National food security is not an issue for Australia.
It seems the scaremongering about Australia’s capacity to feed itself is becoming a regular event, with fears we are going to run out of the required calories to feed our population.
Five years ago, there were large imports of wheat into Australia, but this was during a significant drought and was only to meet a specific quality requirement for a specialised production facility.
It was not a volume issue. This wheat was used for industrial purposes, however, the byproduct was available to livestock producers as animal feed.
In the past three seasons, Australia has produced huge volumes of food, including meat and grains, which have been a surplus and allowed huge exports to feed the world.
Yet people from some quarters still express concern about Australia’s capacity to feed itself. At a calorie basis, it is not the case; I’ll explain below.
Food security
As a result of our large wheat production and relatively small population, Australia is a net exporter of wheat. During an average year, Australia produces more wheat than it could conceivably consume.
In comparison to the rest of the world, Australia produces a larger volume of wheat per capita than any other. Over the past 10 years, Australia has produced 900 kilograms of wheat per person.
This would be enough to produce around 2,000 loaves of bread per person.
I don’t know about you, but I feel that 2,000 loaves would keep me going for a while, and most likely considerably expand my waistline.
The lowest Australian per capita production of wheat was in 2006. However, at a rate of 530kg per capita, Australia was still able to produce enough to provide a large volume of wheat per person.
What volumes
Australia is unlikely to become a net wheat importer any time soon, as this has not even occurred during these past two years of extreme conditions.
No country on the planet is able to produce all the items its populace wants at all times. This is especially true in the times of abundance we have enjoyed for the past 50 years. We are able to import goods that are out of season locally, and Australia benefits from this in our export trade.
Food security is linked to national wealth. This lucky country has the benefit of being both wealthy and well-supplied with agricultural produce.
We enjoy the fruits of a global economy as a net exporter, and sometimes there may be a requirement to import produce to meet the requirements of our consumers. We aren’t going to run out of food any time soon.
To be clear, we do not have an overall food security issue. However, we do have significant sectors of society struggling with food affordability, but this is not a national food security issue; it is an individual food security issue that we need to focus on.
I’ll end with this apt quote.
“God did not bestow all products upon all parts of the earth, but distributed his gifts over different regions, to the end that men might cultivate a social relationship because one would have need of the help of another. And so he called commerce into being, that all men might be able to have common enjoyment of the fruits of the earth, no matter where produced.”
Libanius, 4th century
• Andrew Whitelaw is co-founder and director of Episode 3 (EP3)
