Australia at risk of food insecurity, experts warn

Even the future of Australia’s massive $49 billion agricultural sector looks uncertain. Thanks to climate change, production of key export commodities such as wheat, beef, dairy and sugar could drop by 19% by 2050, according to a report from the Climate Group.

To address food insecurity, La Trobe University and CSIRO have joined forces to propose the Australian Food Innovation Center (AFIC). The center will serve as a research, development and innovation lab to help industry devise improved high-yielding, disease-resistant crops. Resistant and more water-saving.

As an example of AFIC’s work, the La Trobe Agro-Food Institute worked with global beverage giant PepsiCo to create a new oat “genome blueprint” containing 2,000 newly discovered genes. Supporting the breeding of drought and heat tolerant oat crops to reduce supply instability.

So far, the Victorian government has contributed $1.5 million to AFIC, a small fraction of the $300-400 million needed to set it up from state and federal governments, Bacic says. He estimates the center will add $100 million a year to Australia’s food exports and build up to 30 new food manufacturing facilities in his first decade.

“This is very important for Australia because without food we are in need,” said Bacic.

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Bacic is the latest voice to join. Business leaders and industry heavyweights are getting louder We are calling for more investment in local food production. Agribusiness Elders chief Mark Allison said it could be a $300 billion opportunity.

Our commitment to “making more here in Australia” Anthony Albanese Key Pledge in Marketing to win over the government.

In the 1960s manufacturing jobs accounted for 25% of the workforce. Now it’s about 6%. A 2020 report by the Australian Institute of think tanks notes that the COVID crisis has made the “strategic importance” of local manufacturing “more obvious”.