The agriculture industry is adapting to meet the needs of the market with a long-term view of population growth and demand from overseas trade, while being able to serve local
consumers in Western Australia and nationally.
Andrew Mostyn, a director of family-owned food and agriculture company Craig Mostyn Group, commented on the long-term investments outlaid for future growth. “We’ve invested close to $100 million over the last couple of years in major works at our Linley Valley operation and others. These are long-term investments and that’s where businesses like ours look to the future and are prepared to outlay that money to see the returns over a long period of time.We have no hesitation at looking at the future of the sector,” he said.
The consumer is the driving force behind the industry’s direction, including the demand for free range and a shift towards sustainability and clean products. “The consumer shifts everything. You just look at what Coles and Woolies are wanting, and producers are selling, and it’s all consumer driven, there’s no question about that,” Mr Mostyn said.
The overseas market will continue to demand Western Australian produce, considered world-class. “On free range, we’re selling more overseas at the moment, not because they’re animal welfare conscious but because they want a Western Australian product, Mr Mostyn said.
Australia is one of the biggest sheep live exporters to Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest livestock customer. Saudi Arabia once imported around a million sheep a year from WA, before the trade collapsed more than a decade ago when a previous Labor government introduced regulations on how the sheep will be handled in their country. Farmers have since had to fight the Albanese government’s moves to shut down the industry. “They want our sheep because we’re the best in the world at what we do. It’s a market that desperately wants what we’ve got,” Mr Seabrook said.
Tim Wood, acting CEO of Harvey Beef owner Harvest Road Group, takes a long-term view of rising market demand, with global population growth driving the need for food security and quality protein sources. “Australia is very well placed to benefit from the continued growth in protein demand globally. We are fortunate to produce in excess of what we need for domestic consumption and the quality of our produce, along with Australia’s sustainability and traceability credentials helps differentiate us from other countries,” he said.
“We’re bullish on the outlook from a WA and Australian perspective and we’re investing for growth, for example we are looking into expanding our processing capacity. Our focus is Andrew Mostyn on value adding locally whether it be boxed beef for export markets or retail ready products for domestic consumption,” Mr Wood said.
Mr Wood agrees that sustainability will continue to influence consumers choices. “There’s an ongoing shift in consumers expectations, particularly from an ESG perspective, and that’s something that we have to continue to position ourselves to be able to meet over time,” he said.
Western Australia is the nation’s leading grain growing state, generating about 40 per cent of Australia’s total wheat production with more than 95 per cent of this exported, predominantly to Asia and the Middle East. Wheat production generates between $2 and 5 billion for the state economy each year.
Tress Walmsley, CEO of national wheat, barley and oat breeder InterGrain, also the chair of GIWA and who comes with over 15 years of agribusiness experience and a wealth of knowledge in commercial plant breeding operations, said the use of technology for farming is pivotal to the industry.
“In my mind, it’s about not necessarily giving the grower more yield, but it might be giving varieties that use less input costs so they’re more drought tolerant or they’re better at using less nutrients. We have to acknowledge that we do have a dry climate and so we absolutely have to have material that can grow on a drier output,” Ms Walmsley said.
“Wheat DNA is five times more complex than humans and that’s not a very well-known fact by the general community. That complexity has been something that has challenged us, but now with new technology, like gene editing and AI and genome sequencing, that’s now an opportunity for us,” she added.
“In my world of plant breeding, I would say we’re on the cusp of the next green revolution. It’s that exciting. I want the growers in our industry to know that it’s not all doom and gloom because there is some hope coming through the pipeline.”
Keith Pekin, CEO at Perth NRM, a natural resources management for-purpose organisation, who also leads RegenWA, a network of Western Australian farmers dedicated to sharing regenerative farming practices, said technology is not going to be the saviour of farming in the long-term.
“I’m not convinced technology is going to be the saviour forever. Sooner or later, we’re going to run out of options for food security. That could be 10, 15, 20 years from now; but we will because the landscape is being degraded. We’ve got biosecurity issues that have escalated and population growth,” he said.
“We’re extracting more and more with new tech and that will help us for a long time yet, but I’m not convinced that’s the final solution.”
From 1 July 2024, a new levy has been introduced for biosecurity to safeguard Australia from potentially devastating pest and disease outbreaks. The levy includes more than $1 billion over the next four years, and $267 million per year from 2027-28 onwards. Ultimately, the consumer will carry the cost, with 44 per cent of the biosecurity system cost to be covered by ongoing taxpayer funding.
“We have to support farmers to be more sustainable, and that’s not up to the farmers, it’s up to all of us, taxpayers that is, to get food on the table,” Mr Pekin said.
“We treat food systems as a free market economy too much. But ultimately, food is the most essential public benefit we can think of. I’ll keep on saying we need more government support for farming. This shouldn’t be treated as a freemarket economy where you’re on your own. It is the most essential thing we need,” he said.
“If we want to keep food on the table, our government has to really step up with some good leadership and support the farming sector.”
“Food and agriculture must be regarded as a matter of national security,” Mr Sattler added. “Food security is within the top few considerations of national security. We need to build the industry as farmers, and we have to work together.”
