Q&A: Australia's former deputy PM calls for more investment in agricultural development

As a former deputy prime minister of Australia, John Anderson is a known public figure with political connections that many private companies would happily leverage. But as the newly announced chair of the Crawford Fund, Anderson will be using his political connections and public visibility to increase education and awareness of the important role Australia’s agricultural research community plays in improving crop production and food security in developing countries. Encouraging submissions for Australia’s new foreign policy white paper was a key focus for Anderson. Submissions closed on Feb. 28 and with the review process now under way, he sat down with Devex to discuss his expectations of the white paper review, issues affecting food security, and priorities for agricultural research and food security in his new role. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You were very keen to encourage submissions for the foreign policy white paper that focus on Australia’s involvement in agricultural research, food security and biosecurity. What message are you giving to organizations to urge their involvement? Our focus has been on our own submission to begin with and we encouraged agricultural organizations and those who see its importance to think about joining us — and encouraging the government as it looks at its foreign policy — to recognize the incredible role Australian agricultural know-how can play in building a better and more settled world, particularly in our region. Ensuring we address the problems of inadequate food, or excessively expensive food, or poor food options present in our region is of vital importance. It is easy for us because we are so used to stocked supermarket shelves. We might grumble a bit about the price, but when you stop to think the fourth most populous nation, Indonesia, is on our doorstep and there are tens of millions of people living in Indonesia who are poor. They are spending up to 70 percent of their income on food. So availability is a big issue but so is price — they can’t afford inflated food prices. We can do a huge amount to help. Not only with trade, but also with our know-how. And the two work well together. If our expertise helps their farmers, our farmers in Australia may think they will not want to buy from us, but it is the exact opposite. We know from experience of more than a decade that as a country becomes wealthier, its people consume more protein and there are more, not less, opportunities for us in trading terms. This is one of those areas that if you get it right, it’s win-win-win all around. If you do the right thing, you do the compassionate thing, you do the humanitarian thing by providing your expertise and advice, it helps to build the strategic security of the region because food insecurity understandably breeds political ferment. And at the same time you build more trading opportunities for Australian farmers. The last white paper was released in 2003, making this an interesting time for the aid and development sector to make an impact. From your position formerly as part of the Australian government, what content, information and arguments will likely impact the directions of the foreign policy and Australia’s aid program? Clearly written, well-argued fact rather than opinion-based pieces are important. In an age where fake news and emotionalism dominates the public square, facts do matter. Buried in the facts is an awful lot of evidence that food security is a bigger factor in social, political and strategic unrest than we often assume. Even in Syria, for example, we focus on the ethnic and religious differences and miss the fact that an awful lot of that ferment was able to be built up because of issues around food security and pricing. This is often missed — and to be honest, until recently I was unaware of it. That sort of fact that gets missed in the 24-hour news cycle — and that people don’t automatically focus on — are the things to draw out as part of a submission for the white paper so you can really point clearly to facts, and point clearly to things we can do that we are very good at in this country. We are second to none on agriculture and agricultural research. Submissions of these kind will help the government frame the best possible foreign policy white paper. What can agricultural researchers do to create greater understanding and awareness of the value of Australian research to developing countries? This is something the Crawford Fund is working on right now. It’s about understanding what is really happening, getting a clear and honest handle without hype that has me saying to Devex, here is an area where we have great expertise that people are only broadly aware of. I think we can do more. There are many examples of great work being done from chicken farming in Laos to work with Tunisians for diseases in chickpea crops. But we do need to work to make sure our involvement is better understood. Knowledge sharing is a simple strategy that can greatly assist developing countries. What impact is Australia’s agricultural knowledge sharing having on food security in developing countries, including neighboring regions as well as Africa? That is a very good question. I can’t give a definitive answer but what I can say is that the Crawford Fund has a staggering track record of running master classes, sending people to explain our expertise, and deal with diseases in crops and other areas. It is hard to quantify, but the impact has been massive. At the same time, we can do more. I would make a general point that it has been interesting that in Asia, you get a ready update of skills and knowledge. In Africa, the cultural resistance to doing things differently and more productively is greater. And this shows in the fact that much more progress has been made in Asia in fighting poverty and malnutrition than it has in Africa. The Australian government is calling for stakeholders in the Australian aid program to be more involved in sharing the message of impact to the Australian public. For agricultural researchers, what can be done here? The Crawford Fund runs a big signature event in Parliament House in August every year on a major issue of policy important to agriculture and food production. This year it is small farms and big data. Big data provides concentrated and extraordinary knowledge on agricultural production. A simple example: harvest manufacturer John Deere in the U.S. receives real-time information about what their headers are doing and receives this information so often they know more about crop yield than the farmer does. But who owns that data? What are the legal implications? How is it accessed in a way that makes it useful and improves productivity? These are questions that we will be highlighting at this year’s event that attracts politicians and public servants. But in a very crowded news marketplace — and in a country where we take our food security for granted — it is incredibly easy for us to overlook how important it is for regional security. You’ve mentioned that big data will be the theme to promote this year. What is the current state of agricultural data availability, and what can be done to improve its quality and availability to developing countries? The issues are that the data is so dense — and there is so much of it that not many farmers can use it. As I understand it, data has leaped ahead of public policy. Even the ability to map soils from the air has improved at a rate that makes it possible for people with good and ill intent to gain unbelievable quantums of information about the agricultural production of a region. And we need to work out what we are going to do with that to ensure it benefits humanity and does not just benefit the pockets of the few. In Australia and developing countries, farmers are an ageing workforce. What needs to happen to encourage young people into agriculture and build a resilient workforce for improved food security? You raise a really good point and to be honest I will have to go away and think about that one. I’m acutely aware it is a serious problem. And then you get cultural issues — as an example, the problem of young Japanese farmers not being able to find girls who want to work beside them in traditional family structures. They want to do something more glamorous than work in a rice paddy. There are no easy answers. All I can say is that young people will go for it if it’s exciting and they think they can make a livelihood out of it. Otherwise they will desert and you get the problem of urbanization. It does lead to one observation that increasing capacity to produce is important. Israel, for example, is much more productive than surrounding countries, and has a much higher gross domestic product per person. This shows that good science — which can then be extended and applied — depends an awful lot on the politics of the country. As the new chair of the Crawford Fund, Anderson is now turning his attention to their annual parliamentary conference, taking place in August at Parliament House in Canberra, which is expected to attract a range of local and international speakers. He hopes to use his parliamentary connections to speak with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to better promote the role of agricultural research in achieving food security and development outcomes. Devex delivers cutting-edge insights and analysis to the leaders shaping and innovating the business of development. Make sure you don't miss out. Become a Devex Executive Member today.