Around 70 agricultural leaders met in Brisbane last week for the Australian Government’s Unlocking Productivity in Australian Agriculture roundtable. Jointly hosted by Federal Agricultural Minister Julie Collins and Assistant Agricultural Minister Senator Anthony Chisholm, the meeting preceded the National Productivity Roundtable in Canberra. Cotton Australia was represented by General Manager Michael Murray.

The roundtable explored a range of high-level barriers to productivity, as well as specific areas where action could drive improvement.

With a broad cross-section of commodities represented, key themes included removing legislative and regulatory duplication across state and federal levels, strengthening federal support to build trade opportunities and meet growing sustainability and traceability requirements, addressing infrastructure challenges such as transport bottlenecks, and improving flexibility around worker accommodation.

Other issues raised included the limited Australian production capacity for key inputs such as fuel, chemicals and fertilisers, as well as the opportunities and challenges associated with renewable energy.