Global Food Forum: National plan needed, says industry sector

Australia exports about 70 per cent of the food produced here but the industry says that doesn’t guarantee our food security.

Independent Food Distributors Australia chief executive officer Richard Forbes at the forum on Wednesday. Picture: Glenn Hunt

Business leaders want the federal government to develop a national food plan to maintain stability of production and distribution during times of national emergency.

A federal parliamentary inquiry into food security in Australia in December recommended the government establish a plan to strengthen and safeguard production, supply chains and key inputs to deal with challenges posed by climate change, biosecurity and food insecurity.

There are also calls for food security to be dealt with under future defence strategy to consider the effect of geopolitical threats on Australia’s ability to produce food and supply it to consumers.

The issue has been thrust into the spotlight in recent years by supply shocks brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine and biosecurity threats like avian influenza.

Speaking at The Australian’s Global Food Forum, Independent Food Distributors Australia chief executive officer Richard Forbes said the 190 submissions to the inquiry reiterated the point that the country needed a national food plan.

“We have a weak supply chain, make no bones about it, and when you have a weak supply chain that’s vulnerable you have vulnerable food businesses, and you have a vulnerable community,” Mr Forbes said.

“We’ve got an unprecedented number of threats in this country and I and the Food Supply Chain Alliance do not believe it is being tackled by government at all.”

Mr Forbes said Australia was dependent on imports of essential inputs like fertiliser, labour and diesel used to power farm machinery and, according to government data, has only about 17 days of diesel supplies onshore.

“We want to help the government identify gaps in their planning,” Mr Forbes said.

“We should have known that there would have been a shortage in (fuel additive) AdBlue in 2021 because it was short in Europe three months before we picked it up.

“We need to plan for what to do if something like that comes to pass.

“Risk mitigation is thinking about how we protect food businesses, the community and how we protect the country.”

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, who is the chairman of Original Juice Company and consultancy CT Management Group also used his speech at the forum to urge the federal government to develop a food plan.

Food security advocate Andrew Henderson, who is the principal of advisory service Agsecure, said Australia’s agricultural sector should be viewed as a pillar of national security and should be a consideration in a national defence strategy.

Mr Henderson said development of a national food plan had been overlooked because of an assumption that, as a net exporter of food, the country does not have any food security concerns.

“We export about 70 per cent of the food we produce, but that productive capacity is entirely reliant on fertiliser imports, liquid fuel imports, labour, much of which is imported, imported crop protection products, packaging and things that support our own manufacturing capability,” Mr Henderson said.

“We are a net exporter of food because of our ability to import those critical inputs.”

Mr Henderson said the Albanese government’s Future Made in Australia agenda could be used as a vehicle to drive necessary investment in boosting domestic production of currently imported inputs.

“The government has created an unprecedented intervention into market-based activities but it needs to be repurposed to address our critical vulnerabilities,” Mr Henderson said.

“It is the ideal vehicle.

“The good thing about the act is they’ve left the door open to other interventions.”