Mr Md Alamgir, Soil Science, UA
Mr Anthony Leddin, Valley Seeds
Mr Joshua Scandrett, UTAS
Ms Kathy Schneebeli, ANU, CSIRO
Ms Niloofar Vaghefi, UM
As part of the Crawford Fund’s efforts to encourage an interest in international agricultural research and development in young agricultural scientists, young Australian agricultural scientists with a genuine interest in international agricultural development were supported by our State Committees to attend the 2011 Crawford Fund conference.
Scholars, from left to right: :Ms Hannah Thompson (University of
Tasmania); Ms Niloofar Vaghefi (University of Melbourne); Dr Noel Knight
(University of Southern Queensland); Mr Sebastian Campbell, (University
of Sydney); unknown; Ms Jay Anderson (DEEDI and UQ); Mr Anthony Leddin
(Valley Seeds); Mr Joshua Scandrett (University of Tasmania); Mr Dominic
Jenkin (Queensland); Mr Md Alamgir (University of Adelaide); Ms Felicity Cox (Charles Sturt University); Ms Kathy Schneebeli (ANU, CSIRO); The Hon John Kerin; Ms Norshamliza Chamhuri (Curtin University)
Over coming months, these young agricultural scientists will be making presentations at a relevant academic or research institute on what they learned from their attendance, and will be providing us with short articles outlining how they benefited from the conference and what they considered to be the highlights. These reports are posted below and can also be found under the webpage of the State Committee of the Crawford Fund that supported their attendance .
As a young professional working in the agricultural value chain the 2011 Crawford Fund Parliamentary Conference provided me the opportunity to better adjust my perspective of the Australian agricultural industry and it’s positioning in the Asia-Pacific. This conference, and its array of esteemed speakers, offered an invaluable insight into the current status and future trends of our constantly evolving global agricultural system. read more
It was a unique opportunity for me to get the Agricultural Student Scholarship and to attend the 2011 Crawford Fund Annual Parliamentary Conference. The topic of the conference was new to me and it has obviously widened my horizon. read more
Coming from an Australian perspective I was aware of many of the ‘bad’ and ‘ugly’ aspects of the supermarket revolution, what was beneficial to me was to see was the ‘good’. I heard from a number of presenters how in many countries the introduction of supermarkets have enabled more people to access a source of food which is more reliable, cheaper and safer. read more
While food production has long been my main area of interest, and I was concerned about our ability to feed rising population levels, the conference has impressed on me just how important and tricky a challenge this will be, and how it will be one that will face in particular the new generation of agricultural scientists, like myself. read more
A lot of changes are also happening in the food retail industry from this part of the world. It would be interesting to hear them share in the conference on what is happening to traditional vendors and what are the consumers’ view towards the supermarkets when these retail chains started to operate in their countries. read more
There was a strong theme discussed about the effect of supermarkets on more traditional markets, particularly how supermarkets streamline and simplify the production and supply chain, which in turn allows for decreased prices of food products for consumers. While this appears to begin the decline of traditional markets, it also allows urban populations, which can have a larger proportion of low income families, to have a reliable, quality and affordable source of food. read more
...the supermarket revolution and its relationship to agriculture in developing nations, when listening to the guest speaker from Kenya, Dr Stephen Mbithi, filled me with a great fear. One of the questions that he was asked was “what will happen to the billion or more subsistence farmers when supermarkets become the main avenue to sell produce through"? He suggested they could either be the saviours or the curse. read more
Supermarkets are a contentious issue in Australia and indeed worldwide. In Australia, farmers have a deep concern about the growth of supermarkets and their ability to exert their power. The 2011 Crawford Fund conference: The Supermarket Revolution in Food had a broader scope, not only dealing with these local effects on farmers, but on the worldwide implications. read more
Highlights of the conference were the discussions of the impact of the exceptional growth of supermarkets and increasing globalisation on food insecurity and wealth distribution throughout the world. It was challenging to gain a greater insight and understanding of the huge impact and power of supermarkets and it was also inspiring to see and hear of the many creative and empowering ways that agricultural development is able to transform people’s lives and impact upon food insecurity. read more
As supermarkets gain market share for food distribution in developing countries, they work towards vertically integrating supply chains for better efficiency. They increasingly make demands on producers for quality and food safety certification, which can have a positive impact on farming. On the other hand, unfair contracts and the cost of certification can be a burden, particularly on smallholder farmers. read more