Tackling Agriculture’s Innovation Disconnect

By Mark Allison

Australia’s agricultural productivity growth is flattening. By embracing innovation, we can reverse the trend.

Australian agriculture is innately innovative, and profoundly sustainable. Over three centuries, Australian farms have proudly laid claim to some of the world’s most important agricultural innovations, borne from a desire to succeed in one of the harshest, most variable climates in the world. Ever since the “stump jump plough” in the 1800s, our farmers have been at the forefront of global innovation, continually finding new ways to do more with less and maintaining healthy, productive soils and livestock for evolving consumer needs. 

Growers produce crops from seasons that would have once yielded nothing, conserving every drop of water. They embrace technology, harvesting data as well as crops. Yet despite this rich history of value-creating innovation, Australian agricultural productivity growth – which is our key measure for assessing industry performance and profitability – is slowly flattening.

Agriculture is facing declining terms of trade, rising input costs, volatile markets and more varied, hotter and drier weather. If we are to realise the National Farmers’ Federation goal of increasing farm gate output to $100 billion by 2030, it is essential Australian farmers innovate even more so than in the past – and do so sustainably. 

Key focus areas 

Farmers require technological and digital developments that will contribute to the bottom line while investing in their core asset – their farm and local environment. To achieve this goal, be it through ag tech or other practice change, areas of focus must be: 

• Nutrition – boosting productivity, whether through soil and crop nutrition, or in livestock with a delicate mix of protein, energy, roughage and minerals. This is particularly important during prolonged dry conditions and seasonally wet conditions. 
• Soil moisture conservation – improving water use efficiency on farms, whether it’s in cropping, horticulture, irrigation, producing feed for livestock or feeding livestock. 
• Pest management – optimising chemical use to combat weeds and pests for maximum productivity and minimal impact on the environment. 
• Genetics – this includes genetic gains across all breeds in livestock production, as well as in cropping, where new varieties provide greater drought, salinity or pest resistance, or defence against weeds and other pests. 

Sustainable innovation 

Another key focus area for innovation must be sustainability. Agribusiness Australia’s 2020 State of the Industry Report says Australian agribusiness should “embed sustainability into all areas…creating a sustainable competitive advantage”. Well, I’d argue farmers have always done this. As custodians of their land, they protect native plants and biodiversity. It’s about investing in their core asset, not only this season, but also for the seasons after that. Environmental sustainability is good business. There’s a perception that to enhance sustainability, you must unwind innovation, when in fact the opposite is true. We can’t tackle climate change and food waste or reduce environmental impacts without innovation.

Mark Allison is managing director and CEO of Elders, and the president of Agribusiness Australia.