Australian food and agribusiness set to soar

From drought and bushfires, through to COVID-19 and recession. Australia’s food and agribusiness (F&A) sector has navigated major disruptions over the past 24 months.
Despite these challenges, a report released today reveals that the contribution of Australia’s F&A sector to Australian annual GDP could surpass $200 Billion by 2030, more than 3 times greater than its current value of $61 Billion.
Commissioned by the Food and Agribusines Growth Centre, Capturing the Prize(link to report) takes into account the current impact on the sector of COVID-19 to quantify the 10 Future Trends and 19 Growth Opportunities that – if pursued – will unlock the sector’s untapped potential of over $200 Billion within the decade.
The Growth Centre’s Managing Director, Dr Mirjana Prica said “Capturing the Prize is rich with the insights required to unleash this significant growth potential. However, making it a reality is not a forgone conclusion – if food and agribusinesses are to reap these rewards, business-as-usual will not suffice”.
Capturing the Prize highlights a growing sentiment amongst F&A leaders – food and agribusinesses need to operate differently: adopting a whole-of-value-chain approach that unlocks value on either side of the farm gate. This would facilitate the scaling up necessary to boost competitiveness and ensure supply chain resilience.
In addition to identifying the 19 Growth Opportunities that could see the value of the Australian F&A sector soar beyond $200 Billion, Capturing the Prize also reveals that pursuing these growth opportunities is estimated to create an additional 300,000 jobs by 2030.
“Capturing the Prize has the potential to transform the livelihoods of the sector’s 176,000 businesses, the majority being small-to-medium-sized, family-run businesses. It also has the potential to finally align industry direction, government policy, and commercial investment behind a shared target. This will focus efforts to see the sector’s contribution to Australian annual GDP exceeding $200 Billion by 2030,” said the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre Chair, Dr Michele Allan