News

Understanding agricultural financialisation in Northern Australia

Dr Zannie Langford explores the complexities of negotiating agricultural investment in Northern Australia in her new book, Assembling Financialisation: Local Actors and the Making of Agricultural Investment.

Dr Langford uses the concept of financialisation to explore the drivers and effects of agrifood restructuring in Northern Australia, while assemblage theory is applied to position local people as key actors in negotiating connections between local spaces and global finance. She examines the work the people negotiating financial investments do, the tools they use, and the spaces they work across to better understand how agricultural investments come to be structured as they are, and the outcomes they produce.

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Examining the diversity of Indigenous businesses in Australia

Dr Zannie Langford has collaborated with Supply Nation to produce a detailed analysis of Australia’s Indigenous businesses sector in a post-pandemic landscape.

The geographies of Indigenous business in Australia: An analysis of scale, industry, and remoteness combines data from Supply Nation, the Office of the Registrar for Indigenous Corporations, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics to highlight the diversity of Indigenous businesses in Australia and provide insight on the differences between businesses in different industries and locations.

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Strengthening partnerships with Vietnam in the beef cattle sectors

Associate Professor Dominic Smith has been awarded an Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Grant (AVEG) for the project, Reimagining collaboration in the Australian and Vietnam beef cattle sectors.

Researchers from Griffith Agribusiness, Focus Group Go, and Vietnam's Institute for Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) will collaborate with government and industry representatives from both countries to support the deepening of collaboration between Vietnam and Australia's cattle and beef industries, and to develop stronger partnerships for increased trade, investment, and innovation.

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Leading dialogue on food systems transformations in Australia

Members of the Agribusiness team were invited join the Foreign Minister’s Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) to co-lead a panel discussion at the 2022 TROPAG conference in Brisbane, Queensland. Robin E Roberts and Dominic Smith were asked to facilitate a dialogue on the topic: The role of Australia’s university sector in supporting agricultural innovation and global food nutrition security.

Alongside members of Griffith University’s Sciences faculty, the team workshopped a submission for Australia’s Foreign Minister, focusing on food systems transformations that are climate positive, address social and gender inequalities, lead to more energy and water efficient systems, and result in food that is available, assessable, adequate, affordable, and safe. The submission will help guide the Australian Government’s development program and their future investment in Australia’s science innovation systems.

XV World Congress of Rural Sociology Conference 2022

Agribusiness academics presented at the World Congress of Rural Sociology conference in Cairns, Australia. Delegates were asked to consider sustainability in the urban century; how spatial disadvantages intersect with injustices based on gender, ethnic, linguistic, religious, and other dimensions of social difference; and what opportunities do flows of people, capital, information, and commodities between urban and rural spaces present for sustainable rural development.

Robin E Roberts presented on the topic ‘Just and Secure Food’, COVID-19, food insecurity, and resilience: Evidence from Myanmar and the Philippines.

Dominic Smith presented on the topic ‘Multiple Futures for Animal Agriculture’, Impacts of animal disease on rural livelihoods and food systems resilience: The case of African swine fever in the Philippines.