By Su McCluskey, Australian Agriculture Trade Diversification Representative
In a world where trust is everything, Indonesia is proof food and fibre is our strategic advantage. Last week I was standing in a feedlot in Lampung, Indonesia in my new role as Australian Agriculture Trade Diversification Representative for the National Farmers’ Federation.
I was struck by the similarities of agricultural production between Australia and Indonesia. While there are different operating contexts, the opportunities and challenges are very often the same. A focus on improving animal welfare, health and safety, sustainability and staff development, all while managing economic, market and seasonal conditions, were front of mind. This highlighted that trade delegations and in-country visits provide a unique opportunity to learn from each other and share our knowledge and experiences and provide the basis for securing strong and ongoing partnerships. Indonesia is one of Australia’s most important international relationships.
This was my first engagement in the role and underlines the country’s importance as one of Australia’s most important partners. It is a market of 285 million people, with two-way agricultural trade valued at $5.5 billion annually and Australia’s fifth largest agricultural export destination. Joined by representatives from GrainGrowers, the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council, Meat and Livestock Australia and Austrade, we discussed how to leverage the opportunities and overcome some identified challenges while helping to support Indonesia’s self-sufficiency aims.
These discussions reinforce not only complementary agricultural trading relationships, but our shared resilience in this contested world. It also reinforced that Australia’s capacity to produce safe, high-quality food and fibre at scale is one of our greatest strategic advantages. When conflict in the Middle East disrupted the Strait of Hormuz this year, the shock reached Australian farms almost immediately. Diesel and fertiliser prices spiked – a plain reminder that our ability to produce food and fibre depends on volatile global supply chains.
Indonesia helped us secure criticalsupplies of urea fertiliser for Australian farmers during that period, despite the global disruption. This ensured producers could continue to supply food and fibre to our regional partners and global customers, including back to Indonesia itself. This relationship is no accident. Generations of Australian farmers, exporters and agribusinesses have turned productive capacity into trusted market capability, as a result of co-ordinated investment. Over 35 years, Australia’s Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) have invested in innovation and markets in food, seafood, fibre and processing, underpinning trusted relationships with our trading partners. When foot-and-mouth and lumpy skin diseases swept the region, Australia responded with vaccines, technical expertise and targeted investment across the sector.
LiveCorp and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), supported by the Australian Government, worked alongside Indonesian authorities to vaccinate more than 380,000 Australian-bred cattle and tens of thousands of local animals, protect supply chains and build biosecurity capacity on the ground. For an Indonesian smallholder farmer, two or three head can be a family’s savings. Protecting them safeguarded livelihoods, slowed a disease heading toward our shores and deepened a relationship in which Australian-bred cattle now supply around 19 per cent of Indonesia’s beef.
That investment continues through the Livestock Export Program, which since 2021 has trained more than 14,000 Indonesians in animal welfare, supply chain efficiency and biosecurity. In dairy, Dairy Australia’s decade-long engagement in Indonesia has built lasting buyer networks for Australian dairy products while strengthening Indonesia’s access to high-quality, nutritious dairy, with the IA-CEPA free trade agreement supporting continued trade engagement. These longstanding relationships are also reflected across grains, cotton and horticulture. Yet, we cannot become complacent. These relationships require continuous sustained investment of time, credibility and a whole of sector voice.
That’s why I was in Jakarta last week, under the Federal Government’s Accessing New Markets Initiative (ANMI), advancing Australian agriculture’s global opportunities and driving the food security and agricultural priorities of both nations. 70 per cent of Australia’s food and fibre is sold overseas and that ties our prosperity directly to how the world sees us. ANMI will work with new and existing trade partners to provide new twoway trade and investment opportunities, in Indonesia and beyond, building the same trusted relationship across global markets. We’ll work alongside international agricultural research projects and capacity-building programs such as the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Crawford Fund for Food Security, collaborating and supporting our trading partners. We’ll also work closely with our RDCs.
Trade is about investing in relationships with our partners, understanding what they need and identifying where Australian agriculture can provide value over the long term as a safe, reliable and secure supplier of food and fibre products. That is what I saw in Indonesia. And it must be replicated wherever we seek to do business. Our closest trading partners can buy food and fibre almost anywhere, but what sets Australia apart is that we do not just supply them – we invest with them, bring quality, traceability and partnership to build shared national and regional food security.
This is how trust is built.
This Opinion Editorial first appeared on Farm Weekly.