NSW Department of Primary Industries

Key priorities and strategic directions

Key priorities and strategic directions

The primary industries sector is changing. The global financial crisis, world-wide food shortages, rising food prices, a changing climate, other environmental issues, skill shortages and increasing biosecurity threats are issues at the forefront of the modern primary industries sector.

NSW Department of Industry and Investment (Industry & Investment NSW) is realigning its resources to better face the challenges ahead. Key priority areas that the department will be focusing its resources into include:

Productivity and Food Security

The Cutler Review on Australia's Innovation System [2008] identified food security as a key global challenge and added that Australia has the opportunity to continue to drive agricultural productivity and yields through its research. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) global food output must have increased by 75 per cent by the year 2025, and it must have doubled by 2050 to meet expected demand. This means primary producers globally need an annual productivity improvement of 1.8 per cent to achieve this. Strong and targeted R&D and the effective uptake of technology and best practice by primary producers are the keys to achieving this target. I&I NSW believes research is vital for maintaining our long-term productivity and food security, and, our capacity to export.

Climate and Water

Building on more than two decades of research and extension in coping with climatic impacts, I&I NSW is well placed to assist the primary industries sector, the NSW government and the wider community to understand and adapt to the likely localised impacts of a changing climate. The importance of soil health to farming and forestry systems cannot be overstated. Soils and forests are emerging as key resources for carbon sequestration. Further research in understanding soil behaviour, its capacity to store carbon, and effective mechanisms to maintain soil health is an area I&I NSW anticipates will become increasingly important.

Water resources will be under increasing pressure from population growth, greater urbanisation, and competing industry uses. Agriculture in NSW uses 70 per cent of the managed water resources of the State. As such, water use efficiency, an increased understanding of catchment hydrology, and its interaction with farming and forestry systems will be key areas of research.

Biosecurity

Given the increased capacity for people and livestock and produce to travel globally quickly and cheaply, and thereby inadvertently spread disease, biosecurity is emerging as a key issue. Pests and disease have the capacity to change and spread quickly and interact with increasing complexity with control strategies. The potential for animal diseases to cross to humans is now more likely than in the past. Rapid diagnosis and response are key indicators of success in the face of a biosecurity threat. Cost-effective management of existing pests and diseases can minimise their impacts and proof of freedom from many pests and diseases underpins market access for agricultural products. Research to underpin this capacity will be a priority.

Fisheries and Ecosystems

There is increasing recognition of the importance of understanding systems holistically in regard to natural resource management. With all our fish, rivers, estuaries and coastal waters and more than 2.5 million ha of forest land owned by the people of NSW, managing of these resources for immediate economic and recreational advantage as well as for long-term stewardship is vital and a core activity of the NSW government. In a future in which these stocks and ecosystems face greater environmental and anthropogenic pressures, scientific research to underpin their effective management will continue to increase in importance.

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au