18 May 2026. Brendan Taylor, AgForce Grain President.
Last week was federal budget week - a time to look at the figures and see what's in store for Ag producers like ourselves.
On first blush, I think whilst what's in the budget looks sound, one has to ask - how good is the detail? I can't help but feel like there are so many missed opportunities here, especially for us in the bush.
The elephant in the room is still continuity and security of fuel supply - something absolutely crucial for the Ag industry. The fuel, oil and fertiliser still have to come from somewhere. Why not make our own?
We have all the resources here - but at the moment they're under-utilised. Let's cut the red and green tape. Fuel and fertiliser security are crucial to the nation's food security - and therefore - national security.
If the covid era wasn't enough of a warning shot about global supply chain interruptions wreaking havoc on us, here we are again caught out by the Middle East conflict.
We must seriously invest in our own manufacturing of critical fuel and fertiliser sovereignty. Without either of these, we are in serious trouble.
Whilst the war seems to be paused for the moment, it appears that on face value nothing over there has changed. The ships of fuel, gas or fertiliser are still not moving through the conflict zone.
Enough talking, enough thinking about it, enough studies. It's time to back Australian made and for the government to get on with it. These are long term fixes that must be acted on in the medium term to get production moving.
If we were to start a fertiliser or refining project tomorrow, it would be years away from actual production. Five to ten years at least. That's a long time to wait for any sort of certainty.
Australia has a bad habit of doing nation building projects badly. Let's learn from our previous stumbles, and not do that this time.
While our State Government is making all the right noises and is ready to work with whoever wants to develop the infrastructure for fuel, fertiliser and refining that this industry needs, we need support from Canberra as well.
The federal government needs to get behind their efforts to help make it to happen with the right policies in place.
We can't keep being held to ransom by a conflict on the other side of the world. Or worse still - in our backyard.
So, whilst food and energy security were mentioned in the budget as important, I'm not sure that they are being taken as seriously as they need to be.
What about biofuels? We've got refining capacity sitting idle here in Dalby ready to go. If we are to ever be serious about E10 petrol, then let's mandate it at 10 per cent and create the demand to support the industry. And enforce the mandate. There's no point having a mandate if it's not adhered to.
We've again been exposed to how vulnerable we are as a nation to interruptions in supply chains. The 'just in time' model works until it doesn't.
Having the ability to insulate ourselves from that is critically important. We need to be bolstering our own food security and not take it for granted as a given, as much for us as a nation, as for the countries that rely on us for their food security as well.
The flow on effects are potentially massive and I don't think have been factored in enough.
