Improved market access through free trade agreements will undoubtedly help drive demand for Australia’s high quality food and fibre, particularly among the booming middle class of Asia.

What is less certain though is the capacity of Australian agriculture to sustainably increase productivity fast enough to capitalise on the opportunity of becoming a food bowl for Asia.

Australian farmers have historically tackled productivity challenges including rising production costs, climate variability and increasing global competition through adopting the latest science, technology and management practices.

This record has served us well. However, we need to ensure complacency does not set in and that we continue to innovate our agricultural production systems.

GM crops are a case in point.

Since the introduction of agricultural biotechnology in 1996, Australian GM cotton and canola growers have generated an extra $760 million in income, according to an international report published by PG Economics.

Agricultural biotechnology has also helped Australia become one of the world’s most sustainable and productive cotton producers by reducing the industry’s insecticide use by more than 90% since 1996. Along with other technological advances and improvements in management techniques, GM technology has contributed to local cotton growers producing yields almost three times the world average.

The rapid adoption of GM canola varieties on the east and west coasts is helping local farmers increase yield and lower their carbon footprint. Last season canola growers purchased 55% more GM canola seed than the previous season and we are expecting to see the largest ever GM canola crop to be planted this year.

Globally, farmers have turned to GM crops in greater numbers every year since their introduction 19 years ago. About 18 million farmers in 28 countries planted GM crops last year to improve their yields, sustainability and incomes. And GM crops are now grown, imported and/or used in field research trials in 70 countries.

The world’s most sophisticated regulatory systems, respected universities, international agencies such as the World Health Organisation overwhelmingly conclude that GM crops are safe and environmentally friendly.

Now more than ever we need to equip Australian farmers with the innovative tools they need to be able to meet society’s growing expectations about how their food is produced and its impact on the environment.

And we have every reason to be optimistic about the sector’s capacity to meet local and international consumer demands and to feed a rapidly growing global population.

Australia’s long history of being able to use different production systems has improved the success and sustainability of local agriculture. Our advanced agriculture sector has allowed organic, conventional and GM crops to be successfully grown side-by-side in Australia for many years.

Based on this enviable record, farmers and consumers alike can be assured that local agriculture is successfully providing the choice in crops and food they expect.

Our farmers need a wide variety of tools, including GM crops, to produce the high quality food and fibre that they are world renowned for and that we rely upon everyday. The challenge of sustainably producing the food we consume or export will be overcome as it always has – by our farmers embracing agricultural innovation.