Motions

International Year of Pulses

The Hon. J.S. LEE (17:18): I move:

That this council—

1. Acknowledges that Australia is ready for pulses to take centre stage in 2016 in the United Nations declared International Year of Pulses;

2. Recognises that Australia is now a major player in the global pulse market and one of the world's largest exporters of pulses;

3. Highlights the importance of pulses within South Australia's agricultural industry; and

4. Raises public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food production aimed towards food security and nutrition.

It gives me great pleasure to move this motion acknowledging 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. This motion provides the opportunity for this parliament to recognise that Australia is now a major player in the global pulse market, and one of the world's largest exporters of pulses.

I would like to use this motion to highlight the importance of pulses within South Australia's agricultural industry, as well as congratulating so many individuals and organisations on their efforts to raise public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of a sustainable food production aim towards food security and nutrition.

Pulses, as we know, are grains and legumes produced for human consumption and include lentils, faba beans, field peas, chickpeas and lupins. Pulses are essential dietary components for millions of people around the world due to their high protein and nutritional content. They are important food crops for food security of large populations, particularly in Latin America, Africa and Asia, where pulses are part of traditional diets and often grown by small farmers.

On 10 November 2015, under the campaign theme slogan entitled Nutritious Seeds for a Sustainable Future, the United Nations, led by its food and agricultural organisations, launched 2016 International Year of Pulses. The objective of the launch was to raise awareness about the protein power and health benefits of all kinds of beans and peas, their production and trade and why they are considered as new, smart and fashionable products on the food chain.

The International Pulse Trade and Industries Confederation came up with four themes to mark the International Year of Pulses in 2016. The first theme focused on health, nutrition and food innovation. Research worldwide has shown that malnutrition (under or overnutrition) is the greatest single threat to global public health; 1.5 billion people are overweight, including 43 million children under five; and 3.9 million children per year die from undernutrition, suffering from deficiencies of iron, for example.

In South Central Asia and East Africa, half of the children have growth retardation due to protein energy malnutrition. Pulses have high nutritional value in iron and protein and they are low cost. The key objective for the first theme is to educate consumers about the health and nutritional benefits of pulses and to partner with governments, international bodies and engage the private food sector to develop innovative food products to include pulse ingredients to address health and nutritional issues.

The second theme focuses on market access and stability. This theme aims to address the trade barrier costs that are borne by farmers, processors, exporters and consumers. The federation sees the need to create greater efficiencies and benefits all along the value chain and proposes to work with governments and international bodies to improve the regulatory framework in which trade occurs, to enhance food security, reduce price volatility and also enhance the return to growers.

The third theme focuses on environmental sustainability. Through national resource management and sustainable use of land, water and biodiversity, pulse crops increase the productivity and water use efficiency of cropping systems, as well as biodiversity. For example, using pulse crops in rotation means the reduction of fertiliser costs or needs. The objective of this theme is to increase the awareness of the contribution pulse production makes to sustainable global agricultural development.

The fourth theme focuses on production and food security. Just over 1 billion people are in hunger and chronically deprived of adequate food. Food security is a major issue in many disadvantaged communities around the world. This theme aims to highlight the pulse's improved productivity of farming systems. As I mentioned earlier, pulses have been an essential part of the human diet for centuries, yet their nutritional value is not generally recognised and is frequently underappreciated, which is why the UN has wanted to highlight the importance of pulses in 2016.

I have a deep appreciation for pulses because lentils, chickpeas and all of these beans, green mung beans and broad beans, have all been a part of my family's traditional diet. As the shadow parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs, it is always a great privilege to be invited to join community members at various functions and festivals throughout the year. It is no surprise that pulses feature significantly in the preparation of delicious meals across South Australia's multicultural communities.

These communities cook some of the most amazing food, using pulses such as chickpeas, lentils and beans. Knowing the nutritional values of pulses, it is no wonder that many of these community members are looking fabulous and in good shape and healthy because the pulses feature as a regular diet on their lunch and dinner plates every day. However, despite strong evidence on their nutritional values and benefits, the consumption of pulses remains low in many developing and developed countries.

Pulses have gone from an emerging industry in Australia in the 1990s to a mainstream crop today. Prior to this, many pulse crops were used as green manure or fodder crops because of the beneficial effect they had on soil and their value as livestock feed. Since then the industry has grown significantly and pulses are being increasingly recognised for their role in sustainable and profitable production systems.

In 1990, the total production amounted to only 1.3 million tonnes of pulses in Australia. The highest level of production to date occurred in 2005 and 2006 when Australian growers produced over 2.5 million tonnes of pulse grains. The potential of the Australian pulse crops is to increase its current size to 4.2 million tonnes, with a commodity value of $1.504 billion and a farm system benefit of $538 million, a total of just over $2 billion.

As the shadow parliamentary secretary for trade, I am pleased to see that, within South Australia, the grain sector continues to be a powerhouse industry, generating more than $4.6 billion in revenue in 2014-15, with approximately 85 per cent exported around the world. We used to joke about lentils being seen as a hippie food. Well, this hippie food is becoming a serious business for South Australian farmers, planting the high nutrition crop on an unprecedented scale this year.

Farmers expect up to 40 per cent of the Yorke Peninsula crop will be planted to lentils, as more people move away from crops such as barley and canola, due to their low prices. Pulse crops in South Australia fared much better than first thought, with lentils pricing more than $1,000 per tonne in 2015-16. The attractive prices are bringing in more producers to think about farming lentils, especially those who have never considered them as an option in the past.

For example, as revealed in TheAdvertiser,dated 21 May 2016, Paskeville farmer, Nick Correll, expects to plant about 40 per cent of his cropping area to lentils, following prices of $1,200 to $1,500 a tonne last year. Troy Johnson, a Yorke Peninsula agronomist, stated, 'We have also seen land values and lease prices increase as people chase property to grow lentils.'

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences estimated that South Australia produced 206,000 tonnes of lentils last cropping season from a national crop of 250,000 tonnes. The Yorke Peninsula is already the largest lentil growing region in Australia, producing more than half the national crop in a good year because of its ideal growing conditions.

Statistics show that the 2015-16 pulse crop estimates for South Australia and Yorke Peninsula are over 400,000 tonnes for South Australia and around 160,000 tonnes for Yorke Peninsula. This demonstrates that 40 per cent of the state's pulses have been farmed along the Yorke Peninsula. The pulse industry has established a mature value chain that provides stability and quality assurance from paddock to plate in South Australia.

The member for Goyder, Mr Steven Griffiths, in the other place, often highlights the work of hardworking farmers in his region and is very proud of the enormous contributions of the agricultural industry in his electorate. Australia exports a substantial volume of pulses each year, proving favourable over competitors because of the consistent, high-quality commodity production. A large proportion of the Australian crop is exported to international markets, with the majority of exported grain used for human consumption.

The Australian pulses export market is fully deregulated. Pulses can be purchased in processed form from a number of companies in Australia. Alternatively, pulses can be exported as whole grain in bulk shipments or packaged into containers and bags to send to countries where market access has been approved. Australia is the fifth largest exporter of pulses in Australia, with major markets being India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Sri Lanka. Other major export destinations include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.

Australian pulse standards are updated each season by Pulse Australia, with extensive consultation across all sectors of the Australian pulse industry. Because of these high quality standards, Australian pulses are held in high regard, due to Australia being labelled as one of the cleanest environments in the world, delivering safe food-grade grains.

Pulses and pulse foods are universally recommended as part of a healthy diet. They feature prominently in some of the world's healthiest diets and longest lived food cultures, such as the Mediterranean diets. A number of health researchers have consistently shown that higher intakes of pulses are associated with a reduced risk of obesity and chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers—diseases that we know are on the rise globally.

I wish to place on the record my special thanks to Peter Semmler from Agri Semm Global Brokerage. It was a pleasure to meet Peter at the International Women's Day breakfast this year. I would also like to thank Lidia Moretti, the president of the United Nations Association of Australia, South Australia division, for her kind introduction to Peter.

At the breakfast, Peter and I spoke at length about the importance of pulses in South Australia. I mentioned to him that it will be a wonderful opportunity to promote the International Year of Pulses in parliament and help raise awareness of these humble, yet amazing consumable products. Peter was very generous with his time. He met with me and the Hon. David Ridgway, our shadow minister for agriculture, food and fisheries, to brief us about the importance of pulses and provide valuable information to my office for my contribution for this motion today in parliament.

I would like to thank the United Nations Association of Australia, especially the South Australia chapter, for their great work in promoting the year of the pulses. They have been involved in many projects with Tasting Australia, as well as some celebrity chefs such as Cheong Liew, Simon Bryant and Maggie Beer, to bring to their attention the nutritional value of pulses in everyday cooking. At the Royal Adelaide Show, Rosa Matto also dedicated a daily session to demonstrate a pulse-based dish at her stand in the Tasting South Australia Pavilion.

I am very pleased to be able to move this motion to highlight the importance of pulses within the South Australian agricultural industry and recognise that Australia is now a major player in the global pulse market and one of the world's largest exporters of pulses. Congratulations to everyone who has made incredible contributions to celebrate the International Year of Pulses. I wholeheartedly commend this motion to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. G.E. Gago.