Reforms to Improve the Australian Agriculture-Free-Samples for Student

Question: Discuss about the Reforms to Improve the Australian Agriculture. Answer: Introduction Many people in Australian Rural areas are dependent on agriculture for their living; this is the primary source of income. According to Gray, Oss-Emer and Sheng (2014) agriculture can be argued to play an important role in poverty elimination; even without some other income, the agricultural produce enables survival in the rural areas. Despite being a source of food, many people are employed in this sector. In the traditional period, agriculture was so underdeveloped owing to the lack of knowledge and skills. However, currently there is much development in this sector since the advancements in technology. Globalization has had much contribution in this sectors total productivity growth. New methods of production have been introduced, better animal breeds and crops that are adaptable to different climates have been invented. The government should ensure that it offer proper protection and assistance to the Australian farmers (Sanderson, 2016 and Dfat.gov.au, 2017). The article analysi s will help create an awareness of the important reforms that are driving agricultural growth to the most farmers who are not yet informed. The government will also be able to determine whether the policy reforms are actually driving growth and may consider the recommendations drawn as the additional important ways in which better results may be stimulated. Analysis The concern of the Australian government on it agricultural development led to the plan on Farm Management Deposits and tax reforms. This article was referring to these reforms as the white papers vision and was said to have been given a rating of 8 out of 10 by the National Farmers' Federation (NFF). Simon Talbot was the Chief executive of the NFF and pointed out that farmers would be happy with receiving the announcement of these reforms (Vidot, 2015). Farmers had for long requested for these reforms so as to improve their accessibility and flexibility. The article noted that the maximum FMD for a farmer was $ 400,000 and was expected to double to $ 800,000 the following year (Ato.gov.au, 2016). These FMDs were to have a very important role of reducing the farmers interest costs as it would facilitate the offsetting of the bank loans. The annual saving for the farmers according to the government was projected to be $ 150 million (Mcmahon and Cardwell, 2015). The government also not ed that there would be no loss of tax concessions or the farmers who are affected by drought in accessing the FMDs. Peter Tuohey the president of Victorian Farmers' Federation (VFF) supported this idea by calling it fantastic. Fiona Simson the president of NSW Farmers' Association noted that this was an important innovation that would help the farmers survive during the drought season (Business.gov.au, 2017). MS Fiona also noted that drought-hit farmers should continue being given concessional loans of which structure was to be revised. The other reform proposed in the white paper vision is that of the need for crop insurance. Farmers suffer from losses that arise during the drought season. These risks mostly face those young farmers who are not in a position to put a risk cover on their crops for drought. Multi-peril crop insurance is common overseas but absent in Australia. It is an insurance program that helps in insuring the crops failure which may be brought about by drought, storm or hail. It is meant to help farmers recover the cost of the important inputs they spend on putting the crops on the ground. Finally, the article talked about the welcoming of extra spending by the government on biosecurity improvement, trade, Research and Development (RD), and dams construction. Simon Talbot noted that increased RD would help the government in achieving the objectives quickly. He also noted that RD should go to branding, marketing and accessing Asia. NFF also pointed out the need for five agricultural counselors to be appointed from overseas in addition to extra spending on biosecurity. The government also proposed to build Dams according to the information provided by VFF; dams would help in storage of large water volumes that would be used for irrigation. The improvement in the terms of trade has resulted in improved factor productivity. Fig: Australian terms of trade and factor productivity Source: Xia, Zhao and Valle (2017) The easing of terms of trade has led to a rise in total factor productivity which is essential for Australian agriculture. Recommendation I would recommend the government to invest more on areas that would improve the farmers knowledge so as to be able to raise their productivity. Some small scale farmers lack sufficient knowledge and resources to boost their productivity. The government should come up with a program to recognize and help the small scale farmers. The market for Australia farm produce also plays an important role in the production level; the government should ensure that there is a wide market for the farmers produce. This could be by easing the terms of trade between Australia and other nations. Most importantly this should be on the exportation side. The importation of farm produce should be tied up to tighter tariffs so as to discourage such a trade. In this paper, there are many proposed reforms and recommendations made by different people, the government should therefore consider such important and do an analysis of the impact they would have on improving the Australian agriculture. Conclusion Agriculture has played an important role in the growth of the Australian economy. Many reforms have been implemented that has created an initiative for increasing production. If the imposed and the proposed reforms are put into work and they perform well, Australia is projected to be among the leading producer and exporters of farm produce. Many farmers who are not aware of the existence or the importance of the FMD will benefit much from this paper. Automation has led to the availability of cheap and fast labor. It is through the many reforms implemented in this sector that development was made possible. The government has recognized the benefits of agriculture to an economy and has formulated many strategies to improve its productivity. More reforms are on the way. Bibliography Ato.gov.au. (2016). Farm management deposits scheme. [Online] Available at: https://www.ato.gov.au/business/primary-producers/managing-varying-income/farm-management-deposits-scheme/ [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017]. Business.gov.au. (2017). Farm Management Deposits Scheme. [Online] Available at: https://www.business.gov.au/assistance/farm-management-deposits-scheme [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017]. Dfat.gov.au. (2017). Advancing Agriculture Reform in the EU and Australia. [Online] Available at: https://dfat.gov.au/geo/europe/european-union/Documents/advancing_agriculture.pdf [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017]. Gray, E., Oss-Emer, M. and Sheng, Y. (2014). Australian Agricultural Productivity Growth: past reforms and future opportunities, ABARES research report 14.2, Canberra, February. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/tad/events/Mr.%20Merrilees_Agricultural%20productivity%20growth%20reforms%20opportunities.pdf [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017]. Mcmahon, A. and Cardwell, N. (2015). Research handbook on EU agriculture law. Cheltenham [u.a.], Edward Elgar. Sanderson, F. (2016). Agricultural protectionism in the industrialized world. 1st ed. Routledge. Vidot, A. (2015). Farmers approve of White Paper vision. [Online] ABC Rural. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-04/farmers-welcome-agriculture-white-paper/6595250 [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017]. Xia, C., Zhao, S. and Valle, H. (2017). Agricultural productivity estimates. [Online] Agriculture.gov.au. Available at: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/research-topics/productivity/agricultural-productivity-estimates#drivers-of-agricultural-productivity--growth [Accessed 17 Aug. 2017]. Zhou, Z. (2013). Developing successful agriculture: an Australian case study. Wallingford, UK, CABI.