- Introduction
- Australia has long considered itself a food secure nation, but recent events have led to questions about the validity of this assumption. The outbreak of COVID-19 led to empty supermarket shelves. Illness, lockdowns and border closures led to labour shortages along the supply chain. The dislocation of international trade led to periodic shortages of key inputs, such as the infamous AdBlue shortage.
- Other events have drawn out other issues. Conflict in Ukraine has created shortages of grain that have driven up prices globally. Fuel and energy prices have jumped. This has led to sustained food price inflation.
- The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease and Lumpy Skin Disease in Indonesia has highlighted the vulnerability of our food producing industries to biosecurity risks. The arrival of Varroa mite in Australia has demonstrated that these risks are not just hypothetical. Then there are the broader challenges of climate change to food production and food insecurity within the Australian population.
- The purpose of this report is to identify and address some of these challenges and examine ways to strengthen and safeguard Australia’s food security. It will do so by focusing on several key areas:
- Food production, consumption and trade;
- Access to key production inputs and their impact on production costs;
- The food supply chain and its vulnerabilities, including managing food waste;
- The issues of climate change and biosecurity; and
- Addressing food insecurity.
- The report will also examine the need for a national food security strategy or plan.
What is food security?
1.6The generally accepted definition of food security is that established by the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which states:
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and health life.
1.7Underpinning this definition are four pillars—availability, access, utilisation and stability:
- Availability: Having a quantity and quality of food sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, free from adverse substances and acceptable within a given culture, supplied through domestic production or imports.
- Access: Having personal or household financial means to acquire food for an adequate diet at a level to ensure that satisfaction of other basic needs are not threatened or compromised; and that adequate food is accessible to everyone, including vulnerable individuals and groups.
- Utilisation: Having an adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met.
- Stability: Having the ability to ensure food security in the event of sudden shocks (e.g. an economic, health, conflict or climatic crisis) or cyclical events (e.g. seasonal food insecurity).
- Two addition pillars have been proposed—agency and sustainability:
- Agency: Individuals or groups having the capacity to act independently to make choices about what they eat, the foods they produce, how that food is produced, processed, and distributed, and to engage in policy processes that shape food systems. The protection of agency requires socio-political systems that uphold governance structures that enable the achievement of Food Security and Nutrition for all.
- Sustainability: Food system practices that contribute to long-term regeneration of natural, social and economic systems, ensuring the food needs of the present generations are met without compromising the food needs of future generations.
- It is these elements which constitute food security, and their absence can or does signal food insecurity.
Conduct of the Inquiry
1.10The inquiry was referred to the Committee by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator the Hon Murray Watt, on 24 October 2022. A copy of the terms of reference can be found on page xiii.
1.11Over the course of the inquiry, the Committee received 188 submissions. A list of submissions is at Appendix A.
1.12Other publications, documents and supplementary material were received as exhibits. A list of these exhibits is at Appendix B.
1.13The Committee undertook a program of public hearings and site visits. Between November 2022 and August 2023 the Committee held 24 public hearings, including hearings in interstate capitals. Details of the public hearings, including a list of witnesses, are at Appendix C.
1.14In addition, the Committee conducted numerous site visits across the country, meeting with a range of industry and community organisations and inspecting the operations of a number of enterprises. These included:
- Tassal’s Feed Centre in Hobart, rendering plant at Triabunna, and salmon pens at Okehampton Bay, Tasmania.
- Sea Forest’s seaweed beds in the Mercury Passage and Asparagopsis plant at Triabunna, Tasmania
- The South Australian Produce Market at Pooraka, SA.
- Epicurean Food Group’s exotic mushroom farm and processing facility at the former General Motors Holden site at Elizabeth, SA.
- Meeting with representatives of the Northern Adelaide Plains Food Cluster, City of Playford, and Regional Development Australia Barossa Gawler Light Adelaide Plains, at the Virginia Horticulture Centre, to discuss the work of the Northern Adelaide Plains Food Cluster.
- P’Petual Holdings’ greenhouse facilities at Buckland Park, SA.
- Uleybury Wines, Uleybury, SA.
- Torrens Valley Orchards’ packing facilities at Gumeracha, SA.
- The Greenspace ESG macrofarm and microfarm at Darling Harbour, Sydney.
- Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE), Toowoomba, Queensland.
- The Story Fresh processing facilities and farm at Cambooya, Queensland.
- Wellcamp Airport, Wellcamp, Queensland.
- JBS Foods Beef City feedlot and meat processing plant at Purrawunda, Queensland.
- CBH Group’s Metro Grain Centre in Forrestfield, WA.
- Meeting with the representatives of the Fitzroy Crossing community and Shire of Derby-West Kimberley (SDWK) to discuss food security in Fitzroy Crossing.
- Gogo Station, WA.
- Shire of Wyndham-East Kimberley (SWEK), Kununurra, WA.
- Ord River Irrigation Area, WA.
- Kimberley Agricultural Investments (KIA), Kununurra, WA.
- Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development Kununurra research station.
- Meeting with representatives of SWEK and the local business and community leaders to discuss the economic development of the East Kimbereley region.
- Mulloon Institute, Mulloon Creek, NSW.
Structure of the report
1.15This report consists of seven chapters including this introduction.
1.16Chapter 2 explores the need for a National Food Plan in Australia. It discusses the institutional framework to support it, the ground it should cover, and identifies some Australian and international strategies that have embodied or contributed to national food planning. Further information on the Australian strategies can be found in Appendix D, and the international strategies in Appendix E.
1.17Chapter 3 addresses the question ‘are we food secure?’ It examines the production, consumption and export of food across the economy, then sector by sector, while noting some of the challenges to production faced by individual sectors. The chapter then discusses the role of exports in food security, issues around farm viability, and some of the innovations in food production that can buttress food security in Australia and globally, such as alternative proteins, protected cropping and vertical farming.
1.18Chapter 4 explores the key inputs used in Australia’s food production and their potential to impact on the production and availability of food. It discusses the importance of key inputs, such as labour, fuel and fertiliser. It examines the vulnerabilities and risks associated with reliance on imported inputs. It then considers issues around local inputs such as energy and water, and the need to protect productive agricultural land.
1.19Chapter 5 discusses the food supply chain, in particular its vulnerabilities. It examines the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, issues around transport networks, the importance of distribution centres, and the special circumstances of remote communities in northern Australia. It also explores the need for a national food supply chain map to locate the production and distribution elements of the food system and identify weaknesses. The chapter then focuses on the end of the supply chain—food waste and potential solutions, including the creation of a circular economy.
1.20Chapter 6 discusses climate change and biosecurity. It examines the threat and potential impacts of climate change on food security, as well as options for adaptation and innovation that will allow the agriculture sector to reduce emissions, sequester carbon, and adopt approaches that will make the farm sector more resilient. It also explores the challenge of biosecurity—potential threats and the cost of incursions, how biosecurity will be impacted by climate change, and the complex issue of how biosecurity is funded.
1.21Chapter 7 examines food insecurity in Australia, including its origins and impacts, the importance of nutritional education and awareness, and particular challenges for Indigenous and remote communities. Responses to food insecurity in Australia are also discussed.
Acknowledgements
1.22The Committee would like to thank everyone who provided written submissions, attended public hearings, and hosted the Committee on site visits. The Committee is particularly grateful for the efforts of everyone who took time out of their days to host the Committee at various sites around the country and the insights this provided into the work of businesses and organisations in providing for the food security of Australians.