Australian Agricultural Sector Analysis

This assignment delves into the current state of Australia's agricultural sector. It analyzes factors influencing productivity growth, including government policies, technological advancements, and market forces. The analysis also explores the impact of global food demand on Australian agriculture and highlights key areas for future development such as sustainable practices and risk management for farmers.

Running head: REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTURE INDUSTRIES
REFORMS IN AUSRALIA’S AGRICULTURE INDUSTRIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTUTRE INDUSTRIES
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Interest of agriculture companies and government agencies...........................................................2
Reforms in agriculture sector in Australia using economic analysis...............................................3
Recommendation to the policyholders............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

2REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTUTRE INDUSTRIES
Introduction
This study focuses on the changes that occurred in agriculture sector in Australia.
Agriculture industries have always been a vital component of the economy of Australia as it
contributes to near about 2.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This nation is one of the
biggest agricultural producer as well as exporter, with more than 307,000 persons employed in
this sector (Matusz and Tarr 2017). According to Australian Bureau of Agricultural and
Resource Economics and Sciences ( ABARES), the Australian farmers not only provides 93% of
domestic supply of food, but also supports export market that is valued at A$41 billion per
annum. This country’s cropping system facilitated their farmers to be highly flexible. The reason
behind interest of agriculture entities and government agencies is also explained in this report.
By applying economic analysis, reforms in agriculture industries are also illustrated. The actions
suggested to the key holders regarding certain issues are also given in this study.
Interest of agriculture companies and government agencies
The agriculture sector in Australia benefitted from varied agricultural practices, formal as
well as informal grants, access to cheap workers and overseas capital. As this nation liberalized
agriculture, their farmers as well as agriculture entities pursued their interest in the total
productivity gains and thus making them more competitive. Australia’s farmers and their
government jointly established agricultural R&D ( research and development ) organizations for
the agricultural industries (Sheng et al. 2015). The government agencies invest in new farming
techniques adopted by the agricultural entities in order to increase agricultural productivity. The
policymakers usually make investment in this sector in order to enhance income as well as long-
term welfare in most of the rural areas. Both the government agencies as well as agricultural

3REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTUTRE INDUSTRIES
corporations take interest in bringing reforms in agriculture industries for attracting as well as
retaining farmer immigrants for the next few years.
Reforms in agriculture sector in Australia using economic analysis
Over the last few years, Australia has experienced reforms in agricultural as well as
economic policy within the operations of farms. These policy settings in turn contributed to
productivity growth in this industry. One of the important features of this nation’s approach to
improve productivity has been to decrease distorting manufacturing support. Australia’s
agricultural sector has been exposed to foreign competition, which aimed at raising their farmer’s
standard of living by increasing productivity and promoting structural change in agricultural
entities. The reforms that occurred in this sector include various protection measures and phased
reduction in tariff adopted by Australian government (Hunt et al. 2014). These two reforms
aimed in raising resilience in market force and eliminating barrier in effective commodity
marketing. In addition, introduction of various programs including voluntary public- private
partnerships have improved sustainability in farming. The policymakers also manage biosecurity
risk by inspecting import products at the time of entering this country. In fact, they introduced
several drought programs for facilitating farmers administer challenging circumstances during
drought and this in turn increased productivity (Crase 2012). Furthermore, financial counseling
advice provided to the Australian farmers helped them in increasing their knowledge and manage
difficult situation during financial adversity. Implementation of advanced technology as well as
application of IoT ( Internet of Things) in commodity manufacturing process also brought about
reforms in this sector. This resulted to advanced farming that describes digital technologies
implementation augmented the farmer’s decisions. The government of this nation also initiated
proposal of carbon farming for enhancing productivity and attaining economic advantage by

4REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTUTRE INDUSTRIES
decreasing greenhouse gas emission. Investment in policies of R&D also remained vital part for
the Australian government commitment to enhance productivity, pliability and sustainability of
rural agricultural sector. It has been reflected from the recent study that, agriculture industries in
Australia has also benefitted from technology as well as knowledge developed overseas (Crase
2012). Moreover, the broadacre farmers also adopted tractor positioning for reducing soil
compaction. Therefore, payoff of productivity to agricultural policy change of this nation has
also stimulated higher efficiency in resource utilization within the farms.
Wheat Barley rice cotton lint vegetables livestock
products
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
AGRICULTURAL GOODS VALUE IN
AUSTRALIA
AGRICULTURAL GOODS
Figure 1; Australia’s Agricultural commodity value
Source: (Author’s creation)

5REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTUTRE INDUSTRIES
2014 2015 2016 2017
8000
8500
9000
9500
10000
10500
GDP OF AUSTRALIA FROM
AGRICULTURE
GDP OF AUSTRALIA FROM
AGRICULTURE
YEAR
Figure 2: GDP of Australia from agriculture industry
Source: (Author’s creation)
Recommendation to the policyholders
Although the government of this nation has adopted numerous policy changes for enhancing
productivity growth, they should concentrate in specific areas for aiding farmers manage risk.
The recommendations are given below:
 The government of this country should focus on framers decision making procedure as
well as implementation programs that is based on their needs (Bell and Moore 2012)
 The policymakers should endow more research funding and agriculture issues in certain
areas including- water utility competence, process of soil stabilization, landscape
planning etc.
 It is recommended that the key holders should hold up counseling programs as well as
provide funds to certain groups involving Rural Alive .

6REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTUTRE INDUSTRIES
 The government of Australia must also invest at large amount in this industry and support
research on energy efficiency.
 The key holders must adopt different measures in order to combat release of green house
gas.
Conclusion
From the above study, it has been concluded that future growth in demand for global food
presents significant opportunity for the agricultural sector in Australia as populations as well as
incomes rise in developing economies. As this nation is well placed in meeting higher demands
of goods, the ability of agricultural sector mainly depends on maintaining productivity growth
and competitiveness in relation to rivalries for export markets. Moreover, progression of reforms
also aids in productivity growth in this sector to the level that they decreased production cost of
farms, aids on-farm investment and cost of doing this business. Some of the vital areas includes
labor markets, taxation, infrastructure governance and product pricing. As the agricultural sector
in Australia is market oriented, opportunities in reform aimed at eliminating price distortions as
well as raising revelation to competition might only have less affect on total productivity. In
addition, adoption of digital technologies also increased their farmers efficiency in their work,
which in turn enhanced productivity. Implementation of government programs also helped the
Australian farmers in achieving higher flexibility in workers regulation.

7REFORMS IN AUSTRALIA’S AGRICULTUTRE INDUSTRIES
References
Bell, L.W. and Moore, A.D., 2012. Integrated crop–livestock systems in Australian agriculture:
Trends, drivers and implications. Agricultural Systems, 111, pp.1-12.
Crase, L., 2012. Water policy in Australia: the impact of change and uncertainty. Policy and
Strategic Behaviour in Water Resource Management, pp.91-107.
Hochman, Z., Carberry, P.S., Robertson, M.J., Gaydon, D.S., Bell, L.W. and McIntosh, P.C.,
2013. Prospects for ecological intensification of Australian agriculture. European Journal of
Agronomy, 44, pp.109-123.
Hunt, W., Birch, C., Vanclay, F. and Coutts, J., 2014. Recommendations arising from an analysis
of changes to the Australian agricultural research, development and extension system. Food
Policy, 44, pp.129-141.
Matusz, S.J. and Tarr, D.G., 2017. Adjusting to trade policy reform. In Trade Policies for
Development and Transition (pp. 77-114).
Reid, R.L. ed., 2013. The manual of Australian agriculture. Elsevier.
Sheng, Y., Zhao, S., Nossal, K. and Zhang, D., 2015. Productivity and farm size in Australian
agriculture: reinvestigating the returns to scale. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource
Economics, 59(1), pp.16-38.
Sheng, Y., Jackson, T., Zhao, S. and Zhang, D., 2017. Measuring Output, Input and Total Factor
Productivity in Australian Agriculture: An Industry‐Level Analysis. Review of Income and
Wealth, 63(s1).