Further consultations scope future for rural research

By JOANNE GRAINGER, QFF President

THE Australian government continues to canvas ways to improve the rural research industry with eleven forums around the country being conducted this month.

QFF and many of our members participated in last Thursday’s Brisbane session, where discussions were held to address some of the more challenging and complex issues that Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) officials see as requiring attention before the government finalises its response to the Productivity Commission’s (PC) recommendations published back in June 2011.

While there has been near unanimous applause for the government’s announcement that it will not proceed with the PC recommendation to reduce government funding to rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), there are other equally important matters that still require resolution so that the rural research industry can proceed with more certainty into the future.

QFF used last week’s opportunity to reiterate the need to boost the rural RD&E effort in this country because both internal and external pressures require Australia to boost the productivity of our rural industries.

And we all know rural productivity increases are directly linked to the amount of research being undertaken by the universities, CSIRO, the CRCs, state governments, the national rural RDCs, and the private sector.

QFF is on the public record supporting any official effort to streamline and stimulate the performance of the rural RDCs, but does not agree that a new Rural Research Australia organisation is needed for the cross-sector or “blue sky” research that the PC suggested.

QFF also acknowledges that different industry structures, sizes and situations does create challenges for the jointly funded (statutory levies, voluntary subscriptions and taxpayer matching dollars) RDCs, but sees the current “model” as satisfactory.

Indeed, QFF and others have identified that there is a need for more information about what the rural RDCs do, not just annual budget papers and annual reports, but governments need a flexible and responsive approach rather than a “one size fits all” structure that will not work for many industries and research situations.

The chicken meat industry for instance operates within the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) and is “well satisfied that the current arrangements provide great benefits to the chicken industry and the general public”.

Likewise, many in horticulture industries acknowledge the inevitable challenges required to service the multitude of fruits, vegetables and emerging new crops under the Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) umbrella, but it is widely seen as the necessary vehicle to nuture the research culture those industries need.

However, they like us in the cotton industry remain very concerned at the overall state of play in the rural research industries where the quantum of work and infrastructure has declined in recent times, most clearly evidenced by the dwindling supply of rural scientists and technicians.

It is for this reason that QFF and others are urging governments to stabilise the rural research environment and put some certainty back into the industry so that young people can see strong career prospects in every aspect of the rural industries, including the vital research communities.

The Australian government has put in place the Rural Research and Development Council and it recently finalised the first National Strategic Rural R&D Investment Plan which provides guidance for all stakeholders.

It has stated that the Investment Plan will help deliver the required doubling of rural output over the next thirty years through investments along five key themes.

I would say we must start moving to put dollars into research work plans aligned to those themes sooner rather than later, otherwise the critical workforce component of that plan will not be in place to support the rest of the plan.

For details of the new rural R&D Investment Plan check the DAFF website at http://www.daff.gov.au/agriculture-food/innovation/council