Abstract
The financial capacity of the Australian agriculture sector to capture the benefits of the growing food and fibre demands of the burgeoning global population has been questioned, particularly in the face of a projected climate change impacts. This paper reports on the first phase of a multi-stage project that seeks to understand the causes of rural business failure, illustrated through the metaphorical voice of the farmer. It has been constructed in three parts comprising an overview of the rationale for the consideration of the rural business failure as it is understood by the operators of stressed rural businesses; description of the method and results; and thirdly, the implications of the results and direction for future research. This paper reports on the analysis of responses of approximately 33,000 clients collected as part of the Rural Financial Counselling Services (RFCS) during the period 2012–2016. A key finding of the paper is the perception that climate variation is the primary cause for the hardship experienced; that is, in the absence of the variable climate operators would not have found themselves in need of the RFCS. However, this result necessarily requires a more objective review before consideration as the basis of new policy.
Highlights
There is an inherent tension between the opportunity presented by the food and fibre demand of a burgeoning global population and the capacity of Australian agriculture to capture that opportunity [1]
The highest deviation from the expected frequency distribution was obtained for climate variation, smaller deviations were noted for Personal factors, Debt and Lower Sales/Commodity Prices
Climatic variation seems to justify the importance of the program for the universe of clients captured in the Assessment module, it is relevant to contextualize this result in terms of where the clients come from and the agricultural sector in which they were primarily involved, as presented below
Summary
There is an inherent tension between the opportunity presented by the food and fibre demand of a burgeoning global population and the capacity of Australian agriculture to capture that opportunity [1]. This lies in the opportunity of the sector to fully recognize the magnitude of the opportunity but extends to externalities directly impacting sector productivity [1]. This paper reports on the first stage of a multi-phase project to understand and articulate key drivers of rural business failure This broader understanding is fundamental to the establishment of future policy that is effectively and efficiently supports the agriculture sector [1]. Disproportionate in its regional impact, climate-related yield reductions of the order of 25% are projected for key staples such as wheat, maize, rice and soy, as well as significant implications for sustainable development of livestock products such as meat and dairy [8]
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