Agriculture offers great potential for carbon reduction, says

Dr Richard Gilmore, who will speak at this year’s Australian Grains Industry Conference (AGIC), in Melbourne on July 27-29.

He believes the future of the agricultural industry is going to increasingly reflect concerns about the impact of farming activities on the environment, and that this will increasingly affect agricultural investment strategies.

“A new variable in the mix is carbon credits,” Dr Gilmore says.

“Agriculture conservatively accounts for 15-20pc of any country’s green house gas emissions for primary and value added industries under Kyoto or the European allocation system.

“It offers great potential for carbon reduction."

He is president of the GIC Group in the United States, a specialist consulting and investment advisory service for the international agribusiness sector.

Apart from his ideas on carbon credits, he will give delegates a global overview of supply, demand and the investment outlook for the agriculture sector in the wake of the current economic crisis.

“The global crisis has shaken things up in soft commodity markets,” Dr Gilmore said.

“The world is still topsy turvy. The US dollar leads, but now also follows export trends.

"Stockpiling and trade restrictions cloud the picture for demand forecasts and economic nationalism casts a long shadow on the markets.”

AGIC is Australia’s premier grains conference, attracting more than 450 delegates over the three days, including end users, marketers, bulk handlers, service providers, growers, government and R&D leaders.

Apart from Dr Gilmore, the conference will feature a number of international and domestic speakers, including the Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, who will deliver the opening address.

This year’s event is focusing on the ‘Changing face of the Australian grains industry’, with speakers addressing areas including opportunities for Australian grains, customer requirements, risk management and the emerging issue of managing quality in a deregulated market.

Conference manager, Rosemary Richards, says: “Our line-up this year has a range of speakers from Australia and overseas, representing interests from across the supply chain.”

The conference is hosted by Grain Trade Australia (formerly NACMA), the Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF) and Pulse Australia.

* More information: www.ausgrainsconf.com.au