Food Loss and Waste

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. How is the South Australian Research and Development Institute initiating programs to reduce food loss and waste?

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) (14:55): I thank the member for Torrens for the question.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I am pleased to report that Primary Industries and Regions South Australia is taking a nation-leading role in the important issue of reducing food loss and waste. If the member for Schubert stopped yelling out, he might learn a little bit about what is happening up in his area; and the same goes for the member for Chaffey.

Due to damage from weather, disease and pests, inefficient food chains and the high cosmetic standards imposed by the major supermarket chains in Australia, approximately a quarter of horticultural produce, and up to 40 per cent of some crops such as potatoes, is lost on South Australian farms, used for low-value purposes or dumped in landfill at significant cost. In total, it is estimated that more than $50 billion, or about 40 per cent of total food production, could be lost before it gets to the consumer, or wasted by the consumers in Australia each year. This is part of a much larger $US1.3 trillion problem worldwide.

The state government, through the South Australian Research and Development Institute, is working in partnership with industry and the commonwealth government at a national and international level, to understand and address the issue of food loss and waste. SARDI recently delivered the project 'Transforming Riverland food loss and industry waste into profit' as part of the South Australian River Murray Sustainability Program.

The project aligned with the state government's premium food and wine produced in our clean environment and exported to the world economic priority, by utilising waste to develop new products and industries in the Riverland, Murraylands and the Murray Mallee regions. It involved 10 industry partners and mapped agricultural and processing food loss and industry waste throughout these regions.

The project also assessed actual and potential waste transformation infrastructure in the region and determined what valuable food and wine bioactives and industry waste could be turned into higher value-added products or bioenergy. The project is now leading to new business and product development opportunities and will further support the region's environmental credentials and enhance regional capabilities, investment and employment.

Industry support providers include Tarac Technologies up in the Barossa, and CEO, Jeremy Blanks, and his team need to be congratulated because they have done a number of things to use waste from the wine industry to turn it into things where you can really value-add. One of the latest things they have come up with is using wine waste as a superfood to feed abalones, so helping the seafood and aquaculture industries here in South Australia. Tarac Technologies already aggregate waste streams from wineries through grape seeds and skins, and end users, such as Swisse Vitamins, are looking for clean and green Australian sources of bioactives. These industry partners will ensure the immediate uptake of the results of this work.

While the characteristics of each of our food and wine regions vary, these principles can clearly be applied more broadly. A similar approach is being planned to investigate opportunities in the Northern Adelaide Plains. This would be fantastic for the region, complementing the Northern Adelaide Irrigation Scheme, which we hope to commence with the support of the Australian government very soon.

PIRSA is also leading the development of the proposed national Fight Food Waste and Fraud Cooperative Research Centre bid. This $160 million, 10-year bid involves 59 participants, and 17 of those are based here in South Australia. The SRC aims to protect and profit Australia's food and wine industry, and it will adopt the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, to halve per capita food waste by 2030.