what is said and written about the fu- ture of Queensland agri- culture and demonstrable government action and support.
Considering funding, the Action Plan recognis-
es the importance of pub- lic sector RD&E invest- ment to ensure agriculture productivity gains.
It highlights that total funding for rural R&D in Australia increased from $2.3 billion to $3 billion in real terms over the past decade.
However, this increase is largely due to substan- tially greater investment (over 60 percent) from the private sector.
By contrast, total R&D funding from state and territory governments has decreased by more than 27 percent over the past decade, even though gov- ernments acknowledge that every $1 invested in RD&E returns $10.51 over the course of 25 years.
The Australian Govern- ment on the other hand has increased agriculture R&D over the past decade
by about 18 percent. However, total funding for the agriculture port- folio has decreased at an average annual rate of 0.8 percent in real terms over
the past 15 years.
By comparison, total
funding for the education, health and social security portfolios has increased at an average annual rate of 4.5 percent, 4.1 percent and 3.1 percent, respec- tively.
There is a compelling case for increasing RD&E funding for agriculture.
Governments have re- formed market interven- tions to the point where the level of agricultural support is the second low- est in the OECD area at under 3 percent of gross farm receipts.
These reforms made de- cision-making in Austral- ian agriculture more re-
sponsive to market forces, but the productivity gains have now largely run their course.
Structured and mean- ingful RD&E is an impor- tant element for raising productivity.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisa- tion of the United Nations, between now and 2050 the world’s food system will need to produce 70 percent more food to feed an increasingly crowded planet.
Continued productiv- ity growth and improved management of existing land and resources is key to meeting these demands.
For Queensland agri- culture to capitalise on this opportunity, it will need to move to more in- tensive farming systems and maximise the use of scarce resources.
Therefore, if Strategy 3 ‘Support the existing sector to grow and develop new business’ is to be realised, we must better address the acute and chronic energy and water stressors affect- ing intensive agricultural productivity.
And we must better pro- tect and utilise our best agricultural land.
While the Action Plan provides aspirational goals for the future, the current operating environ- ment appears to be too disjointed to see how they might be achieved.
However, rapid improve- ments in fundamental is- sues like energy, water, land use and planning would enable greater RD&E clarity and focus on the longer-term ena- blers and drivers for an intensified agriculture sector.
Page 4 – National Poultry Newspaper, June 2018
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Kids involved on the day were able to get hands-on with plenty of eggs.
Poultry Hub out and about
☛ from P1
of valuable food products and to also highlight fu- ture job prospects.
We recently launched our researcher in industry program, a unique way to get researchers and indus- try talking.
The aim of this program is to bridge the gap be- tween what happens on farm and in the labora- tory, increase levels of en- gagement and hopefully highlight new areas for re- search and collaboration.
We are also looking for- ward to our PoultryGrad farm visit and workshop in late August.
This program is focused on enabling young re-
searchers to see what the poultry industry is really like, providing them an opportunity to go on farm.
For more information on any of our programs, please contact us at poul tryhub@une.edu.au
Poultry Hub Australia and the team really en- joyed attending PIX 2018 and meeting and talking with a wide variety of people at the ‘Chook Chat Shack’, a joint initiative between PHA, Australian Eggs and AgriFutures.
We hope you enjoyed the comfy meeting spaces and checked out the array of information on all the fantastic initiatives and research that all three or- ganisations undertake.
The Poultry Hub team was glad to take part in Rural Discovery Day.