Australian farmers in the spotlight

With 2012 marking the Australian Year of the Farmer, Federal Member for Maranoa Bruce Scott has paid tribute to the nation’s farming families in Federal Parliament recently.
“The Australian Year of the Farmer recognises the important role that farmers play in our food and fibre production,” Mr Scott said.
“Australian agricultural products and related industries inject more than $405 billion into our national economy,” he said.
“Australian farmers provide food for some 60 million people both in Australia and around the world each and every day.
“The sector provides direct employment for more than 300,000 people in our nation who live and work in regional and rural Australia. But the complete agricultural supply chain, including the affiliated food and fibre industries, provides jobs for some 1.6 million Australians.
“Our city cousins—and people in our regional towns, for that matter—go down to the supermarket or the local store and buy their food, and we want them to connect to the role that farmers play in providing that produce and to get the connection between the paddock and the plate.”
Mr Scott also called on the Federal Government to provide more research and development support for the agricultural sector.
“What we have seen under this government is a reduction in R&D funding, and that is not what we should be doing because R&D will indeed give us an opportunity to progress our agricultural production,” he said.
“It is also about developing new varieties, making sure that we can produce food in the era of potential changes to our climate.
“So R&D is indeed essential as we go into the next 40 to 50 years with this huge global food challenge in front of us.”