The slowdown in farm productivity growth is now thought to have begun in the mid-1990s, several years before drought conditions became severe, delegates at the ABARE Outlook conference in Canberra heard today.

ABARE’s Productivity, Water and Fisheries Manager, Peter Gooday, told delegates that while drought was a major factor, the slowdown was also a consequence of slowing growth in public research and development.

“Although public R&D investment continues to increase, the growth has not kept pace with the value of farm production. Research intensity has fallen from 5 per cent of agricultural gross value of production, to just over 3 per cent,” Mr Gooday said.

“R&D and innovation adoption remain the two main levers for lifting productivity growth. We have to make sure we make the most of our R&D investment, improve innovation adoption and ensure the regulatory and policy environment does not impede productivity growth.”

Also addressing delegates about Australia’s agricultural productivity was the Director of CTF Solutions, Dr Don Yule, who discussed controlled traffic farming as one promising technology for improving farm productivity growth.

“Controlled traffic farming increases productivity by improving soil health, water use efficiency and crop yields,” Dr Yule said.

“It also decreases costs, particularly when controlled traffic farming is combined with spatial technologies to improve accuracy.

“Despite the proven economic and environmental benefits, 88 per cent of farmers have not adopted the technology.”

Dr Sally Marsh, Assistant Professor at the University of Western Australia, backed calls for a closer look at innovation adoption, pointing out that agricultural extension is not always a suitable tool.

“Researchers and service providers can only facilitate the uptake of technologies,” Dr Marsh said.

“Landholders are the decision-makers and each has a unique set of personal factors to consider, most importantly whether there are clear advantages of adoption compared to their current practices”. 

Dr Marsh said scientists need to begin working more closely with social scientists and farmers to better understand why seemingly good ideas are not widely adopted.