A place-based agriculture development framework

This project aimed to explore agriculture’s economic contribution at a regional level and by understanding this contribution, identify ways to improve regional development and planning. The Wet Tropics of North Queensland was used as a focal area to research agriculture’s contribution to place-based regional development.The Wet Tropics region has recently gone through significant change as a result of industry deregulation and globalisation. The tobacco industry has disappeared, the dairy industry has more than halved in size and the sugar industry has experienced significant reform. In response, the region has sought to diversify, with the emergence of new horticultural industries, and a developing agri-tourism sector. In the past decade, the region has also been impacted by two severe tropical cyclones, highlighting the increasing risks of climate change to agriculture. Governments have responded to these pressures through a range of industry adjustment, environmental and regional development programs. This diversity of regional industries and experiences, and the region’s position in northern Australia (where both governments and industry have prioritised growing agricultural production) made the Wet Tropics an ideal location to focus this research.The research is well placed to inform debates on the development of northern Australia, and inform regional development processes where agriculture is a key contributor to a regional economy. A framework has been designed to support the development of a new regional vision for agriculture; one focused on maximising agriculture’s contribution to overall regional development based on a region’s competitive advantage.It is hoped that the report will be useful to regions seeking to develop their own place-based strategies, in order to maximise agriculture’s contribution to regional development. It is also hoped that the report provides useful information in order for government, industry and communities to better consider ways to maximise agriculture’s overall contribution to regional development