NUFFIELD scholar and Latham farmer Dylan Hirsch is on a study trip of a lifetime around the world.
Having already visited Singapore, India, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar Mr Hirsch and six others are off to France, Belgium and the United States for a six and a half week tour.
Mr Hirsch is on a Nuffield scholarship research tour, funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
“We went to Singapore for a couple of days, then India for 11 days, Dubai and Abu Dhabi for four days and Qatar for four days,” Mr Hirsch said.
He said so far the trip had made him appreciate the political stability in Australia.
“We should be grateful for our stability but also we should understand other countries and our other trading partners that don’t have political stability,” he said.
“Their values are fairly different to ours and the main thing in Qatar is food security, which is a big issue.
“They are quite a wealthy nation with their gas resources but food is something that they rely on imports for.”
Mr Hirsch said people in Qatar were worried about recent delays and uncertainty of the live export supply.
He said seeing it from their side put it into perspective and how much of a concern it was for them.
“The live export issues will certainly change the way Qatar looks at Australia and also WA, in particularly,” he said.
“We have quite a good relationship with them and they have quite a bit of respect for Australian quality.”
Mr Hirsch said it would be interesting to see how trade went with Qatar in the future.
He found agriculture in India to be advanced with access to all the same technology available to Australian farmers.
Because their farms aren’t on the same scale, Mr Hirsch said it was not always the best place to implement new technology.
Australians are investing more into technology due to labour being a lot more expensive.
Mr Hirsch said India placed a high value on agriculture and the government had quite a lot of subsidies and support for farmers in the country, in terms of protecting imports and making sure there is access to water.
“At the same time it’s also going to delay the mechanisation of agriculture there,” he said.
“Which I think in the long-term is for the good because 65 per cent of their population is employed in agriculture.
“If they went through a big mechanisation then a massive chunk of that 65pc would move to the cities which would create a lot of problems socially.”
Mr Hirsch said the most important thing for people to realise about India was it’s a different place politically to do business.
“I have seen a few instances where overseas investors have gone to India, not fully understanding how government works and it’s unsuccessful,” he said.
The next leg on the group study tour is France, where he hopes to see the process of wine farms.
He expects it to be a beautiful area and is looking forward to whatever agriculture business they have there.
“Whether it’s horticulture, grain growing, dairy or wine, I’m happy to have a look,” he said.
“Again I’m sure the economics and government policy will be different for the growers compared to the other countries I have visited already.
“France is quite a regulated industry, which is different to what I have seen on my trip because it’s certainly not very regulated in the Gulf regions.”
Finishing up the group travel in the US, Mr Hirsch will spend an extra few weeks overseas to continue his individual studies.
Mr Hirsch said he would return home to continue study before harvest and most likely go again next January or February.
“From my individual studies from the US and around the world I’m looking at financial products like insurance and weather trading and things like that,” he said.
“I am hoping I can get a good snap shot or summary of what other countries are doing in regards to managing seasonal variability in climate.
“I’m also looking forward to going from a political and cultural based tour that I’m on now, to the technical side of it in the US.”
Mr Hirsch’s findings from his Nuffield scholarship will be compiled and presented in March next year.
