Winds of change gathering

As the world's population expands, WA's farming sector will need to change production methods and invest in new technologies and supply chain systems to meet global food demand.

The world's seven billionth resident was born this week and the United Nations estimates the global population will grow by another one billion in the next 14 years and hit nine billion by 2045.

Although population growth is slowing, there are fears about the pressures such a big number of people will put on natural resources and food production. It is estimated global food demand in the next 50 years will exceed total food consumption of the past 500 years and the world's agricultural industry will need to produce 300 per cent more food from only 12 per cent more land area.

University of Adelaide professor Peter Langridge said to meet this challenge, world wheat production alone would need to grow by about 70 per cent - possibly in the face of diminishing fertiliser supplies.

He said this would require a big research and development effort from the agriculture sector.

WA farm management consultant Paul McKenzie, of Agrarian Management, speaking at the recent Nuffield World Conference in Perth, said local farmers would need to change the way they farmed to have capacity to meet population growth challenges and many were already investing in innovations to do so.

He said Australian agriculture faced many risks from a severe lack of genetic diversity across all major crop and livestock species, which had resulted from the pursuit of breeding for higher grain and meat yields.

"This predisposes the industry to a high level of risk from diseases, such as the Ug99 fast-mutating stem rust that 90 per cent of the world's wheat varieties are defenceless against," he said. "There is also a lack of diversity of food products at retail level in this country because we have two major supermarket companies that control about two thirds of the food chain.

"This lack of retail diversity expresses itself in price oppression that flows back to farmers in diminished profitability, which in turn constrains farmers in their ability to undertake their own research, development and innovation to improve production."

Mr McKenzie said for broadacre farmers it was vital to broaden the genetic base of mainstream crops and achieve greater uptake of new technologies, including biotechnologies.

"We need to work on improving crop yields and, with global investment in agricultural research and development dropping, I believe there is big potential for localised research efforts that can deliver significant benefits to farmers in their area," he said.

"If we can improve farm production performance we will have a global food situation that is less risky."

Agrarian Management trials in the WA Wheatbelt have demonstrated production systems that can consistently increase crop yields from the same amount of inputs and increase returns on investment using latest technologies in soil testing, water availability, variable rate fertiliser applications and yield predictions.

Mr McKenzie said these types of successes and strategies used by the top 10 per cent of the State's farmers needed to be communicated to the wider farming community in order to make progress in the sector and attract quality people to the industry.

WA Agriculture Minister Terry Redman said the State Government invested about $160 to 170 million a year in agricultural research, development, innovation, compliance and biosecurity through the Department of Agriculture and Food WA.

He said this was the biggest public investment by any state into agricultural R&D and attracted co-investment from national industry and research organisations.

Mr Redman said investments in agriculture to meet global production demand and supply challenges had an economic focus to ensure WA agribusiness was profitable.

WA's agricultural production is worth $6 to $8 billion annually, of which about 80 per cent is exported.

Mr Redman said this gave the State a competitive advantage in positioning itself as a preferred supplier to net food importing countries, which would be increasingly seeking food supply security.

These countries included major existing export destinations in China, Indonesia and the Middle East.

He said to date there had been minimal investment in WA agricultural land or supply chain enterprises from countries seeking long-term food security and less price volatility.

"Long-term supply contracts are another option for these countries and I think we will see more developments with this over time," he said.

"I have visited Japan and Korea and am looking at innovative ways to develop longer-term supply relationships that offer security of demand and supply for both parties."

Mr Redman said securing export markets and developing supply chains were part of the State Government's plans for developing WA's agricultural potential.

Other main areas of focus included opening new areas of land for production in the North West and the Pilbara, boosting crop yields and diversity, facilitating economic development and building business skills of farmers.

But others have warned that to meet the population challenges and increased pressures on land and water resources, agricultural training and research dollars into the sector needed to be significantly increased.

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