AFI Monthly Update: May 2024

TICKETS ON SALE: Walking the talk - Putting policy into action

For 20 years, the Australian Farm Institute has been leading policy discussions on opportunities and impacts for Australian agriculture. While priorities have evolved, some key industry tensions remain. We are innovative, and hesitant to change. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and operate in siloes. We dislike talk-fests, and love to admire a problem.

In 2023 the AFI’s Annual Roundtable focussed on connecting Australia’s agrifood strategies to more effectively deliver on our shared goals. This event catalysed thinking on sustainability objectives and reinforced the imperative to improve collaboration. Some things shifted; others stayed stuck.

In 2024, the AFI Roundtable will challenge decision-makers from paddock to parliament and everything in between to claim their role in leading connected agrifood systems.

Building on two decades of evidence-based policy research, AFI will look to the critical issues for the next 20 years and ask industry stakeholders to walk the talk, to commit to putting policy into action.

In collaboration with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation , a 3-day program of interconnected events has been designed to focus on leadership, policy, capacity and strategic goals for agriculture and rural Australia, with the AFI Roundtable at the core.

Secure your place now and join us in Canberra on 21 - 23 October 2024. Sponsorship opportunities are available, contact [email protected] for more information.

Policy

Sustainability-related Regulations Database launched

The Sustainability-related Regulations Database (SR-Database) provides information on current Australian legislation and regulation relevant to the sustainability of the agricultural industry, enabling a clearer view of compliance expectations regarding sustainability and ESG activities.

This new resource uses the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework (AASF) to categorise a collated set of Australian legislation and regulation specifically relevant to the industry’s sustainability status and expectations. Information in the SR-Database can be filtered by a range of parameters, such as commodity and location, and is transferable to sustainability reporting platforms.

Funded by a Federal Sustainability Reporting Uplift Grant, the SR-Database project has been developed by AFI and More Than Machines , in partnership with the National Farmers' Federation . View the SR-Database online.

In case you missed it: Balancing land use competition priorities in a net zero future In December 2023, the AFI published a discussion paper which aims to stimulate thoughts and provoke ideas on the topic of balancing land use competition priorities in a net zero future. The paper will help inform the ongoing work of the CSIRO -led Ag2050 project and the Government’s Agriculture and Land Sector Plan, and ultimately, aim to place the Australian agricultural sector in a future-ready state to reach 2050 goals. View the paper online.

National Renewables in Ag Conference

The National Renewables in Ag Conference will be held in Toowoomba on 4th July and bring together a range of stakeholders to discuss business case and drivers of energy transformation. Renewable energy plays a key role in the future sustainability of Australian agriculture through both emission reduction and economic profitability. These themes are a strong policy focus for AFI through our continued work on the AASF, risk management and emissions reduction activities and the research team are looking forward to unpacking the findings from the event.

Farm Policy Journal

Farmers depend on stable prices and reliable access to inputs such as fuel, fertiliser, and labour for the continued economic viability of food and fibre production. When unexpected global issues interfere with supply chains and drive inflationary reactions, costs (and risks) in agricultural input markets skyrocket. While the timing of major disruptive events may be difficult to predict, the statistically inevitable occurrence of such events across history demonstrates that disruption is in fact the normal state.

As a first signpost in a potential roadmap for anti-fragile input supply chains, the first edition of the Farm Policy Journal for 2024 canvasses some crucial components in designing proactive strategies to help agriculture benefit from, rather than resist, disruption.

The next edition of the Journal will be released in the coming months and explore on the topic of biosecurity innovation.

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