Greener pastures for
AUSTRALIA has a long history in agriculture and many new niche industries have emerged into multi-million dollar industries over the past 10 years, for example, avocados, almonds and chia.
With global market trends impacting food consumption, research commissioned by AgriFutures Australia has now confirmed that Australian rural industries have clear opportunities to identify new food types and to connect with, and drive, new and expanding markets.
In undertaking this research, Coriolis Agriculture scanned global food industries to identify new opportunities in emerging agricultural industries.
The research targeted Australian industries with a gross value of production between $1 million and $10 million a year. A multistage screening process was used to identify, analyse and rank the attractiveness of agricultural industries. The research combined trade data and a range of qualitative and quantitative criteria.
Fifty-three industries emerged at the intersection of “having global demand” and “having commercial presence in Australia.”
Further analysis and rankings identifies 26 high potential emerging industries with the potential to grow to $10 million or more in the next five years.
A combination of factors underpinned these projections. These include: premium products (eg marron
Jan Davis
— a type of crayfish, camel milk); on-trend (hemp seed, seaweed); new or emerging cuisine (jackfruit, sheep milk); and health benefits and attributes (chia and flaxseed).
This research not only identifies and analyses the opportunities with the highest potential for success but provides a vast resource and analysis of existing agricultural products and industries.
The identified opportunities range across the agricultural sector, including marron crayfish, sheep milk, chestnuts, hazelnuts, jackfruit, pomegranate, flaxseed/ linseed, hemp seed, eucalyptus oil, deer, silver perch, seaweed, redclaw crayfish, buffalo milk, camel milk, chillies, taro, cassava, prunes, rambutan, pitaya (dragon fruit), black tea, chia, amaranth, mustard seed and lavender oil.
AgriFutures Australia was formerly known as the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. Managing director John Harvey said the scan confirmed Australia’s emerging industries were ripe for the picking and would deliver big value to the sector.
“AgriFutures Australia has set an ambitious goal of supporting the emergence of five agricultural industries with a collective turnover of at least $50 million in the next five years. With focused management and investment, these industries are tipped to be the next big thing. The industries could make a significant contribution to the future prosperity and profitability of Australian agriculture, we will use this report to identify opportunities to invest in RD&E [research, development and extension], focusing on real commercial outcomes.”
Emerging animal and plant industries play an important part in the Australian agricultural landscape; they contribute to the national economy, provide alternative enterprises for rural and regional communities and some will be tomorrow’s major industries.
This can be seen playing out in day-to-day farming businesses in Tasmania.
Many of these new crops or products are already being grown in here — and there is certainly potential to scale up in some cases or for start-ups in others.
You may have noticed these changes on the ground.
There are more cows in the paddocks than ever before; and there are more paddocks carrying cows than ever before.
Pivot irrigators, once a rarity, are commonplace and getting longer; there are crops growing where they haven’t been seen before. Our dairy products are the benchmark for quality; we now produce some of Australia’s best wines; and our whiskies, gins and ciders are rapidly gaining world recognition.
Tasmanian farmers have set themselves a target of increasing their productive value five-fold by the year
2050. Many farmers are adopting exciting new approaches to their businesses, including a range of new crops and products, and of hi-tech approaches to agriculture. These advancements have been grounded in the step-ups that the rollout of new irrigation schemes have given across the state.
And that puts our farmers in a very good position compared with our mainland peers.
According to the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, heightened concerns over the dry weather gripping much of rural Australia have driven down confidence among the nation’s farmers to a five-year low. Seasonal conditions were cited as the key concern by 75 per cent of farmers surveyed who had a negative outlook on the coming 12 months — up from 36 per cent in March.
In contrast, with comparatively favourable seasonal conditions and strong price prospects, particularly for dairy, confidence hit an 18month high in Tasmania.
It is clear that new ideas are catching on a little more quickly in Tasmanian farming than elsewhere and, once again, we’re ahead of the game.
Opportunities include sheep milk, chestnuts, hazelnuts, jackfruit, pomegranate, flaxseed, hemp seed, eucalyptus oil, deer, silver perch, seaweed, buffalo milk, camel milk, chillies, chia, amaranth, mustard seed and lavender oil