The number of Australian farmers has fallen by 40 per cent in the last 30 years, yet the value of agricultural exports in this time has grown from $8.2 to $32.5 billion, a new Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) report has revealed.
(View the report here)
National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) President Jock Laurie credited
farmers’ adaptability for the good results.
“While the number of farmers has fallen in Australia over the last
30 years, at the same time, our industry has become more
technologically-savvy, more innovative, more efficient and
ultimately more productive at what we do: growing food and fibre,”
Mr Laurie said.
“As the Prime Minister said in her address to an industry dinner in
Canberra only a few months ago, agriculture has been the sector
with the largest productivity growth since 2007-08,” he said.
“And, as the Opposition Leader said in his address to the NFF’s
National Congress recently, it was only because of the growth in
the agricultural sector that we avoided going into recession during
the global financial crisis.”
Mr Laurie said if some challenges can be overcome, the outlook for
Australia’s agricultural industry seems positive.
“One of these challenges is to maintain this productivity
growth, which needs to be addressed via a continued, strong
commitment from government to agricultural research and
development,” he said.
“Another of these is the skilled labour shortage that the
agricultural industry is currently facing.”
According to the ABS statistics, the average farmer is aged 53
and working an average of 49 hours a week.
Mr Laurie said there is an urgent need to invest in manpower in
order for the agricultural industry to reach its full
potential.
“That’s why the NFF has convened a National Agribusiness
Education, Skills and Labour Taskforce – a meeting of which was
held in Canberra yesterday as the ABS statistics were released –
bringing together the sector to work collaboratively towards
solutions that will build a strong and resilient agricultural
workforce,” Mr Laurie said.
Mr Laurie’s comments come as the Australian Bureau of Agricultural
and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) released its primary industries exports forecast for
2012-13 on the 11 December.
The report predicts that agricultural export earnings will be
around $36 billion, up from $32.5 billion in 2010-11 but slightly
lower than the $36.4 billion achieved in 2011-12.