CONSUMER trends towards plant-based protein could provide opportunities for WA grain growers, according to a United Kingdom professor.
Speaking at the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) research update held in Perth on February 27-28, emeritus professor of food marketing at Imperial College in London David Hughes said there was a global mega-trend in developed countries towards plant-based protein and an increased desire for animal protein in countries such as India and China.
"I have never seen more interest globally in plant protein - it is a fundamental shift in how people look at their plates - it's not just about replacing meats but they want more protein and when they do they prefer it is to be something other than meat," he said.
"While the plant-based protein move is huge for pulses let's not forget you measure your grain often on the protein levels and yet most consumers have no idea that wheat for example is protein based."
However, a shift to plant-based protein could have ramifications for the meat industry in the developed world as well as in China, where government, speciality interest groups and health authorities were pushing for people to eat less meat for health and for environmental reasons.
Professor Hughes said global consumer trends were showing an increased focus on health and product origin and convenience to purchase, prepare, consume and dispose of.
"Shoppers are continuously seeking value they want to eat healthy and convenient food but at the best value on price but also aligning with the consumer's values," he said.
While price was a strong factor for all consumers, a focus in developed countries on "superfoods", digestive well-being and a perceived increase in food intolerances could provide opportunities for WA growers - as long as they could diversify their cropping programs
"There are no real superfoods but for a lot of consumers they think there really are superfoods - if you look at the top 50 superfoods from dozens of website, at least a third of the top 50 are products that could be produced in WA.
"What used to be a niche product like ancient grains such as spelt, quinoa, millet, sorghum, chia, you can see are moving into the mainstream.
"Even oats have a huge potential look at Uncle Tobys which converts $200 per tonne oats into $5000/t oats -when I go into a supermarket and I see Uncle Tobýs oats selling at $5 per kilogram, that's marvellous."
Turning to world markets, Professor Hughes said consumer demands in China and India for more meat provided opportunities and challenges.
He said two-thirds of total global economic growth came out of the two countries.
"Whenever you get 1.3 billion people where their income is going up and their diets are changing, if they elect to eat more or less of whatever you produce, it can have a huge impact on the overall market," he said.
"If the Chinese on a per capita basis elect to eat one kilogram more of anything, then that means they have to find 1.3 billion tonne of that crop.
"Unfortunately the flip side of the coin is that if they decide they've had enough of it and eat one kilogram less then suddenly there is a flood on the market.
"There is huge potential for China and India but both are not without risk - if they have a sniffle, we'll get pneumonia because we are increasingly reliant of growth there to drive overall global growth."
Meat consumption in Asia was growing at a fast rate faster than anywhere else in the world, with the fastest growing markets for meat in India and Pakistan.
This could bring opportunities for WA growers to provide feed grain, he said.
"There are 1.3b Indians and if they elect to eat just a little bit more meat there will be a sucking of feed grains from around the world over the next 5-10 years," Professor Hughes said.
However in the short term, he said the outlook for the cereal industry would be challenging, quoting Rabobank's 2017 agribusiness outlook that while the majority of the Australian agriculture industry was expecting to have a good year, grains and oilseeds were an exception.
"It is a pretty tough market environment for cereals, in particular, we're in a very volatile environment," he said.
"I think you have to expect the unexpected.
"There are some brilliant consumer trends that are supportive of what you're doing and the food and fibres that you grow, but there are also some challenges."
