More than $68 million in Australian Government funding will shore up Australia’s agricultural traceability systems and increase access to premium overseas markets.

Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, and Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia, David Littleproud, said investing in strong traceability frameworks and systems could add up to $1 billion a year to the bottom line of Australian farmers.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the hub will be a way for government and industry groups to work together to create successful traceability projects that will deliver financial benefits to our farmers, including in New England.

“Traceability systems will continue to show consumers that our products are safe, clean and meet sustainability standards,” Minister Joyce said.

“Customers have shown they are willing to pay more for a product that can meet provenance and sustainability standards so our farmers will get a better price for their product.

“On the other side of the coin, by using the latest technology and data we are helping our farmers reduce their costs of production.

“New England is a proud producer of high-quality agricultural produce, so stronger, national traceability systems will give our producers greater confidence their hard work will be rewarded and our customers confidence in their purchases.”

“Australia already has strong traceability systems in place, especially around food safety, origin and biosecurity,” Minister Littleproud said.

“But we can make these systems stronger by bringing them together with a national approach.

“That’s why we’re working with the states and territories and industry to create the National Agricultural Traceability Alliance and National Agricultural Traceability Hub.

“It will bring industry groups, research bodies, state and territory bodies and governments and together. We’re organising a National Traceability Summit so we can all share our ideas and map out how we can work to make the most of this multi-million-dollar investment.

The Government is committed to help and we are:

• establishing a coalition of stakeholders across government and industry, the National Agricultural Traceability Alliance, to foster national leadership on traceability initiatives.
• Holding a National Traceability Summit so we can all share our ideas, get on the same page and establish platforms for sharing experiences.
• Create a National Agricultural Traceability Hub to deliver a traceability capability, agree to common data standards and harnessing the power technologies such as blockchain in order to demonstrate the provenance of Australia’s agricultural exports while reducing compliance burdens. 
• Provide grants to encourage innovation in traceability against the roadmap, to generate value and promote them across cross all our primary industries.

“We know we produce some of the best produce in the world. By enhancing traceability and transparency at every step in the supply chain, we can make sure the rest of the world knows this as well,” Minister Litteproud said.

You can find out more on agricultural traceability initiatives at https://www.awe.gov.au/.