Weekly Times - Food crisis looms amid foreign buy-up

30 November 2011
OPINION
By SENATOR FIONA NASH

WE MUST not jeopardise our own requirements, writes FIONA NASH
Foreign investment is going to be, without doubt, one of the most critical issues facing the nation over the coming decades.
We need to be certain that in the future this nation is able to feed itself.
We also need to be able to play our part as a responsible global citizen to assist in feeding other nations.
It is estimated there will be 9.2 billion people in the world of 2050, with every indication the population will rise to 10 to 11 billion by the mid-2060s.
Also, as the emerging economies of China and India continue to grow, those nations will seek more protein food at a substantial level.
Global demand for food will more than double in the coming half century.
By 2050, we could be consuming 600 quadrillion calories a day.
This is equivalent of feeding about 14 billion people at today's nutritional levels.
The central question for Australians is: will foreign ownership in Australia, of agricultural land and agribusiness, compromise the nation's future certainty with regard to food supply?
Concerns have been raised that if we allow foreign ownership of our agricultural land and businesses we will lose control of our food production.
Foreign companies would have the opportunity to create a direct pipeline from our soils to their homeland.
It is right that these questions be asked.
Those who just want to let the free market rip are sticking their heads in the sand if they think this issue doesn't need to be debated.
As a farmer, I want farmers in this country to be in control of their own destiny.
I want future generations to have the opportunity to operate family farms.
What likelihood is there in the future of foreign ownership skewing the agricultural landscape? What impact will it have on our rural communities?
When we see US company Cargill's takeover of the former AWB grain trading and handling business; Chinese mining company Shenhua Watermark investing $213 million in 43 farms in the NSW Liverpool Plains; and Spanish company Ebro's failed $610 million bid for SunRice, it's no wonder alarm bells start ringing.
The Rural Affairs and Transport Senate committee is inquiring into the Foreign Investment Review Board's national interest test.
A recent hearing raised more questions than it answered.
Some people cite the fact that we are an export nation, concluding we will always have the production to feed ourselves.
That may be the case. We shouldn't be complacent.
Nations across the globe are beginning to confront the challenge of future food supply.
Indeed, in a recent South China Morning Post article it was reported that greater support for agricultural investment overseas has been written into China's new five-year blueprint for agriculture, as limited land resources present a growing challenge to provide food for the nation's expanding population.
Australia needs to develop a comprehensive food plan for the nation that addresses the supply chain and future trade prospects.
Other nations are considering their future food task as part of current policy deliberations. So should we.

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