In the news

In November, the Institute held its annual Australian Agriculture Roundtable Conference in Melbourne. Nikolai Beilharz from ABC’s Victorian Country Hour reported from the Conference on the issue of Chinese investments in Australian agriculture as well as covering this year’s ‘Great Debate’ topic of whether agriculture has gotten off lightly in climate change policy. The Weekly Times Now article, ‘Consolidation the key: Teys Australia’ (16/11/11), presented a synopsis of Tom Maguire’s speech from the Conference including the opinion that, ‘Australian processors needed to get bigger so they could compete against giant global players in export markets.’

As implementation of the Carbon Tax looms closer the Institute has been widely sought for comment. Institute staff were interviewed by ABC Rural for the stories, ‘Carbon for Dummies’ (9/11/11), ‘Global climate treaty could help Australian farmers’ (12/12/11), and ‘ABARES says dairy farmers will be biggest losers from carbon tax’ (21/12/11).

Potential rorting of the new Carbon Initiative was discussed in The Weekly Times Now article, ‘Fraud fear on Carbon Initiative’ (17/11/11), by Leslie White.

‘In the EU, the first phase gave free permits so participants could get familiar at no cost,’ Mr Keogh said. ‘The second phase tightened that and in the third, it became a fully fledged trading scheme – so they tried to crawl before they walked.’

While he admitted he was supportive of the CFI and the fact Australian farmers would be financially rewarded for their climate efforts, Mr Keogh said there was a chance of ‘fraud and bad dealings’ arising from the scheme.

‘The real risk will be people getting credit for things they haven’t done,’ Mr Keogh said. ‘But the alternative is massive costs.’ It is widely acknowledged the EU scheme was rorted with payments made for sequestration that never occurred.

Lucy Knight’s ABC Rural opinion piece, ‘Murray-Darling environmental water wasted in “trial and error” reforms’ (1/12/11), quoted recent Institute research:

Its report, Making decisions about environmental water, found major ‘inconsistencies’ and ‘shortcomings’ in the use of Murray-Darling Basin water bought by the government.

It said scientists, environmentalists and economists agreed water was not being properly managed or monitored.

Out and about

Recently the Institute’s Executive Director, Mick Keogh, has spoken at:

• Liberal Party Rural and Regional Breakfast, Canberra
• The University of Adelaide Debate at the Waite, Adelaide
• Australian Agribusiness Association Breakfast, Adelaide 
• Cosgriff Orchard Legal and Rabobank ‘Carbon and its Ramifications for Farmers’ Seminar, Echuca, Victoria 
• Agribusiness Yarra Valley Dinner, Mount Dandenong, Victoria 
• Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology Food Security Conference, Adelaide 
• Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries Forum, Coogee Beach, NSW.

The Institute’s Research Officer, Gaétane Potard spoke at:

• Ebor Beef Inc Stakeholder Forum, Armidale, NSW.

Conference – Managing the future of Australian farm land

There is growing competition for access to Australian farm land, as urban, mining, overseas investment, energy and environmental uses shoulder aside traditional plant and animal production. This escalating competition for farm land is creating conflict within communities and generating heated debate about what policies are needed to enable farm lands to be sustainably managed over the long term.

To engage industry leaders and policy-makers in this debate, the Australian Farm Institute is convening a two-day conference and field trip, on the 28, 29 and 30 of May 2012, in Sydney.

The program includes presentations and discussions on the following issues:

• Australian farming land from a legal and historical context
• The challenge of urban expansion and peri-urban agriculture
• The compatibility or otherwise of mining and agriculture, and how choices should be made
• How new land demand pressures influence land values and farm economics
• Reconciling future conservation and agricultural demands
• The role and rationale of overseas investment