Many crossroads
I managed to sneak into a dinner in Sydney recently, hosted by the Australian Climate Leaders Coalition.
Most of the participants were from the ‘big end of town’ – chief executives and directors of large, listed companies, super funds and venture capital groups. I’d registered as managing director at Farm Trade Australia. It sounded important enough so no-one checked our market cap and they just waved me in.
The dinner discussion was titled, ‘Road map to 2030’. It was clear from the debate there are still diverse views around how we, as a nation, achieve the climate objectives we’ve set.
The majority of people accept the need to significantly reduce our carbon footprint.
What wasn’t clear is how to do this in a way that doesn’t destroy industry, through vastly higher energy costs, or create a consumer backlash because of cost of living increases.
The chief executive of a super fund asked how we stimulate a well-informed, national discussion about this issue. No-one could answer the question.
The business sector does have the capability to lead this. But self-interest is likely to derail the discussion.
The Federal Government should lead the way, but so often blatant politics hijacks good policy debate.
So where does all of this leave us in agriculture?
I came away from the dinner surprised by the lack of clarity around the transition from an economy dependent on fossil fuels for energy and export revenue, to a nation of smart value- add industries powered by renewables.
I’d hoped the corporate heavyweights had the answers, but I don’t think they do. It seems this road map has many crossroads and no signposts.
In ag, we could sit back and let big government and big business sort this out. We could think policy design is not our problem.
But then I consider data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Federal Government and the Reserve Bank of Australia on the top 20 emissions intense sub-industries in Australia.
It shows sheep, grains and cattle are second only to electricity when measuring greenhouse gas emissions.
Like it or not, we’re in the middle of this discussion.
So let’s engage where we can to shape a future that works for our farms and rural communities.
Farmers are natural innovators. We’ve already made significant progress towards a more sustainable future through practices such as no-till, stubble retention and investment in efficient irrigation systems.
We will need to get better at measuring these gains.
Government, and society, will demand evidence. And by doing so we can demonstrate agriculture is not to be seen as a problem, but as part of the solution.