Prime Minister Julia Gillard has finally officially recognised what most people in the food industry have known for decades: Australia can and should be a food superpower.
Last night she told an international summit in Melbourne that Australia needs to look at the food production in the same way it does minerals, and start capitalising on the export demand, particularly from Asia.
"Just as we have become a minerals and energy giant, Australia can be a great provider of reliable, high-quality food to meet Asia's growing needs," she said.
"In doing this, we are not just an exporter of commodities but a partner in growing international markets and a provider of higher value products and services for the global food industry."
Will the Asian food demand solve all the problems?
Many experts within the Australian food industry, however, have voiced concerns over the reliance on the rising demand for food across Asia, and warn against having that as the only solution.
“People look at the rising middle class in China and see that as our export market and think it’s going to save the day, but what they don’t realise is they already have factories there, they will invest in those factories before they import from Australia because of the barriers,” National secretary for the Food and Confectionary division of the National Manufacturing Workers’ Union, Jennifer Dowell told Food Magazine in February.
“It sounds good in theory, but if we look at what’s actually already there, it is just simply not going to happen.”
The same month, entrepreneur Dick Smith voiced similar concerns when he spoke to workers at a glass factory in Sydney’s west.
"Just as we have become a minerals and energy giant, Australia can be a great provider of reliable, high-quality food to meet Asia's growing needs," she said.
"In doing this, we are not just an exporter of commodities but a partner in growing international markets and a provider of higher value products and services for the global food industry."
Some experts within the industry, however, have previously said that the general assumption that Asia can solve all our food financial problems may be relying too heavily on the idea.
“What we should be doing is selling food to the whole world, but we’re not,” Dick Smith said in February.
“We are now a net importer of fruit and vegetables; absolutely outrageous.”
He said depending on other countries to provide food for Australia is counter-productive and that Australia needs to ensure it keeps a vast percentage of locally produced food for our own consumption.
“It will get to a stage where if you want the best Chinese food, you’ll come to Australia, and if you want decent Australian food you’ll have to go to China,” he said.
Chinese companies buying Australian land to grow food
Earlier this week it was revealed that a state-owned Chinese company is vying for the entire 15 000 hectares of agricultural land known as the Ord Expansion Project ,in the Kimberly in Western Australia, to produce food to send back to the its rising middle class.
During the address, Gillard said Australian food producers can stand out from the crowd by ensuring the high standard of products being exported.
"It's not just about more exports,” she said.
“It is about developing the systems and services that add extra value to them and participating in the development of a market-based solution to food security across the region," she said.
"Building our food processing industry so that it can supply Asia's growing consumer markets and developing the research, technologies and logistics that strengthen irrigation, grow higher-yield crops and improve safety.
"Australian businesses must find opportunities in conditions where the dollar and terms of trade will remain high for the foreseeable future.
"They will not do that by simply doing more of the same or by slashing costs and quality.
“They will need to offer products and services with distinctive value, based on real areas of comparative advantage.
"Indeed, the 21st century business model is likely to be very different from the successful business models of the last quarter of the 20th century."
The road ahead
Gillard believes Australia is in a good position to enter the next century, which is sure to be challenging.
"If you think the change we have lived through already in our region and in our nation is amazing, then hang on to your hats because so much more change is still to come," Gillard said.
"Today, for example, 30 per cent of global output is created within 10,000 kilometres of Australia's shores.
“That may double by 2050."
"By 2030, China and India alone are forecast to account for 35 per cent of global energy demand."
In September last year, the Gillard government commissioned a White Paper on Australia's economic and strategic engagement with Asia in years to come.
The paper, written by former treasury secretary Ken Henry identified some important factors in our future with Asian exports, in particular that Australia needs to become “Asia literate,” the Prime Minister said.
"White Paper consultation has demonstrated that cultural literacy and understanding, or what Ken Henry describes as 'Asia-relevant capabilities' are vital to Australia's prospects in this century," she said.
"We need to encourage even more Australians to study and work in the region and maintain their connections over their lifetimes."