Food and supply chain security forgotten in government policy

VFF president Emma Germano believes government must better consider how major policy changes will impact food and supply chain security.

Covid-era supply chain chaos underlines why food security must be a guiding principle in all government decision-making that could impact agriculture production and access to nutrition, according to Victorian Farmers’ Federation president Emma Germano.

However, the concept is “often lacking from the conversation entirely”, she said.

Ms Germano pointed to the recently proposed Murray Darling Basin water buybacks, that would remove water from agriculture’s consumptive pool, as an example of government “never calculating” potential supply chain impacts.

“We’re never calculating the impact that that might have on food prices, or the volume of food that’s produced,” she told a parliamentary committee inquiry in Canberra on Wednesday.

The House Standing Commitee inquiry was referred by Agriculture Minister Murray Watt in October 2022 following years of severe supply chain disruptions triggered by a global pandemic, extreme weather events, geopolitical tensions, an energy crisis, inflationary pressures and skills shortages.

Ms Germano said many Australians had taken food security for granted prior to the Covid-era.

“It was interesting that the first thing people went out and panic bought was toilet paper, I think it really highlights exactly how people feel about the fact that there’s always food on the shelf,” she said.

Victorian Farmers’ Federation president Emma Germano

The National Food Supply Chain Alliance has previously welcomed the inquiry as a chance to develop a national food supply chain strategy.

Ms Germano claimed a similar situation was unfolding regarding Australia’s ambitious transmission rollout plans, where policymakers appeared to only be viewing the situation “through this one lens of energy security”.

“Again, we’re kind of in the position now that we’re talking about, do we keep the lights on? Or do we keep producing the food in particular regions?” she said.

“What we should be doing is thinking about what is the impact of every policy that we have in Australia – social policy, environmental policy, energy policy, trade policy. All of those things should be looked at through the lens of food security.”

Currently, farmers up the eastern seaboard are facing a major shortage of urea with some producers predicted to suffer crop losses while waiting until September for fresh supplies to reach the country.

As the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus caused stock shortages in shops and supermarkets. Picture: Brendan Radke

Ms Germano, also a director of Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market, said traders told her yesterday they get wooden pallets from the wholesale market and have no way to dispose of them.

“So people are dumping wooden pallets. And at the time we’re talking about a chronic shortage of pallets. And I think that really highlights how sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” she said.

Meanwhile, the VFF is holding a “Stop the Towers” rally next Tuesday at Parliament House in Melbourne to protest the proposed VNI West and Western Renewables Link transmission projects.