The Australian Conservation Foundation says CSIRO's report Towards a state of the food system report for Australia, released today, should inform a new approach to how we manage the food system in Australia, which is costing as much as $274 billion in negative environmental and health outcomes.
The report calls for regulatory reform and a rethink on how a more sustainable food system can be achieved, to help farmers become more resilient and deliver healthier food.
It also reveals the hidden costs of Australia's food system, with the environment and human health among the biggest losers and up to 82% of those costs coming from environmental degradation.
Nathaniel Pelle, who leads ACF's food systems work, said while reports like these are welcomed, it's essential they lead to action.
"What is clear from this report is that the Australian food system isn't working for farmers, for consumers, or for nature," he said.
"Given the Albanese government's recent commitment to a national food strategy, this report provides a clear signal that consideration must be given to the long term public interest over vested interests," he said.
The report acknowledges that the main way Australia's food system harms biodiversity, is through land clearing and habitat fragmentation.
"No activity has shaped the Australian landscape more profoundly than agriculture, while no industry has more to lose from environmental decline."
"We should not expect that growing food will have no impact on nature, but those impacts need to be managed so that they do not erode the capacity of the natural world to continue to support future generations' right to food security and a healthy environment."
"Ongoing deforestation, over-extraction of water and overuse of chemicals and fertiliser in Australia may have increased yields, but it is putting long-term food security and the economic security of the people who work in the food system at risk, as well as wildlife."
"Protecting and restoring nature offers the best solution to making farmland resilient to climate impacts such as the drought we are witnessing in parts of Southern Australia."
Previous ACF commissioned research from IDEAA group has found food system sectors from traditional agricultural production to food product manufacturing and retail, have the highest direct and indirect dependence on ecosystem services of any Australian economic sectors.
