Question Time

NEW HORIZONS INITIATIVE

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question about clay.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Last week, with great fanfare, the minister and the Premier launched the next phase of Labor's premium food and wine policy. In that document, on page 15, it talks about 'How the New Horizons program will work'. New Horizons—new! The minister compares what she calls traditional tillage with clay mixing or, as it is known, delving, which she says is a possible management option for improving fertility by deep ripping. My questions are:

1. Has the minister ever heard of the Bordertown farmer Mr Roger Groocock, who was among the first group of farmers to get into clay delving 20 years ago?

2. Does the minister know that Mr Groocock went to Europe in 2007, six years ago, on a Churchill Fellowship to further investigate clay delving in South Australia?

3. Is the minister aware that Mr Groocock and his ilk have used clay delving to improve their soil fertility and now have been growing wheat, barley, canola, beans and lupins for years and years on land that was previously not able to do so? In fact, the New Horizon is at Labor's back fence.

4. Has the minister heard of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, and the statue with a head of gold, a breast of silver, legs of iron and feet of clay?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:29): I thank the honourable member for his questions. Indeed, this government is very pleased to be able to announce its New Horizons initiative, which will significantly increase South Australia's agriculture production through the application of new advances in soil science and management. I do absolutely acknowledge work has been commenced on these activities for some time; we are not saying that this is the first of this initiative. We are building on work that has already been done, but this is a significant advancement to ensure that this is rolled out on trial sites and out to farmers generally. Instead of just isolated activity occurring, this is about making sure that we get the best practice, the best technology—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway might try to listen to the answer. You are out of order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —and the development of new machinery and equipment that is not currently readily available on the market. These are all of the benefits to come from this.

This will be a five-year program and will result, we expect, in potentially an increase in agricultural production of $600 million per annum in South Australia. The program links, obviously, to our premium food and wine from our clean environment priority and could result in another three million tonnes of grain, for instance, produced here in South Australia once it is rolled out.

In addition, the program links to the growing advanced manufacturing priority, as it also creates opportunity to grow the manufacturing industry in areas of agricultural machinery. As I have said, most commercial equipment tills at a depth of around 10 centimetres. This is about adapting equipment to deal with 50 centimetres or so and to make these commercially and readily available rather than their having to be custom built.

The government has announced just under $1 million for this New Horizons program, and this funding will help fast-track the benefits of the program to the South Australian economy and the community through building demonstration sites, accelerating the update of technologies and confirming the information needed to show farmers why they should implement these changes right throughout the state, not just in isolated pockets. It will demonstrate right across the sector the benefits of changing the way we manage our soils.

I accept the congratulations of the opposition for the government having taken this wonderful initiative. About 40 per cent (5.2 million hectares) of area under dryland agriculture in South Australia has soil issues which currently limit production that can be assessed. Through the application of soil science and management in South Australia, soils potentially can be significantly more productive. The New Horizons program will, as I said, significantly bring forward the application of these advances that can help revolutionise our agriculture production.

The program will be delivered in partnership with Primary Producers SA, and they certainly believe it is a good idea. They are embracing this a hundredfold.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: They are, Mr President. They are completely embracing this. They think it is an extremely good idea. Given that Primary Producers SA (the key peak agricultural body representing most primary industry sectors) has embraced this wonderful initiative, I am surprised that the Hon. David Ridgway just does not get it. I am not, in fact, surprised at all that he does not get it because he is completely out of touch with our agricultural sector and regional communities. Since he has moved into Adelaide, he has completely lost contact.

It is a partnership between Primary Producers SA, regional communities, industry groups, manufacturers of agricultural equipment in South Australia, suppliers, etc., and also the universities. In the establishment year of 2013-14, it is proposed to establish three trial sites, one each in the Lower Eyre Peninsula, Mid North and Upper South-East regions. These sites will be chosen to represent soil type in the region and to align with existing industry and community group interest and landholder agreement to establish a large trial site.

This process has commenced, and the general locality identified in terms of the actual sites is still to be established, but it intends to build on the knowledge and understanding that exists in these regions, so we really welcome that work that has already been done. That will help advance and accelerate the further rolling out of these new management techniques.

Funding will be sought from a number of sources. Several industry groups have sought funding to establish a variety of demonstration sites, complementary to this initiative, and it is proposed to seek their agreement to integrate those demonstrations into the broader program. Informal discussions have taken place with commonwealth government officials, representatives of the national R&D corporations, as well as a number of industry groups, and it is proposed that the minister will write to her commonwealth counterpart seeking support for the initiative. So, formal applications—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The opposition spokesperson for agriculture clearly has clay between his ears, because I have already said the state government is contributing just under $1 million—$852,000—and we intend to leverage further aspects of this program with the partners I have outlined.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: We have been very successful in leveraging—extremely successful. It is proposed that the minister will continued those discussions. Discussions have been conducted with the University of Adelaide for them to take leadership of project development and negotiations in collaboration with PIRSA, so we can see that it is a fabulous initiative. Primary industries groups have very much embraced this. I cannot believe that the opposition is not pleased to see initiatives, new money, being advanced to accelerate a program that will improve the productivity of our farmers. I cannot believe the Hon. David Ridgway is so out of touch and so out of date that he fails to see the benefits to improving productivity throughout our state.