Growers shouldn’t have to foot the bill.

Conferences are a great place to check the pulse of an industry. You learn a lot from the plenaries and speakers, but you learn even more from attendees. The informal conversations where people share their real feelings. Over the past few months there has been a distinct uptick in what I am calling ‘sustainability fatigue’.

A general feeling of overwhelm and frustration about the constant, seemingly only, topic of conversation. How did we get here and what do we do?

Sustainability is critically important

Let’s get something straight right from the start, there is no doubt that sustainability is a critical issue, possibly THE most critical issue for growers.

The impacts of anthropogenic climate change are real and are impacting crops in the ground now.

A quote from the department of agriculture:

In recent decades, Australia has seen a shift towards higher temperatures and lower winter rainfall, which has had significant effects on many farmers. Despite these trends there remains much uncertainty over the long-run effects of climate change on farm businesses.

The term uncertainty does a lot of the heavy lifting here as it outlines the feelings of many Australian growers.

Growers face an uncertain growing future in the face of unpredictable climate change impacts.

Realities for industry

So what does this this mean for industry?

Growers must adapt to an uncertain future.

A future where consumers are more and more concerned with the sustainability of their food. But we are also experiencing a cost of living crisis and people are voting with their wallets.

Industry now must face the reality that consumers agree that sustainability is important, but it is not their responsibility to regulate it, nor will they pay for it.

The expectation from consumers is that they pay the same price for a sustainable product.

Supermarkets will not pass on the increased costs and they wont reduce margins.

It leaves growers footing the bill.

Supermarkets will demand greater and greater ESG compliance and growers will either adapt (on their own dime), or sell out to larger corporate growers with the capacity to articulate their ESG strategy.

It will further erode the already crumbling family farm model. Aggregation of agriculture will continue and there will be fewer, larger farms.

What do we do?

So what do we do about agriculture’s sustainability problems?

First and foremost, the market must absorb some of the costs. Growers cannot and will not accept full financial responsibility for the sustainability transition.

We must provide clear, simple, apply-able programs to enable growers to incorporate ESG compliance into their programs.

Burdening growers with a whole suite of new, complex regulation will drive growers out of the industry.

Finally, the government must enable growers with support and funding to adopt climate smart technologies and evidence based techniques to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Australian farmers are integral. We have the opportunity to deliver the highest quality produce to the world. But we need to adapt and implement technology to support the transition.

Growers can’t continue to foot the bill.