A MASSIVE investment in Australia's ailing freight network will be crucial if primary producers are to fully capitalise on growing demand from Asia in the coming decades.
That was one of the key messages delivered to more than 250 delegates who gathered in Toowoomba last week for the inaugural Ag in the Asian Century National Export and Innovation conference.
With a second range crossing now looking more likely and the new Brisbane West airport nearing completion at Wellcamp, Toowoomba proved an appropriate location for a conference-focused on the export opportunities for agriculture in Asia.
A highlight of the three-day event was a panel discussion titled Roads, Rail, Ports and Air - the logistics needed to get Australian food and ag products to the Asian table.
The discussion was led by Port of Brisbane CEO Russell Thomas, Wagners Global Services chairman John Wagner and Australian Rail Track Corporation CEO John Fullerton.
Mr Fullerton revealed that while 90pc of freight in the Northern Territory and 82pc of freight in Western Australia and South Australia was moved by rail, just 24pc of freight on the eastern seaboard went to market by train.
Think Global Consulting CEO and Australia China Business Council member David Thomas said that while Australian producers would start to see an improvement in farm gate prices as a result of the China boom "relatively quickly", much was reliant on improving the freight network.
"Getting product out of Australia to China is the key and it's still very clunky at the moment," he said.
"Everyone has spoken about that at this conference including Barnaby Joyce, so I think that is well acknowledged."
Mr Thomas said growing demand for Australian produce in China, particularly beef and lamb, would eventually drive up farm gate values and result in higher domestic prices as local markets struggled to compete.
"In Australia we now have Coles and Woolworths saying prices are down, down, down and then we have China saying bring it on, we want your produce and we are willing to pay a premium price for it," he said.
"So if you are a producer of course you are going to send your product into the market where you have the better margin.
"There is an interesting tipping point when the export market becomes more attractive than the domestic market but the supply chain in Australia is the problem.
"Logistics and freight infrastructure are the key."
Mr Thomas said Australian primary producers also needed to work in collaboration to improve their access to Asian markets.
"Everyone is competing with each other and it doesn't work," he said. "We need to be selling all our products as Australian. New Zealand is particularly good at doing this."
Mr Thomas warned that opportunities for Australian agriculture
in China would not be unlimited and said governments, business and industry needed to act now to capitalise.
"It will take a few decades but they will eventually clean up their local industry and their local industry is much bigger than ours," he said.
"Where we produce 350,000 tonnes of citrus they produce well over a million tonnes, but it comes from a source that they don't trust.
"We have an opportunity because they are willing to pay whatever it takes to get access to good quality food from a safe source.
"It's a 20-year window and hopefully it goes on longer than that."
Stay tuned to Queensland Country Life throughout summer for some special reports on Agriculture in the Asian Century.