Anna Bligh dampens NFF $100bn ambition

Anna Bligh tells the NFF agriculture’s ambition to grow by $40bn billion will require an enormous amount of funding.

Anna Bligh has poured cold water on the NFF’s ambition to build agriculture into a $100bn industry. Picture: Kym Smith.

Australian agriculture’s ambition to grow by $40 billion will require an enormous amount of funding, Australian Banking Association chief executive Anna Bligh has said.

Addressing the National Farmers’ Federation leaders’ summit in Canberra on Monday, Ms Bligh spoke of some assessments of a $160 billion shortfall in capital.

The NFF, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, has developed a “roadmap” towards a goal of a $100 billion industry by 2030, compared to about $60 billion now.

Farmers might have to think about new ways of raising funds via alternative ownership models, such as joint ventures and equity partnerships, Ms Bligh said.

Other approaches such as a secondary bond market might also need to be considered, though “cowboy” options should be steered away from, she said.

Ms Bligh said both banking, and agriculture, were going through a period of massive disruption, uncertainty, and needed to maintain trust.

“The one thing we know out of all that uncertainty … is that your industry is going to need finance,” Ms Bligh said.

Banks, she said, provided 96 per cent of all agricultural credit.

Ms Bligh said rapid change in agriculture and its environment created opportunities, but also the potential for “a diabolically disruptive scenario.”

“I have heard it said recently that agriculture is on the cusp of the fastest, deepest, most consequent change in human history,” she said.

The climate was more volatile, Ms Bligh said, but so was the balance of power with consumers.

“We have seen the largest transfer of power and information into the hands of the consumers in human history, and it’s not going back,” Ms Bligh said.

“They are not only going to be interested in what you do, but in how you do it,” Ms Bligh said, saying this demanded transparency and traceability.

“It translates into your social licenses to run your businesses,” Ms Bligh, the former Queensland premier who comes from a farming background, said.

Ms Bligh said beef cattle farmers could face serious competition from non-meat alternatives now on the market and which were reaching price parity with the real thing.

“It sounds like science fiction to me,” Ms Bligh said, but added it was starting to happen, such as a move by Hungry Jacks to put $42 million into building a beef alternative manufacturing facility in Australia for run-of-the-mill mainstream burgers.

Governments would always be sensitive to public pressure on issues such as live animal exports, always holding the possibility of being inclined to impose bans if adverse reports of its consequences gained sway.