Australia not equipped to deal with food crisis predicted by United Nations, say academics.
Media Release, Friday 6 June 2008
University of Melbourne academics urge Australia to address our looming food shortages as the U.N. crisis summit on rising food prices at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) comes to an end in Rome.
“Trends indicate that in the next 30 years our globe will need to produce 50% more food from the same land and water resource base to feed a rapidly increasing world population. To meet these challenges there will need to be a global research and education effort on the scale not seen before” said Professor Rick Roush, Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Resources.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recommended as much as 15 to 20 billion U.S. dollars would be needed to help fight the food crisis each year amid soaring prices, while increasing long-term investment to secure productivity.
"We must not address only the immediate symptoms of the problem - that of soaring food prices. We must focus on the underlying causes of the problem: years of neglect of the agricultural sector around the world, and the lack of investment in increasing productivity," Ban said at the press conference.
This sentiment was echoed by Professor Roush, Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Resources “Agriculture in Australia and around the world is experiencing a boom in demand, with food prices increasing due to growing world population, more demand for animal protein in diets, and the use of agricultural crops for biofuels.”
However, a recent study by the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture (ACDA) has shown that the supply of agriculture graduates to meet these opportunities and challenges is falling way behind the demand for such graduates.
The study has shown that there is a market for about 2000 graduates per year within Australia, but the 12 universities teaching agriculture are only providing about 800 graduates between them annually.
“These will be exciting challenges for today’s graduates who want a successful career making a difference, work internationally and be part of a global food and environmental revolution.”
“Our Faculty is making its contribution through research and education programs to assist the adaptation of Australian and global food systems to climate change with several staff members making key contributions”.
• The Faculty’s Dr Rob Norton is leading a national program on the “Impact of elevated CO2 on wheat production in the semi-arid and arid regions of the Australia’s wheat belt” in the National Grains FACE experiment at Horsham.
• Dr Rebecca Ford is leading the introduction of a new Masters program of Agricultural Science concentrating on the adaptation of Australia’s food production systems to climate change.
• Drs Richard Eckard and Brenden Cullen together with their NZ colleagues are determining potential adaptation strategies for Southern Australian pasture based animal systems such as the dairy and beef cattle industries.
• Professor Snow Barlow and Dr Leanne Webb have just commenced a study of Australia’s major wine regions to determine appropriate and sustainable climate change adaptation strategies.
For more information please contact:
Professor Rick Roush
Dean
Faculty of Land and Food Resources
The University of Melbourne
Tel: 03 8344 5025
Email: rick.roush@unimelb.edu.au
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