Agriculture Sector

Ms COOK (Fisher) (16:03): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. Minister, what is the state government doing to increase South Australian agricultural production?

Mr Goldsworthy: Not much.

The SPEAKER: The member for Kavel is on his final warning. Minister.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson—Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Recreation and Sport, Minister for Racing) (16:03): Thanks very much, Mr Speaker, and I thank the member for Fisher for the question and acknowledge the good partnership that South Australia's farmers and the South Australian government has in trying to increase the value of our agribusinesses right around the state. It was terrific, just last month, to announce an increase in food and wine from $17.1 billion to $18.2 billion over the space of 12 months.

Research and innovation underpin the sustained productivity of South Australia's primary industries, and I would like to inform the house about two significant research programs that are helping to increase South Australia's productivity. The latest results from the state government's soil improvement project New Horizons have confirmed South Australian sandy soils can be greatly improved, resulting in increased grain yields. This is where you add organic matter, clay and nutrients to the soil, allowing the roots of the crops to grow much deeper than they normally would, creating a more productive plant.

We are doing trials at three sites around South Australia. We have Brimpton Lake on the Eyre Peninsula, Karoonda in the Murray Mallee and Cadgee in the South-East. The results for the second round of trials have just come in—

Mr Williams interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —showing that there has been an increase in grain yield—

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop is called to order.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —at all three sites, with an average of 70 to 200 per cent, and up to an amazing 226 per cent at the Karoonda site. I was down there with the member for Chaffey the season before last and you could actually see a vast improvement in the New Horizons trial over the existing soils.

Up to 40 per cent of South Australia's broadacre farming lands suffer from low fertility, low water-holding capacity and soil compaction. If adopted by our farmers, these breakthrough techniques have the potential to boost South Australia's economy by $800 million in crop and livestock pasture production. This means more jobs in our regions for farmhands, business advisers, accountants, bankers, farm consultants and machinery suppliers and significantly increased demand on our transport services. We are going to continue the trials in 2016 to gain greater certainty about the potential benefits and longevity of each of the applied treatments.

The other exciting program in research and development is the work done by the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) for the benefit of South Australian industries via the Grains Research and Development Corporation, known as GRDC. The South Australian government has signed a $50 million deal with the GRDC to secure the future of this grain research in South Australia during the next five years: $25 million from the GRDC and $25 million in kind from SARDI. Through this deal, South Australia will play a major role in the National Grains Research, Development and Extension Strategy and will lead a number of key national research areas. It will boost funding for research and development into regional agronomy by supporting six new agronomist positions in our state's key grain-growing regions.

Our latest Crop and Pasture Report is in and it puts the final crop estimate for the 2015 grain harvest at 7.2 million tonnes. Once again, that is above the 10-year average, so it is seven years in a row that we have achieved above the 10-year average. You may remember I informed the house last year that we had to take the 10-year average up because of those successful years. Obviously, it was not a great season in all parts of the state. We know that the Upper South-East in particular is doing it hard and we have had other low-rainfall areas throughout the state as well. But, despite the challenging seasons, South Australia's grain sector continues to be a powerhouse industry. It generated more than $4.6 billion in revenue in 2014-15, with approximately 85 per cent of that exported around the world, bringing more money into our economy here in South Australia.

Mr BELL: Supplementary?

The SPEAKER: Supplementary, member for Mount Gambier.