Australian agriculture is on the cusp of a new era that will unleash the potential of plants to address our biggest challenges.
Plant-based solutions will need to do more heavy lifting if we are to sustainably meet our growing nutrition and energy needs.
Achieving this requires a major shift in how we approach agricultural innovation.
Over the past 30 years our industry has focused on increasing yields. Innovations in plant breeding, crop protection products, farmer practices and digital agriculture have delivered impressive productivity improvements.
Crop protection products that more effectively controlled weeds also transformed farming by significantly reducing tillage which disrupts soil structure, releasing carbon and dust into the atmosphere.
While the search for improved crop yields must continue, breakthroughs that deliver value beyond yield and chemistry will increasingly shape the future of agriculture.
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This value will be unlocked through three key trends in agricultural innovation.
Firstly, innovation is being rapidly democratised.
Once the domain of the largest global agricultural companies with enormous research and development budgets, agricultural innovation platforms are now more widely accessible than ever before.
Data science, artificial intelligence technology, machine learning, automation and gene editing are empowering smaller businesses to develop new solutions for farmers.
The Australian Farm Institute found that unlocking the benefits of digital agriculture alone could add $20 billion a year in production by 2030.
Industry "innovation silos" are also tumbling down.
Enko, a company that Nufarm has invested in, discovers new molecules for crop protection using technology successfully used in the pharmaceutical industry.
Enko uses DNA-encoded libraries to screen billions of compounds against our targets to deliver faster, cheaper and more targeted solutions for farmers.
Secondly, plant science will lead to more solutions that deliver specific consumer benefits.
Consider the challenge of meeting the rising demand for omega-3 oils for aquaculture and human nutrition without overfishing our oceans.
A breakthrough in plant biotechnology enabled the delivery of microalgae nutrition to canola, resulting in omega-3 canola oil containing fatty acids in levels comparable to those found in wild fish.
This plant science innovation resulted from a collaboration between CSIRO, GRDC and Nufarm and is a high-quality, safe, plant-based alternative to marine-based omega-3 oils that is scalable and sustainable.
Thirdly, innovation extends beyond technology and is driving the development of new markets and value chains.
Australia's urgent need to produce more renewable feedstocks to help decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors such as aviation is a case in point.
According to Qantas, electric and hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft are currently not viable for long-haul routes, explaining: "With long-haul routes accounting for the majority of the Group's emissions profile, SAF (sustainable aviation fuel) is currently the only viable technology/decarbonisation option available across all of our operations."
The current global sustainable aviation fuel market is approximately 7.5 billion litres.
About 450 billion litres of sustainable aviation fuel is required to enable aviation to achieve net zero by 2050.
Seeing the opportunity for agriculture to meet the growing demand for biofuels without displacing food crops motivated Nufarm, through its seed division Nuseed, to partner with BP.
Nuseed Carinata is a non-food cover crop contract grown between main crop rotations and harvested for certified sustainable lower carbon feedstock.
BP will process the carinata into a biofuel that replaces fossil fuels and reduces emissions.
Decarbonising the liquid fuels we will use for decades to come is not a niche solution - it is a scalable, cost-effective way to quickly reduce transport emissions.
After all, 45 per cent of Australia's total energy use comes from liquid fuels, according to Bioenergy Australia.
These are just a few examples of the major shifts underway in agricultural innovation and the opportunity to generate value beyond yield and chemistry.
Well-designed policy support will ensure this new era of agricultural innovation strengthens Australia's food and fuel security.
Recent announcements by the Albanese Government supporting the development of a local sustainable aviation fuel industry are welcome.
Bioenergy policy settings must quickly build enough local demand for renewable fuels so that farmers have a local market to sell their feedstocks.
Without a viable domestic market, farmers will continue to sell their feedstocks to more lucrative international markets. More than half of Australia's canola crop is exported to the European Union with 60-80pc of this canola already being used for biodiesel production.
The challenge ahead of us is to strengthen the sustainability of agriculture without jeopardising the supply of food, fibre and fuel.
New approaches to innovation will help achieve this and create regional jobs, strengthen Australia's food and fuel security and help regenerate the environment.
Greg Hunt is the managing director and chief executive of Nufarm.
