Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture—and agriculture is critically important in my electorate of Lyons. Will the minister inform the House how the government's budget assists Australian farmers and agri-businesses through investment in research and development?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. He has incredible experience in the wool industry. He has a long history in the wool industry. He has been part of wool sales. The wool industry is a great example of research and development. When the wool industry first started in our nation, an average sheep would probably cut around four pounds, or two kilos, of wool; and now they are cutting up to seven kilos of wool. And the microns have gone down. It used to be around 24 or 25 microns, but now it is down to about 19 microns in the member for Lyons's seat. This is all part of research and development.

One of the reasons it is great to talk about the wool industry in the member's seat is that I have realised lately that we are now experiencing some of the highest prices for four years; in fact, they say the wool market is going ballistic. Isn't that good! The wool market is going ballistic. We have got record prices in cattle, record prices in sheep, strong prices in cotton and the wool market is going ballistic. You would almost think that we had good management, good government, bringing about good returns. Of course, the reason that happens is that we are happy to be part of the research and development that this nation puts towards this industry. Around $700 million a year is invested in research and development and extension. In the forward estimates, close to $250 million a year will go towards research and development. This will ensure that our nation stays at the forefront of the soft commodity market, the agricultural market.

It was only today that we made the very large announcement in this building that the GRDC will put $45 million towards research into making sure that we have more effective chemicals to deal with zero-till agriculture. This is extremely important if we want to preserve water, have greater carbon reduction in soils and make sure the organic content in the soils stays high. This is important and it happened today in this building. It shows the clear nexus between investment in the budget and investment in a stronger soft commodity market. We will be doing this with Bayer in Frankfurt. It will help us deal with 39 weeds that are currently resistant; it will help us get on top of this. It is a clear example to the Australian people that this is a government that is not only presiding over the strongest soft commodity prices in a long time but also has a strong mind to the future.