Some conclusions

Well it’s been a few days since I landed and I’m starting to feel normal again. I figured I should try to pen down a few things.  What did I learn? There were some major learning’s for me and plenty of minor ones. The most important one is how lucky I am. What a great family I have and how much my missing them made me see this so clearly. But despite that been a great learning for me it’s probably of no interest to you. Back to business then.

I set off to get a better picture of what’s going on in the world. Are we about to embark on a period of population growth that is going to provide great opportunity for farmers in Australia, and if so what challenges will impede this opportunity?

I travelled through many countries and had presentations from an impressive list of speakers from around the world.  They included leading farmers, politicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, trade negotiators, lawyers, activists,   and food processors. I had presentations about the growing demand in China and India. I met with agriculture ministers from India looking for new research.  I heard how Africa has enormous potential and saw the capacity and potential in South America.  I saw   the challenges and developments in irrigation districts in California and Mexico.  I saw millions of tons of vegetables grown in glass houses and across vast acreages of the landscape in many countries.  I looked at bio digesters, wind farms, and toured plants that turned human waste into bacteria free water for use in growing fresh vegetables.  I discussed yield potential, rainfall, land prices, community values and environmental challenges with people from all walks of life in developing and westernized countries alike.

I found that it’s true. There are great opportunities for farmers in Australia to be part of the challenge to feed the world and meet this immense demand for food that the increasing wealthy will need. Brazil is a great example of this as this country has seen a 20% increase in people who have shifted out of poverty into a middle class in the last 10 years. This trend is set to continue and maybe at a more rapid pace.

The concept of less land to produce food on was evident too. The amount of hill sides across landscapes on the outskirts of towns that had house on top of house is truly a sight we just don’t see in Australia. (I’ll up load a photo of this to try to give you the perspective I’m referring to)

Yes I saw plenty to evidence that we are going to have to feed more people who can now afford food that they couldn’t before afford and there is not the room in other countries, like there is in Australia.

We hear South America has loads of potential. However my conclusion is they are not interested in adapting to the culture needed to ramp up efficiencies. They will produce lots but they will consume lots too.  Africa too has great potential too. But it’s really evident that Australia is in a prime position to be part of the world food production challenge. Australia is reputed to be world leaders in agriculture. This was a common statement offered as I travelled. I was surprised to hear this from people in places like California, Scotland and in fact most countries I visited. Places that I thought would be far ahead of us. However our dynamic operating conditions, free trade environment and the investment we have made in research and education of our farmers, for many years has evidently paid dividends. This again supports the statement that we are well positioned to meet the food challenge head on.

I see this as another good reason for Australia to be an integral player in the challenge as we are further along the learning journey to   be able to responsibly   meet the environmental challenges ahead.

There are two things I found that will challenge this opportunity. The first is our significant disconnect with community that has widen to such a degree that it may threaten our ability to harness the opportunities. The second is farmer’s ability to get organised to capture the opportunity in the form of a return that justifies the costs of inputs and labour. (I will not discuss this second point here now)

The disconnect

 All through the western world I heard of the challenge of a westernised society that doesn’t understand the relevance of modern day farming practices.  The greater amounts of people that are being fed today through world agriculture have determined that the style of farming has had to adapt.

Unfortunately the “old McDonald “farm image that the community have, of farming, is no longer the reality. We have adapted practises and have specialised in different areas of agriculture. However we have not taken the community on this journey. So little is known about how we operate our farms today that the small amount  that is known, has led to society jumping to the assumption that our new farming techniques are bad. Words like factory farming have evolved.  Being specialised isn’t bad in fact there is sufficient evidence to determine the opposite. The skills to farm well, and have well cared for animals, in an environment that isn’t compromised and has the economics stacking up, takes a high levels of skill. This should be reassuring for those concerned. The problem is, we agriculturalist don’t pro actively tell the community around us, what we do or how we do it.

In Washington DC,  a lawyer addressed us who has defended most of the cases against agriculture in the USA. He talked about a new culture in the community.  He stated that 20 years ago he did not have the type of cases he has today. Having to defend agriculture is a new phenomenon.  He talked about the social contract being broken between farmers and society and agriculture having a job to do, to work towards regaining trust.  I also was fortunate enough to go to a conference in Canada where I heard similar things talked about, that  I would hear in Australia.  A  guest speaker,  a young woman from a farming background who was at university  talked  about the poor understanding her colleagues had of farming. She told stories of their twisted and negative understandings  of  agriculture. 

I was excited though to hear  that Canada who has been relatively free of attacks up til now from groups such as PETA (people against the ethical treatment of animals) are developing a proactive approach to the problem through a program that  redevelops  the trust of the community.

I also found another similarity on my travels between countries. Farmers are tired. Profitability is challenging, climatic challenges are demanding, policies that are idealistic and antagonise processes in farming are taking their toll. Farmers are not all feeling energetic enough to face these challenges. This is leaving some sectors of the farming community too tired to try. Consequently some of their practices are not good enough. These farmers   are not in a frame of mind to be productive they are angry and do not believe they are valued enough by society to bother with the new standards that are expected today and these farmers can be a risk to the farming reputation.

The problem here is we have society and farmers feeling like they are at war and fighting a battle when the real looming issue is greater than this foolish behaviour of  attacking  each other and will not allow either side to see the real challenge that a hungry world will place us in.

I believe there is a solution. We need to develop a new culture in farming, at the same time as developing a new understanding in society.  Farming will play a more important part in society than ever before, given the food challenge upon us.

 The Australian government has invested in agriculture over the years.  Research has been done to improve farming and the environment. Farmers have been educated. Support personnel have been funded to guide farmers through practice change.  However no investment has been made to bring society on this journey.  Community have been left behind and they feel farming is out dated and a threat to the flora and fauna of their landscape.

 Today’s citizen is a concerned environmentalist. There would not be a person over 10 years of age that hasn’t engaged in a conversation around the environment.  The environment includes the farmed animals as well as the natural environment.

Here in lies our solution.  Our problems are neither new nor unique to us.  We need to coordinate an across commodity program, co-funded by government and farmers; enlightening the  community of the impending food challenge and of the role farmers, are quipped to play in Australia to address this.

This will have two affects; the first will assist the community to understand the importance of the challenge. They will learn to respect the skills farmers have to work in extreme conditions to produce food, and the importance of Australia, doing this. They will understand the importance of the need for further research to find solutions to the significant challenge of producing food in relative harmony to the environment.

The spin off to this program will be the raised profile that food producers will have.  This will improve their impression of themselves.  They will feel a sense of pride and this will improve their will to want to perform to the standard required. There will be less rouge behaviours doing damage to the image of farming.  The social pressure, to be what is portrayed will assist in maintaining the necessary standard the natural environment needs to find the balance necessary to have human’s living in sync with nature and eating.

It will give farmers the opportunity to re-educate people of the new operating environment. The word factory farming for example, will disappear as society develops a new respect for the systems we have developed and the rationale for these.  The red barn, with the odd chook and a few cows, that is the current romantic view community have of farming, will be replaced with the reality of a dairy herd that has many hundreds of cows. They will see the computer systems that capture the data of the individual cow’s health, and nutrition status to a level of sophistication of the specialists in charge for example.

T he community will again be able to differentiate between the humans and animals and the differences and purposes of each.

The trust that has been broken by poor practices that have occurred and no will longer be tolerated by the farming community nor society, but the reality of having to understand the sometimes confrontational elements of Mother Nature, will also need to  be part of the journey of a newly educated society.

To achieve any of the above as a nation we need to develop a vision. This needs to encompass the importance of Agriculture to our nation, as part of this vision. Government on behalf of society, that they represent need to decide if they want agriculture.  Despite some saying this is a given, the actions of many of the policies that are developed do not reflect this. Many of the new social morals result in policy that hinder and antagonise farming, thus further denigrating the will of farmers.  We need to be clear that we want an agricultural industry. This will endorse the practice as a  nation to have the freedom to eat meat, if we choose and to farm the landscape and proudly view  farmers as the key to working through problems to find solutions to the food, farming and  feeding of world challenge.

We are an island, but we are not as far away from the rest of the world as we once were. As countries get hungrier, despite the fact that we may have food now, not too long into the future there will come a time when we will see riots, uprising and shifting of populations, looking for more food. The time to plan for this is now and it’s urgent.  It begins with the approach I have outlined above. Farmers are the solution not the problem

Reflections

I’m on my way back to Australia. Our Scottish stay was a highlight. The people and  the country just amazing

 So now after  seven weeks abroad travelling through many countries and about to stop off in Hong Kong, it’s  all finally drawing to a close.

 It’s been an experience and a half.

The traveling has been intense, with 23 flights,  hours in airports queue’s , uncountable motel rooms, hire cars with GPS’s that don’t like the address we give them , and  being   crammed up in buses ,trains and on ferries.

 We began as a group of strangers from all over Australia and from different farming sectors.  We stayed ,travelled,  ate , explored and met people, on farms,  in government offices ,  at lobbying organizations,  in law  firms, and  Research centers. We went to factories , and processing plants, Capitol Hill, Niagara falls and  Stayed at Copacabana beach the same night as  Obama , the night he endorsed war and initiated missile attack on Lybia.

We flew from one part  of the globe to another; -  all together.   We ate Foie Gras and Haggis and burgers and hot dogs.  We saw human waste water turned into water for irrigating lettuce. We saw gold mines and coffee plantations,  watched  pigeon, pheasants and Hare  being prepared ,  we dined with the  Australian Ambassadors   in Brazil whilst his butler waited on us and constantly topped up our drinks, and  had dinner parties hosted  in our honor .  We lost half the group in Mexico, found our way onto trains that our tickets were not dated for and used cable cars to get to the top of mountains.

Was it good? Too right it was.

 There were times when I wanted to go home and times where I laughed till I cried. I learnt and grew and felt confident and insecure, homesick and every other emotion and challenge I reckon you can feel along the way.

It wasn’t just the travelling to exotic countries like Brazil and seeing agriculture that was the benefit of this . It was the personal growth, the challenging and at times arduous schedule that pushed you to new levels that was, what made the trip such an experience.

 But most of all it was the group of Aussies I traveled with. A team who looked out for each other,  a team who had fun, a team  who cared,  a team who could challenge each other and be respectful .  How fortunate I was to have traveled with this group. I didn’t even know or realize all this  until the end . Right now an as I reflect  on this  I am beginning to understand the enormity of what I have been through and experienced.  

In my next blog I will begin to capture the learning's I have gained of  "what is the value of Agriculture"

Boy do I have a head full of learning's and ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summary of Scotland

The Scots really turned it on for us. We met some great people and there generosity was enjoyed by us all. We saw some great operators and were impressed by the younger farmers we met who were really getting into improving productivity. We went to a potato, raspberry and strawberry grower who was a Nuffield scholar. His gross turnover was in excess of 7 mill. We saw a potato grower who had a huge operation which incorporated a grading aspect of his business for other farmers and sold to a company with a contract arrangement that meant, the company they sold to had exclusive rights to the growers produce, but no price for the grower in the contract. This was am interesting producer/processor model that I would like to explore more deeply. We visited a free range chicken operation that produced 1.4million eggs a day!!!! Another nuffield scholar. He also has some caged birds that he had just updated the set up to meet the new "consumer" demanded cages. The cost of  his grain was skyrocketing and surpassing any level of profitability.
We attended a dinner with 60 invited guests. Many of them Nuffield scholars of Scotland. Each of the Australian scholars had to present their story. It was a great evening and was written up in the local newspaper. There was a guest speaker too who spoke of the challenges facing Scotland. The challenges were so familiar. One thing we all agreed as a group of observers/travellers is that everywhere we have travelled had access to labour from underprivelidged countries. This provided a solid work ethic base for the business to operate with.
Will share more soon

leaving Scotland today

Been busy in Scotland have to run for now but will share more later. This is Glamis Castle. The Queen mother was born here

scotland is great too

Have had a great day in Scotland. Hosted and entertained by the Nuffields scholars of  Scotland. Went to a business , yesterday that processes game, shot by the "Gentry" or those who can afford the sport. He processes 6000 birds a day. this might be pigeon grouse or pheasant. He also does other game like venison. Most amazing though is Hare. Who would eat that.?Must tell my boys, next shoot they do, not to feed it to the dogs!!!!!! This visit brought up the convesrsation of how the community perceives this industry. In the UK there are paid game keepers, and farmers don't crop up to the fences/hedges as they leave a band of grassland for the game. They get paid to keep the animals fed in the harsh winter to be shot in the spring/summer. The response I got upon questioning  this was; - people feel a sense of disconnect with the land and this provides a way of "getting back to nature". I find this a little ironic but good.  What I'm thinking is that we both have a urban/ rural disconnect but In Australia due to the vast distances we  also have a geographical disconnect. This is not the case here as villages are within eye shot of everywhere.  Remember too the animals are out of eyeshot a lot of the time  and housed indoors where the community don't see them like in Australia. (Yesterday I saw dairy cows grazing and it is a beustiful sight.) However we both have a demographic disconnect whereby all of the western countries have a gap between what goes on on farm and what is understood by the modern farming of today. The Uk farmer believes they struggle with the widening gap of the community around them. I reckon in Australia due to the geographic issues we have a double wammy.
Have had a little time this morning for breaky before hitting the road again.
I am staying with  A Scottish family tonight so will share more on Scotland tomorrow

France

France was good. Just thinking about the trip to date, and upon reflection, one thing I haven't seen is a lot of is, livestock as you drive around. All the animal are in barns mainly so accross the fields right across all the countries  I've been in is an absence of animal. Very different to here (Australia).

Washington

I'm in Washington. Meetings all day on Captiol Hill and with the Australian Embassy. Meant to have a day off tomorrow before flying off to France in the evening but the government is preparing to shut down. It because they can't agree on passing a budget and the current budget which has been extended several times runs out today. That means all services in Washington will stop. Its big news over here. An interesting time to be here!

I really looked forward to being here and I have not been disappointed. Have been getting really great information for my project. There is a lot of concern over the social contract between farmers and the community being broken. I'm a little disappointed there is no strategy to address this developed and implemented here. They are as perplexed and frustrated by low margins and demands from environment pressures and climate policies and immediate issues like pressures on the subsides being challenged to be thinking too strategically too. However they are concerned about the PETA's and Humane societies very cohesive approach and budget to go with it too.
We visited the Australian Embassy today as well. Off to dinner tonight with our host an Eisenhower Scholarship recipient who has acquainted us with the underground, Capitol hill and arranged last night for a night tour of DC.  It's been a fruitful few days.  The group are a great bunch to travel with, We all work well together, and watch out for each other. The true nuffield fellowship that we witnessed and were astonished by in Spring when the Alumni gathered to announce our scholarships is truly developing in this group.

Caught up with an old friend today. Its a small world

Today I caught up with an old friend. tim  nelson who was CEO of West Vic dairy whilst I was chair. Its a small world. I also met Harold Rudy. Who was at dinner with the nuffiled crew and who Tim know's and introduced me to. He developed the Dairy SAT envrionmental program here in Canada that was then taken and adapted to Australian situation. Our farm was a pilot farm in Western Vicroria.What a small world Hey!
Tomorow my daughter turns 8. Its a tough journey, rewarding but full on. Its times like these you realise this.

Niagara Falls. and OFAC

Canada has been great. Today i attended a conference run by the Ontario farm animal council. OFAC, Two fantastic speakers talked of the importance of addressing the onslaught of the Activists  threatening our  social licence to produce food. Canada feel that the groups working to achieve a goal of a vegan world have been active in Australia, USA, Europe, and are now focusing on Canada. The way they are looking at developing a strategic approach to this is so exciting. They recognise the importance of working as a coalition across commodities.  One quote I loved was "We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately" Benjamin Franklin. The approach is to work with the community to build trust. through values then science then economics.  There is a heightened interest in food so right now is the opportunity to embrace, this time and change the perception of farmers in the minds of consumers. We have been hearing up until now all about the challenge of feeding the population as it heads towards 9 billion and today I learnt that we certainly have the ability to do that but not without earning the social licence to do so. (I'll explain more in my report).
PS Yesterday we saw Niagara falls WOW!!!!!

I like Canada

We arrived in Canada at midnight last night and drove three hours   this morning west to nearly Detroit. We visited a sheep feed lot. on a Canadian Nuffield scholars place. Its really good being on a farm that you are able to really explore. We then went and saw Miscanthus. This is a long course grass with bamboo characteristics. they are burning it as a fuel source to run the green houses. we then saw a large tomato greenhouse farm. In Canada  there are 1600 hectares under glass and another 90 under construction. Must be money in it!. There are really only two buyers Heinz and another smaller player. Tomorrow I am keen to explore how this works from the suppliers point of view. I hear they have a fairly regulated environment that assists with negotiations for the farmers.
We had a really good presentation today from a director of the grain growers of Ontario. They have done a lot of work raising awareness and promoting agriculture and educating the community. They have evidence that it works, and returns dividends to agriculture. They don't disagree however that its an ongoing job. Lastly today we went to a winery and were taught how to understand and taste wines. Look out now!!!!

USA

We have just completed the California leg of the journey. This was an interesting place!!! Huge agricultural region. There is a vally running right the middle of  California. Here they produce neally everything you can think off.  We saw pistascho. Alnond Walnut, dairy, sheep, strewberries tomatos lettuce, articoke etc etc. It is amazing. Rainfall is around 7 to 17 inches. The district is a proud irrigation region.We went to a plant that turned the towns waste into water to be put onto lettuce. Yesterday we went to the farm lobbying organisation. We sat in on an Animal Weofare meeting. It was just like at home. The farmers were the same the issues were the same the challenges the same. That worried me I thought USA might have had the edge on the approach we should have to strategiclally addresss problems.  We saw a 250,000 head feed lot. We dined in his resturant on the steak. It was good steak. Much better than the Zebu steak we ate in Brazil!!!!

The day we arrived we went to Yosemite National park. Encountered record snow falls of 7 foot. Check out the amount of harvesters on the farm we visited. (There were more i just couldnt fit them in the photo. (sorry about the way I blog. Im in an airport and its always rushed and Im not too sure what I am doing with this blogging thing yet. No time for correcting either. !!!!!!)

Mexican Dairy farm

I was really lucky as I had a chance oportunity to visit a Mexican Dairy. It was a small family operation. I jumped a fence and introduced myself to the fellow. Who spoke a little English and I stayed whilsst he and three others milked 36 cows in a small dairy (I'll try to upload a photo) They tiped the milk into buckets and then walked it into the the milk room and tipped it into the vat. He said next year they aimed to be able to afford to pump it to the milk room. For those of you who are not dairy farmers this is pretty tough. Its great to see the extremes of agriculture around. There is big operations with pretty impressive systems right through to basic operations. We drove for 3 hours through Mexico before flying out, which gave us a great oportunity to see a lot of the desert areas that were not irrigated. They we flew to LA. From the plane it was amazing to see the vast wind swept sand/dune/dessert areas then there would be mountain ranges and out of the desert would suddently appear green circles and quares where centre pivots and irrigation channels watered crops.  Now we are in California. Today we took some time out to look at the Yoesmite National Park.

Visist to CIMMYT

We have been to CIMMYT and learnt about the research that took place over the last 60 odd years. It was fantastic to get such an understanding. Dr Norman Borlaug is credited with saving more lives through his work than any other person. Given the advancements in technologies and the events of significance through out history  I think this accolade for an agricultural scientist truly epitomises the value of agriculture

Brazil is over and Now we are in Mexico

Brazil was hectic to say the least. We were on lots of planes and buses and saw some amazingly big concrete jungles known as cities. Sao Paulo is hugh and has a little under 22million people. Thats the same as the whole of Australia in one place. WOW. We saw an incredible array of different agricultural enterprises too.
The focus on agriculture is impressive. They seem very focused on imporving productivity and using research to take them there. They will be able to improve their productivity. There is no doubt about that. They are also focused on the environment , contrary to what I have ever heard about the Brazilans raping the amazon. This is not the case according to all we have been shown. There is such ability to grow and a real committment from government to assist. Look out Australia here comes Brazil.
The work culture among the  people is an intersting aspect, that could both assist or impeed the ability of Brazil to more fast. Its not overly backward here. People clearly want what the modern world offers. Stuff is the same price as home but wages are less. All the employers we spoke to talked of skilled labour being a challenge for their business.  Some of the scholars  are suggesting that the very laid back attitude of the Brazilians may hold them back. I'm still  thinking this one through.

Brazil

We have been in Brazil for 8 days now and have seen coffee, sugar, soy, corn, beef, ethonol, anddairy (my highlight) Brazil is rather impressive. There is no doubt potential here and it WILL play a major part in feeding the world in the next number of years. There is not alot that will hold it back. If you take into account the capacity of todays world to change Brazil will become wealthy quickly form agriculutre and infrastructue and techniques such as breeding will rabily be adopted. the cultural shift of the people to drive this rapidly might be the biiggest hurdle. there is almost a go slow attitude of the staff in places like food shops etc. But I dont see this really holding back the ability of Brazil. 
Brazil itself reminds me of Australia in many ways and Thiland in others.

The title is What is the value of agriculture?? But what do I think about this now

Well our contempery scholars conference is over and we are off to Brazil. All the Brits canadians and French and Dutch have gone and the Aussies are now boarding the plane to Brazil. We have learnt so much. Im clearler on lots of concepts that have been confusing for me like subsidies and free trade and how it all works and why there is so much controversy on the subject but I'm more confused that clear. Its buzzar. So I beleive I know a lot more but its shown me how much more I need to understand.
I have been exposed to the hard nosed ecconomic stategies and arguments and then challenged by the social element of feeding the 9 billion by 2050. Then there is the environmental demand that needs to be accomadated. Ihave so many thoughts that at this point look something like a spagetti bowl of my thoughts.
So what is the value of Agriculture. Well with what has been going on in Japan whist we have been hear in NZ its probably a good time to reflect on the improtance of the fundamental needs of human beings and the social responsibility to feed them. Agriculutre may not at this point command a price that allows profitability to be garanteed but its so bloodly improtant to gow food right acrros the world.

Learning form other around the world

Two days are done and its be learning learning learning.  Learning from the other scholars that we have been networking with at morning tea, lunch and dinner . We have had presentations from amazing presenters from all over the world. Brazil, China and New Zealand of course. Each presenter really challenged and stretched our minds. I felt the overarching message was around free trade being important to improve productivity and assist with the challenge of feeding the world. What I leant  was that in New Zealand when the government embraced the free trade philosophy they also liberalized many other aspects of their own regulations that established an environment  that meant farming could really prosper. Tonight we heard from the Agriculture minister who clearly understands agriculture and wants to see agriculture grow. It appears this nation really wants to see agriculture as part of their  future.  He also claimed that there would not be one New Zealand farmer who would want to back to the days before.   In summary New Zealand have embraced free trade. They have done this by putting a supportive environment around agriculture to encourage and assist  with input costs through reduced taxes and liberalizing labour as two examples that provide this  and they have worked towards making sure their farmers are working collectively to capture the profits. Fonterra  being an example of this.

Networking and meeting all the international scholars

Well its  goodbye to Australia and off of the journey to explore the world of agriculture. We are so far away from the rest of the world its easy to stay focused on your own back yard. I find the challenge when we are so far away is to remember we need to find a place in the global economy. Agriculture is well placed to be a trump card in the future. Can we recognized and optimize this without losing the balance. Neither in favour of greed or selfishness of which neither is sustainable???? That’s the question.

Flying out of Sydney presented some thoughts of sadness at really leaving the family and the easy communications and regular contact I’ve had since leaving home a week ago but not having left Australia. I was fortunate to have a window seat and captured the beauty of Sydney harbor and  the bridge and the yachts. Then high about the clouds into “vanilla fairy floss” land.  I have never  flown into Wellington. Its beautiful gliding into the airport between the rocky outcrops of grey stone that greet you as you  descend into the  bay and land on a tarmac on the edge of the coastline.

Without a moment to spare we were whisked into the reception area of the motel we were booked into and thrust among a crowd of Irish (4) English(19) Dutch (2) Canadians ( not sure have met only one so far)French(1)  New Zealanders(2= One we are continuing on from here with)

I have networked with many so;  farm pig farmers , dairy farmers, arable farmers and a agricultural  lawyer and trade negotiator so far.

Then off to dinner on the waterfront  of Wellington amongst an atmosphere created by a music festival going on around us.

The discussions are amazing. The topics people are exploring seem to be very concerned with the longevity of the industry and future viability. It’s evident the investment of the Nuffield forefathers recognized the value of widening the horizons of agriculturalists by travel is an investment into the future.

Getting "cultured" before we leave

The above photos show us as a groups at the national museum at the art gallery and the War memorial. We attended the ANU and attended a lecture by the European Union representative Dr Tassos Haniotos from Greece on the Common Agriculture policy reform. The evening saw us dining in the nations Parliament as a guest of Parliamentarian  Bruce Scott a Nuffield scholar himself who was speaker of the house today.

ABARE conference +Productivity increases are necessary to stay ahead of the game

Hi all today I spent the day at the conference again and the strong message was ,that we need to increase productivity to stay in front and research will be necessary to achieve this.. Interestingly this got me thinking about the comments that were being made a lot, over the last few days about the price of food going up. I keep wondering how farmers will position themselves to capture some of the profit from this. I asked this question of a panel of farmers and they answered,  by owning brands,  and value adding. The wheat farmers wondered how he was going to value add to his wheat crop. I wonder the same. How can all dairy farmers value add.? Ownership up the supply chain! that is owning brands and being able to value add to base commodities like milk.
I also heard from some amazing farmers who are responsible land managers, making scientifically based decisions  who are innovating and producing food and fibre that significantly contributes to the nations wealth. I reckon the very concerned community out there would be impressed to see the calibre of farmers that the education programs farmers and governments alike have been investing in for some time has produced. Its a strong culture of responsible,educated land managers we have created  Time to let people know this!!!!

Canberra the first stop on my journey

And what a fitting stop with the opportunity  to hear the Federal minister of agriculture  Mr Joe Ludwig  address the  ABARES conference and discuss the commitment of the government  to a national food plan. He talked about a consultation period and the importance of community feeding into the strategy. How exciting and what an opportunity . Now its up to agriculture leaders to take up the challenge to feed into this strategy and position agriculture to be part of the challenge of feeding the burgeoning world population.

Has my journey began? I'm not leaving til monday but have had a unexpected and pleasant visit from a travelling nufield scholar from Ledbury UK. Adam pictured below is studying "How to alter the public perception of Agricuture" So very similar to my topic of  "understanding the value of Agriculture".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gib2xaUUHaA
an interesting video adverising dairy in the UK

packing

Hi all Welcome to my blog. Im packed and almost ready to go. Join me on my world trip to explore agriculture and food production around the world