The House Standing Committee on Agriculture’s inquiry into food security in Australia is underway. The inquiry was referred by Senator Murray Watt in October 2022, and has since attracted 174 submissions.
Committee chair, Meryl Swanson, said that food security was a growing issue nationally and internationally, with population growth, war, weather and climate all posing risks to the availability and accessibility of food.
“While Australia was one of the most food secure nations in the world, recent events such as the pandemic and widespread floods have shown that we cannot take anything for granted. Input shortages and disruptions to the global supply chains that Australian producers depend on are likely to have a significant impact on the productivity and profitability of the sector. More importantly, these factors will have a direct impact on the cost of living for all Australians,” Swanson said.
Woolworth’s Group’s submission to the council included a case study on its 20-year partnership with Foodbank, highlighting that throughout the pandemic and recurring natural disasters of floods, fire, and drought, its partnership strengthened to help more Australians facing the impact of the rising cost of living.
Foodbank’s Hunger Report 2022 stated that over 2 million households in Australia (21 per cent) had experienced severe food insecurity in the last 12 months. With ongoing support from Woolworth’s customers for the 12 months prior to September 2022, more than $1.68 million was donated, along with over 2.2 million kilograms of food and household essentials. More than $300,000 worth of freight costs was also expended.
Regarding food insecurity and disadvantaged Australians, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) recommended the implementation of tax incentives in the form of credits or deductions to encourage a greater number of food manufacturers, retailers, and farmers to make the necessary changes to donate additional food and groceries to organisations such as Foodbank.
The Agriculture Committee says the enquiry will also examine ways to strengthen and safeguard food security in Australia. In particular, it will focus on local food production and the impact of supply chain distribution on the cost and availability of food.
Woolworths also acknowledged the impact of supply chain distribution on the cost and availability of food, saying poor growing conditions and flooding, along with rising input costs and global instability had been driving up local food prices in both fresh and long life grocery categories.
In its submission, the National Food Supply Chain Alliance recommended Australia ‘urgently’ establish a ‘National Food Security Plan’ to reduce the impact of disruptors on the nation’s food industry as well as trying to help reduce the impact on the Australian consumer.
The Alliance said the plan be a ‘whole of government’ initiative – working across all relevant portfolios.
The committee said it also wanted to explore the impact of climate change on food production in Australia.
Swanson said that “while climate change poses a continual risk to farmers, the committee is keen to see how agricultural producers are adapting and innovating in response to these climate challenges”.
Precision fermentation start-up Eden Brew’s submission highlighted the challenges and opportunities related to the development of brewed proteins, as the company works towards a secure and sustainable Australian food system with animal-free dairy products.
Eden Brew recommended a range of incentives, including financial support to leading R&D facilities and improved policies that favour alternative protein solutions – and provide continued support in the reduction in costs of locally developed protein. Furthermore, R&D rebates to broaden the inclusions to the R&D tax incentive to support additional scientific experiments was also recommended.
In its submission, the AFCG referenced its Sustaining Australia 2030 Report, including recommendations for policymakers covering long-term industry strategy, investment incentives, workforce skills, regulatory reform, digital labelling, retailer-supplier relationships and export growth strategy.
The AFCG says the right policies and incentives can double the size of Australia’s food and grocery sector to $250 billion by 2030, with a resulting 54 per cent increase in employment to 427,000 people, and suggests the inquiry adopt a whole of supply chain approach from primary production to the consumer to identify the factors critical to food security for Australians.
More information on the inquiry is here.
