Barnaby jets into town

Among scheduled meetings with various state organisations, Mr Joyce also made time to visit the Plant Genomics Centre at Urrbrae, the Barossa Co-op in Nuriootpa and the site of the Gawler Water Re-use Scheme near Angle Vale.

He also mingled with agribusiness professionals at a private dinner hosted by The Nationals SA at the Adelaide Showground.

In his dinner address, he highlighted the importance of agriculture.

"If it wasn't for agriculture, if it wasn't for the capacity of people to have a more sedentary lifestyle and to plan their production of food, then we wouldn't be here tonight," he said.

The rapidly rising population would only increase pressure on producers to sell quality products.

"In 1840, we got our first billion [people]," he said.

"It took another 130 years to 1930 to reach 2b, then another 30 years to 1960 to reach 3b, another 15 years to 1975 for the fourth billion and then only another 12 years for the next billion.

"We're currently at 7.5b and, as long as people enjoy the carnal delights of the bedroom, I can't see that [trend] changing."

Mr Joyce said we were now at a 'sweet spot' in history and others were recognising this.

"That's why there's such an overwhelming sense of investment in our nation not only by us, but by others, because they're reading the tea leaves in front of us.

"Suddenly the penny has dropped for other people - everybody seems to be living with something that came off a boat.

"It's called terms of trade; the concept of the globe has always been to attain a strong footprint in areas with a reliable agricultural output."

The soft commodity time was coming and as a government and nation, Mr Joyce said it was integral to have our most competent people at the forefront to deliver the best possible outcome in this area.

"Now comes the time in ag where we have to 'milk the dragon' and turn these philosophical statements into tangible agreements which bring money back for us."

Livestock markets

"We've (the government) opened up six new live animal destinations - Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Cambodia, Thailand and Lebanon," Mr Joyce said.

"These are making sure we get real competition back in the market.

"You've had a better price for sheep, especially meat sheep, in the last year or so than you've ever had in your life - that didn't happen by accident, that happened by a government with business people in it who have gone and made sure those markets are open and driven those agendas."

He predicted cattle would hit record prices, quoting Ross Ainsworth as saying the price of live cattle would hit $4 a kilogram live weight.

"That means we're about to make serious money."

Driving agendas

In order to get the Australian business plan right, Mr Joyce said he endeavoured to drive agendas in Canberra.

"The first one is already done, live cattle.

"We're opening up new destinations, driving that market opening and expanding it."

Dams and water structure were next on the list and Mr Joyce said there was already $120 million in projects underway in areas such as Tasmania and the Chaffey Dam.

"Programs are already rolling out and there will be a further substantial investment ... water is money," he said.

Finally, improving logistics, especially rail, would be vital to developing a cost effective model.

Foreign investment

Outsiders were well aware of what was happening with the growing population, and Mr Joyce said the investment was already on its way.

"This is going to be very important for you people because a group called S. Kidman & Co is for sale and the question is going to be asked, who is going to buy it?" he said.

"I tell you right now there are buyers; there are going to be a lot of agents in a place called Sydney who say everything is morally right as long as I get the commission.

"This is going to be a discussion for SA, and you better lead the discussion.

"This is your backyard - if you're going to hide under a rock it's gone, and it will go like that."

He believed Australian people had the right to have concerns and the Kidman sale would obviously be the mechanism of some very serious questions being asked.

"If you believe the whole of Australia can be sold, just say it; just say that there's no problem if someone owns 90 per cent of our pastoral assets.

"They already fully or partially own an area now 2.5 times the size of Vic - if you want it to get bigger, let's just keep going.

"I don't have confidence in this idea that once it's gone, you can fix it up later on.

"It doesn't - once the egg's broken it's broken, that's it."

Tale of two cities

In the central part of Australia there was a tale of two cities, Mr Joyce said, and it wasn't Paris and London, nor Adelaide and Melbourne - "that's like Cuba and the US, that's gone".

"The tale of two cities is actually Adelaide and Darwin, and if we don't get this game right in SA, Darwin's going to pass you," he said.

"They'll do it within 10-20 years, they're already planning a city up there of about 1.3-1.5m people."

Darwin - a town of 100,000 people - currently had about $50b worth of capital expenditure happening.

"There's people making money that all they did was just get out of bed," Mr Joyce said.

"Why? Because they always say this word yes: yes we can do it, yes we know how, yes that is possible, yes let's make that happen, yes let's make this a bigger port, yes move the cattle north not south.

"They're always saying the word yes and then working out how they can do it and they're growing, and it's got a buzz about it; we've got to make sure we get that buzz about here again.

"Start saying the word yes."

The GM debate

Mr Joyce said SA could stake its claim on genetically modified plants, but state government were determined to maintain a moratorium on GM.

"The wheat crop is so sophisticated, more complicated than the human genome, but this place is saying no, they don't want to look at it," he said.

"What if they develop a new strain of wheat that's more drought tolerant, and you can go from eight bags to 12 bags? Don't you want that? Isn't that good?"

He said wheat was already GM as man had been genetically modifying plants for as long as agriculture had been operating.

"You could be the epicentre of it, this is where it should be happening, right here."

Nuclear power

The recent change in attitude by the state government towards nuclear energy was something to be commended, Mr Joyce said.

"It seems absurd that you have one of the biggest uranium sources on the planet and you want them to dig it up, you want to semi process it, you believe it's morally just to be put on a boat, with people, and sent to somewhere else and turned into power for them, but you think it's immoral to use it yourself?" he said.

"That's a perverse form of philosophy.

"You should be at the forefront of that, you should be leading the world - it's your benefit, your resource."