North Korea, cotton undies, and Icelandic citizenship: All in a Barnaby speech

In his keynote address to the annual conference at Circular Quay, the Minister for Agriculture talked up the nation’s farm sector, but also zeroed in on the threats he sees to Australia’s ability to help feed a growing global population over the coming decades.  

Perhaps one of the more eye-catching moments was a veiled shot at North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and the potential for defense plans to impact trade in South-East Asia. 

“Once that individual continues down that path, that could be absolutely devastating to trade. An absolute shutdown of markets overnight. 

“So when you see that person sending off his missiles just think what the ramification are back at the farm. 

“Because if that goes off, that's the end of trade in South East Asia, and we go back 50 to 60 years.” 

He also urged the public to ‘be sensible’ and ‘not religious’ on genetic modification if we are going to meet global food and fibre needs. 

“If you don't believe in genetic modification and you're wearing a cotton shirt, I'm looking around this room now, take it off immediately,” Mr Joyce told the NSW Farmers crowd. 

“And whilst you're at it, lose your underwear. 

“And the seeds from genetically modified cotton are also fed to cattle so you better stop eating beef too.”

He said there was an ‘incredible equation’ for agriculture to meet growing global need. 

“By 2050 we will also have 10 billion people in the world. In the next 50 years we have to produce as much food to feed the world as humanity has consumed to this point in time 

“If we get it wrong, people will die.”

“They might not starve to death where you can see: They might be in North Africa, the might be in the Pacific Islands, but it will happen if we don't produce the food.”

Mr Joyce also borrowed from Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘nimble and agile’ phrasebook when describing what it will take to keep markets and production strong. 

“People think anyone can do it. But they can't,” he said.  "I had the Argentinians in my office, asking how we're doing it. I said none of your business."

He also urged caution on trade and warned of the danger of isolationists. 

“If you say we're only going to live on whats provided by our district our industry, well you're going to starve to death,” Mr Joyce said. 

“You've got to look at the long-term path.

“I don't think that any farmer would swap their position now to what they had 100 years ago, or even 50 years ago.”