Review of Agricultural Research - AFIA Submission

Print version

30 Jul 2010
By Colin Peace

This is a summary of the full paper that appears on thie website under "Technical Notes"

The present system of separate silo based R&D corporations has not worked well for the coordination and funding of balanced cross industry issues such as fodder.

Existing agricultural levies do not focus on the fodder R&D gaps identified by AFIA. Hay and silage production underpins the Australian cattle, dairy, sheep and horse industries yet the fodder industry is currently relying on a small program based on voluntary export levies and some contributions from RIRDC core funds. This program is insufficient to fund the productivity gains needed to respond to climate change, reduced availability of water, increased competition for land, changes in the relative profitability of agricultural enterprises and the rising demand for food and agricultural products in South-East Asia and the Middle East.

While the existing RDC model works well for commodity specific research, industry RDCs guard their own levy collections and matched funds jealously. Some RDCs see that their key objective is to gain credit for R&D outcomes from their levy payers. This objective is ultimately aimed at achieving a positive outcome from their next levy poll of levy payers. While some limited cross industry programs have been undertaken the experience from a fodder perspective has been that RDCs are reluctant to fund broad cross industry programs AFIA sees investment in fodder R&D as critical for drought preparedness, as fodder is a vital input for Australian dairy, beef and sheep farmers. Unfortunately specific R&D into hay and silage has been neglected. As fodder is a feed input for many livestock industries, no individual industry takes responsibility for fodder and commits to funding fodder R&D. Under the current RDC system issues such as fodder are not addressed well.

To fund this necessary cross industry fodder research, some mandated pooling of funding resources should be considered.

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