Creating a prosperous, sustainable and healthy Northern Australia

An evaluation of Northern Territory agriculture supply chains and export opportunities

An evaluation of Northern Territory agriculture supply chains and export opportunities
  • Supply chain development

Summary

The CRCNA partnered with Northern Territory Farmers Association (NT Farmers) to conduct an evaluation of Northern Territory agriculture supply chains and export opportunities, through the Northern Territory Agricultural Supply Chains Project . This project sought to understand where to apportion effort to drive industry expansion and economic growth, and ultimately capitalise on the opportunities available.

A key finding of this report is that strategic infrastructure planning and development is a critical factor for the success of agribusiness in the Northern Territory and is a key enabler for industry and broader economic growth.  To address this, there is an opportunity to leverage planned investments in the Northern Territory to develop agriculture and improve supply chain infrastructure.

The report also identifies that there is an increasing geopolitical need to improve capability and onshore production of food processing and the supply chain infrastructure to support distribution.  This provides the opportunity for the Northern Territory to investigate a multi-user agricultural precinct which could provide synergies and efficiencies for producers and be an innovative hub for onshore food processing in Northern Australia.

A key output generated by the project team has been a model to provide agricultural producers with an estimate of the costs to export goods from the Northern Territory, both internationally and domestically.  It provides an overview of the downstream supply chain for agricultural producers in the Northern Territory and insights regarding the potential opportunities and constraints faced by producers.

The recommendations and findings of this report provide the information necessary for decision makers, both industry and government, to set out a detailed and targeted plan to address the constraints that exist in agribusiness supply chains.  This will facilitate investment into the agribusiness sector and associated infrastructure and ultimately drive economic growth in the Northern Territory.

Projects

An evaluation of Northern Territory Agriculture supply chains and export opportunities

An evaluation of Northern Territory Agriculture supply chains and export opportunities

Despite the Northern Territory’s proximity to international markets and rich agricultural produce, the geography of the region combined with the small, nascent production sector creates unique challenges when it comes to the opportunities of effectively and efficiently supplying international markets. This partnership-based project aims to support the NT’s key export and supply chain stakeholders to identify how the Territory can take advantage of its unique geographic location to become a preferred leading export hub and to sell its bulk agricultural and processed food products to world markets. It will focus on the food, fibre and forestry commodities produced across the NT. Development of the Northern Territory driven supply chains report which will conduct a gap analysis and determine where to apportion effort to drive industry expansion and economic growth.

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