The government has set 16 goals for the food and agricultural sectors to help capitalise on the rising demand for food in Asia in Australia's first ever National Food Plan released on Saturday.
The plan focuses strongly on funding for research aimed at expanding food exports into Asia, and for strengthening trade ties between the regions.
The government has pledged $28.5 million to an Asian Food Markets Research Fund to help Australia's agriculture and food industries to capitalise on opportunities offered by growing Asian markets.
A further $5.6 million will go toward strengthening trade ties in the Asian region, and another $2 million to develop Australia’s own trusted and recognised food brand, to ensure trading partners continue to associate Australia with high quality, innovative, safe and sustainable food.
The plan also includes a ''Moving Food'' study to analyse food industry trends to help business and governments plan infrastructure to support a growing industry to 2025, and a “What Asia Wants” study to identify food needs and preferences in the region and identify long-term risks and opportunities for the Australian food industry.
An Australian Council on Food will also be established to engage with industry and community leaders on food and a State of the Food System report released every five years will monitor the food system and analyse trends.
The plan also includes a previously announced commitment for a review by the Productivity Commission into cutting food business red tape, and the establishment of a ''food and beverage supplier advocate'' to help Australian food businesses gain access to new markets.
“The National Food Plan is a roadmap to create new opportunities for Australia’s food industry,” said Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Joe Ludwig.
“Australia’s food is the envy of the world, as we produce more than twice the food we consume, we need to remain focused on finding new markets for our high quality exports,” the minister said.
“We are also supporting our food sector to build on their strong foundation, better prepare for the future and to take advantage of new opportunities. The National Food Plan helps achieve those goals.”
The National Food Plan is underpinned by the four key themes of ‘growing
exports’, ‘a thriving industry’, ‘people’ and ‘sustainability’.
The Australian Food & Grocery Council said the National Food Plan set worthy goals but was short on action.
AFGC CEO Gary Dawson welcomed the $28.5 million Asian Food Markets Research Fund and the brand identity project but said the lack of urgency in addressing immediate challenges affecting the competitiveness of the food manufacturing sector was of concern.
He also said that the aspirations laid out in the National Food Plan “will require a much bolder set of policies”.
"Given the scale and importance of food production and processing to the Australian economy the initiatives outlined today are very modest. There is little to build confidence to invest and no immediate action to tackle regulatory reform.
“While long term aspirations are important, industry needs the government to act urgently because without a competitive domestic industry these opportunities will never be realised,” Dawson said.
Farmers, on the other hand, have praised the federal government's National Food Plan. National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) president Duncan Fraser says the plan responded to many of the challenges set for the government by the NFF.
“The Food Plan, at its highest level, is designed to help Australian food businesses overcome their diverse challenges, and benefit from emerging markets in Asia. It’s an ambitious goal, and to ensure it remains relevant - and beneficial - to farmers at the forefront of producing our food, the NFF set a series of direct challenges to the government: things we wanted to see included in the Food Plan,” Fraser said. “We are pleased to see today that the government has listened.
“This is a great outcome for Australian farmers, the NFF and agriculture in general, and we look forward to working with both current and future governments on the implementation of the Food Plan,” he said.
The National Food Plan was a Labor commitment in the 2010 election.
