Welcome to the ABARES Outlook 2011 conference

While the Australian economy has proved resilient, with rising farm exports and economic confidence, what is the longer-term outlook for Australia’s economy and key primary industries?

At Outlook 2011, leading international and national speakers will deliver market-leading information and sector analysis. This, combined with the medium-term forecasts of ABARES to 2015–16 and industry assessments, makes Outlook 2011 essential for delegates to understand their industry’s critical issues and future direction.

Join delegates in Canberra to attend sessions covering the important and interconnected issues affecting your industry. The conference program has been designed to encourage debate with longer panel discussion and audience participation at over 22 sessions. A new plenary closing session on A future in farming, has also been introduced as producers from across Australia explore their critical issues for farming success.

Following the merger of ABARE and the Bureau of Rural Sciences to form ABARES (Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences), we now have the capacity to provide integrated economic and scientific research for decision-making in the agriculture, fisheries, forestry and natural resource sectors. This is reflected in Outlook 2011’s broader conference program.

At Outlook 2011

With economic and agricultural issues now crossing traditional lines, your participation in Outlook 2011 will keep you informed of the latest thinking, data and opportunities in your sector.

Outlook 2011 sessions will cover:

• the economic overview, featuring speakers from the ABARES and the National Australia Bank. ABARES will also release its projections to 2015–16 for Australia’s agricultural and resource commodities;
• the big picture for farm performance examining issues such as adapting to change, foreign investment and competitiveness in agriculture;
• the outlook and industry trends for key commodities including grains, meat, dairy, forestry, fisheries, horticulture and fibres;
• the latest issues and developments in water policy;
• the future of education and training for agriculture;
• the latest technological developments and implications for agricultural productivity;
• the future of farming and the critical issues for the next five years;
• sessions on food security and trade, the food industry, live exports and animal welfare, biosecurity and farm chemical management.

Featured speakers

• Jesper Koll, JP Morgan and Alan Oster, National Australia Bank in the Economic overview session
• Andrew Goldstein, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Peter Drysdale, Crawford School of Economics and Government in the Farm performance session
• Julian Alston, University of California in the Sustaining productivity growth session
• Ross Garnaut, Garnaut Climate Change Review in the Climate change – issues and challenges session
• Shayle Shagam, United States Department of Agriculture in the Meat session
• Tassos Haniotis, European Commission in the Food security and trade session
• Jeff Bennett, Australian National University in the Farm chemical management session.
• Bjørn Lomborg, Copenhagen Consensus Center in the Forests in a low carbon global economy session.

Key sessions

• Economic overview
• Farm performance
• Agriculture and technology
• Food industry
• Biosecurity
• Sustaining the professional capacity of agriculture
• Climate change - issues and challenges
• Food security and trade
• Live animal exports – future prospects 
• Farm chemical management
• Commodities including grains, dairy, meat, fibres, horticulture, forestry and fisheries