ADOPTING the right attitude and a collective mindset will be crucial for farmers to tackle the global food security challenges in the future, says Andrew Fowler.
A participant in the 2014 Rabobank Global Farmers Master Class, which began on November 5, large-scale broadacre farmer Mr Fowler will join 40 of the world’s leading primary producers who will gather in Victoria and New South Wales to share information and ideas on the future of farming. The week-long Master Class program will cover key topics in the context of global agriculture, including social enabling, sustainability, succession, supply chain, science, social media, and silicon farming (big data).
Mr Fowler, from Esperance in Western Australia, said the issue of global food security must be critically addressed.
“We need the academia and the research but we need it to be put into practice on-farm”
“Broadly speaking, to double food production in the next 40 years is a massive challenge – so much is taken for granted by most of our population, but when you look at society’s demand profile into the future, this challenge won’t be easily sorted out,” he said.
“The issue really is on the human side. It’s about the people making the right decisions and the right technology being put in place to see results transpire at the farm level. We need the academia and the research but we need it to be put into practice on-farm.”
Ironically, Mr Fowler believes farmers have been their own “worst enemies”, being too good at meeting the demands of food production.
“We’ve managed incredible increases in production over the past few years, but I don’t think it’s going to be as easy to get the next big productivity gains as it has been in the past,” he said.
“If you look at the grains industry, the productivity gains are starting to plateau because the easy things have been done. You can find an increase of 1 per cent here or there, but any more than that is far more complex and harder to manage.”
“Farmers need to stick together to better manage the marketing of their produce and help each other”
A big believer in cooperation across industry, Mr Fowler is a committed member of several grower groups within the grains and agricultural sectors in WA.
“Farmers need to stick together to better manage the marketing of their produce and help each other. Without collective action, it’s hard to get traction.”
Mr Fowler is the part-owner of a family farming business producing grain, sheep and beef east of Esperance, WA. The area farmed is approximately 28,000 hectares with grain crops grown on two-thirds of the land and sheep and cattle on the remainder.
A co-operative approach
From 'pharma' to farmer, south-eastern Queensland beef producer and former pharmaceutical industry head Euan Murdoch says exchanging ideas and sharing experiences with leading farmers from around the world at this week’s Master Class will help further progress in the agricultural industries.
“It’s about getting a cross-section of views and ideas from the participants and developing practical outcomes,” Mr Murdoch says.
“People think their problems are unique and special to their situation, but when you collectively discuss them you realise the problem is not unique and everyone’s issues are similar.”
“The supply chain and how it is structured is a big challenge for the agricultural industry”
After building a successful global pharmaceutical company, Herron Pharmaceuticals, Mr Murdoch and his wife Kaye decided to return to their rural roots and, in 2005, purchased Nindooinbah, located near Beaudesert, south-east of Brisbane.
The property is approximately 2800 hectares and after extensive development, Nindooinbah is now Australia’s largest beef artificial breeding centre leveraging and developing global reproductive technologies.
Nindooinbah collaborates with universities, Veterinary Pharma Coys, and specialist reproduction experts from around the world to breed tailor-made genetics developed specifically to suit their clients’ environmental and market requirements. The property focuses on performance-recorded Angus genetics crossed with Brangus genetics, now known as the UltraBlack breed.
Mr Murdoch says he is driven to bring about positive change in agriculture.
“On a broader level, my life’s goal has always been to try and make a difference – hopefully we can for agriculture and for the beef industry as well,” he says.
“Productivity is a major issue for the beef industry and by technologies sourced globally and being focused on genomics and performance management we believe we can significantly address this issue.
“Performance management has played a major role in significantly increasing the productivity in poultry and pork and we are applying these methodologies and management practises to the beef industry.”
From an international perspective, Mr Murdoch says attending the Rabobank Global Farmers Master Class presents an opportunity to discuss the need for global food security and brand integrity in a more efficient and equitable supply chain.
“I think the supply chain and how it is structured is a big challenge for the agricultural industry locally and internationally,” he says.
“The supply chain needs to be based on a collaborative model rather than an antagonistic one. We need to work together rather than against each other.”
“We need to manage this better and harmonise communication and regulatory processes within agriculture”
Mr Murdoch says another major hurdle is industry structure.
“In Australia there are over 5000 industry bodies representing agriculture – how can we possibly get our message through to our stakeholders and the government in particular with this number of industry bodies? Communications with government are often confused by competing and conflicting views and opinions.
“In the future, we need to manage this better and harmonise communication and regulatory processes within agriculture.”
Seven leading Australian farmers will be among the Master Class participants along with Mr Murdoch and Mr Fowler, including:
- mixed cropping and sheep producer Mark Modra from Port Lincoln, South Australia;
- dairy farmer Pete Notman from Gippsland, Victoria;
- mixed enterprise farmer Robert O’Connor from Launceston, Tasmania
- cotton and beef producer David Statham from the New England NSW;
- and pig, sheep, cattle and crop farmer Edwina Beveridge from Blantyre Farms in Young, NSW.
These farmers will then join with up to 600 participants from government, industry, academia, media and advocacy groups at the inaugural full-day Rabobank F20 (Food) Summit in Sydney on November 13. Titled ‘Global food security: shared responsibility, collective solutions’, the Summit will feature a range of international keynote speakers discussing the themes of increasing food production, improving access to food, encouraging balanced nutrition, and strengthening stability in markets and production chains.
For more information on the Rabobank F20 Summit, visit the FarmOnline F20 feature page or www.rabobankf20summit.com.
