Interesting Food policy

We are well into an election campaign that is devoid of passion and spark, and has degenerated into a me-too game of desperation for each of the two front-line candidates to win at any cost. Policies have become a mish-mash of socialism and free-market principles – one both sides of the divide. Meanwhile every now and then the Greens pop up with something admirable, profound, altruistic and completely unachievable.

Late in the piece – almost as a neglected bolt-on to either major party’s platform – came policy announcements on food and agriculture. “Food” has long been been hard for Governments as an area in which to do something significant and meaningful.

Tony Burke as the Minister for Far Too Much announced the National Food Plan last week as a major policy. The Plan promises to consult with key players to come up with - a plan. There is no new money for the plan – it will be reshuffled from Regional Food Producers Innovation and Productivity Program budgets. The plan strives for “world peace” and will tick all the topical buzz-words - food security, affordability, sustainability, productivity and global competitiveness, as well as tinkering with regulations, taxation, and the labour market. Down the track it will then take on health and nutrition.

This has been tried before hasn’t it? Remember the Corish report that tackled a massive menu but failed to change the world? Are we going to find a new way of looking at things with the same people around the table?

On the other side of the fence, there are apparent differences that money can buy, as the highlights of Opposition promises throw an additional $150milion at R&D, provide a place at the Cabinet table for Food Security, and spend money measuring the carbon footprint of the food industry, which most food sectors have already started work on. People working at managerial levels in R&D Corporations may be keener as this package may well make redundant the Productivity Commission’s current mission to streamline R&D infrastructure. The detail on the workings of that further investment aren’t available just yet, though.

There have also been the usual rumblings on the campaign trail about “dealing with the rising cost of food” which always gets a run around an election, and was a major issue in 2007. Well, hello, we’ve been in an era of deflation for food (and a few other categories of household goods) for the past year as the post-recession blues have kept retailers discounting. What can governments do about that anyway, as the consumer is the clear winner when retailers go hammer and tongs at each other’s market share?

But we have seen little tangible evidence of actual measures to address “food security” itself which has suddenly become a new clutch-phrase of politicians. Food security for many is a no-brainer - we export 60% of our food production, and have a free trade stance to ensure increasing volumes of cheap processed food gets onto our supermarket shelves. Job done? Not so when water for food production is exposed to greater competitive threat from household, industrial and environmental users than ever. We’re still waiting for leadership on that front.