Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Will the minister inform the House how innovation and technology are transforming Australian agriculture, and how does this help to build a stronger Australian economy?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question, especially coming from the seat of Flynn, where a lot of this innovation is currently happening. It is part and parcel of Australia's plan to deliver not only a better price back through the farm gate but better technology to grow a better product. Right now in Central Queensland we are developing rice that does not require a water paddy. So, to deal with the diurnal temperature ranges, we have greater resilience. This is a plant that, when we deliver it, will be part of the equation that feeds hundreds of millions of people.

It is not just in that area. If we go west into the seat of Flynn, near Emerald, we can see the work that has been done with robotics. I had the pleasure of spending about half a day with Narendra Modi, and his interest was explicitly in robotics and how we can get a better delivery of chemicals, a better delivery of lower compaction across the farm paddock by reason of these modular units. This is happening in Australia. Also in the member's electorate we have the development of iHerd, which builds on the technology that our nation delivered with the National Livestock Identification System and how we can have total traceability of the herd from birth right through to the killing floor.

Everything we do is about making sure this government stands behind the research and development that happens on the farm. About $700 million a year goes towards research and development on the farm, and it is something we are happy to support. In the Department of Agriculture alone, we match, dollar for dollar, in the vicinity of a quarter of a billion dollars a year, and this allows industries themselves to go out and target the things they believe are of assistance to them—things such as the greater usage of drones in making sure we have better pest control, things such as the greater yields in wheat. We can see that, since 1900 to now, we have gone from about half a tonne to the hectare to over two tonnes to the hectare of where we are at the moment. I am proud to say that Australia has the highest yields of cotton in the world because of the research and development dollars that we spend, and making sure that we are delivering the best possible outcome for our people.

It is great to be part of the country that developed the MSA grading scheme in meat, which is overwhelmingly used in so much of the meat that is purchased today. This is delivering a real premium back to people on the farm. So this nation has the vision, this government has the plan, and we are delivering the innovation and technology that is going to make our nation a better place, with a better return through to the farm gate and a better outcome in the economics of this nation.