AUSTRALIAN agriculture does not know how to monetise innovation, according to demographer, Bernard Salt.
The well-known columnist and business analyst delivered the keynote address at the Australian Nut Conference in Melbourne in March.
Speaking on the topic of connecting with the consumer of the future, Mr Salt said Australian agribusinesses need to re-think how they approached the global market.
"We do not know how to deliver agribusiness at a global scale. The New Zealanders do, with Fonterra. I think this is an opportunity we need to grasp with both hands," he said.
"I am disappointed we do not have a global agribusiness business, the way in which we dominate mining, for example with BHP.
"I think we dropped the ball about 20 years ago in terms of agribusiness, not in the nut industry, but more in wool and wheat and meat processing.
"We've enjoyed complacent prosperity for a hundred years."
He said agricultural businesses were not particularly entrepreneurial.
"I think this speaks to an Australian suspicion about big business. We've enjoyed complacent prosperity for a hundred years,” he said.
Australia’s natural advantage in agribusiness was its clean green image and opportunity to feed Asia and beyond, according to Mr Salt.
With regards to food trends, Mr Salt said the Australian palate had evolved to incorporate “new” foods including Mediterranean, Asian and Arab/Persian tastes.
Marketing to these new opportunities meant asking some specific questions though.
"What is the product? What is the service? How do you take your product and inject into the lifestyle preferences of the Australian people," Mr Salt said.
“The Australian consumer is more health conscious than ever which provides an opportunity to expand nut consumption as a source of protein,” he said.
“As with many agribusiness businesses nut growing must professionalise… bigger, more sophisticated operations in the future.”
He made mention of his most recent connection to the horticulture industry through his written comments in a column last year about smashed avocado, where he suggested young people could be paying off a house loan rather than “smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop or more”.
He said the global response to the column had highlighted the living standard expectations of younger Australians.
"It's become shorthand for the affordable housing issue,” Mr Salt said.