AAAC Outlook 2023 panel discusses challenges and opportunities

The commentary was part of the Australian Association of Agricultural Consultants Outlook Conference at Frasers, King Park, Perth, recently where a panel discussion covered environment, social and governance (ESG) themes.

On the panel with Ms Walmsley and convened by Savoir Consulting director Larissa Taylor, was Curtin University indigenous liaison manager Heidi Mippy, Fancy Plants and Living Farm founder John Foss and Rabobank head of sustainable business development Crawford Taylor.

With Australia as a whole well off-track when it comes to meeting Paris Agreements (legally binding international treaty on climate change), the panel reiterated several times it was time to better understand the sustainability and climate requirements of future markets.

Ms Taylor said there was "no more business as usual" and the panel had a sense of urgency to stay on the pulse.

Ms Taylor asked Mr Foss for his thoughts on energy transition.

He said what once was the onus of farmers to be in control of their emissions and carbon data, had now piqued the interest of emitters who see agriculture as a means of offsetting their emissions.

Ms Walmsley agreed, emphasising how important it was for landholders and growers to understand the value of their soil carbon data and ensure they weren't being short-changed in the future.

Mr Foss cited difficulties around land use, and said for his chia seed farm in the Ord Valley, he was competing with sandalwood plantations for land space.

Over the past two decades, the State government has invested heavily into sandalwood plantations in this area.

Mr Foss said it showed the rapid changes made to land use, which was both an opportunity and a threat.

"Farmers have such a critical role in this, because if we're going to see people make decisions on land use...we all need to be involved in the conversations around this," he said.

Ms Walmsley was pressed on what she thought the future of water efficient crops looked like.

"We're (WA) actually keeping ahead of climate change," Ms Walmsley said, referencing WA's ability to produce sizeable yields given challenging seasons.

"There are a lot of innovative things that are about to be coming into our sector.

"When you provide the right environment, the right financial support, innovation will actually deliver for us, in a time- frame that we never expected."

Ms Walmsley is positive about Australia's innovation capacity to provide solutions within sustainability, and said a solution to crop residues should be high on the agenda.

Mr Crawford said the two biggest challenges to keep an eye on was Australia's progress in meeting Paris Agreement targets, and biodiversity - and pointed to other key issues such as a reliance on export markets.

"All the countries that we export to, are all signatories to (the Paris agreement) and at some point we will have to sing to their tune," Mr Crawford said.

Reporting and understanding a company's baseline when it comes to emissions was a recurring point during discussions.

For many, the 'paperwork' side of climate conduct is overwhelming, however Mr Crawford said it doesn't have to be difficult.

"I believe it's quite an easy discussion to have with farmers, we have those discussions every day," he said.

Mr Foss said in the future sustainability manager roles would appear more within agriculture.

"A big thing was small farmers managing compliance legislation, reporting, governance, are burdens on a small business," he said.

"Benefit or burden?" Ms Taylor asked.

Mr Foss said in the long-term, ESG reporting had its benefits, but it was a short-term challenge.

He has hired a full-time sustainability manager at Fancy Plants to handle the administrative weight of ESG.

"There's a role that's going to come for farm advisers to step into, the next level of knowledge that farmers are going to require is sustainability and carbon accounting," Mr Foss said.

Ms Walmsley was quizzed on what the next breakthroughs would be within crop genetics.

"We can think about it in two levels, we can do more of the same plant breeding but do it better and faster in more informed ways," Ms Walmsley said.

"The other one for us is looking at other crops."

Ms Walmsley mentioned a research trial by University of Sydney, New South Wales, which is currently underway and involved growing wheat at north Kununurra.

"In Kununurra some of the year is forecast to be the temperature change that we might have (in future) in the South West Land Division," she said.

"(They're trying to) get ahead of understanding what wheat varieties are doing with that flowering temperatures."