Ag2050 is a disruptive multi-year program of work targeting transformational change to Australia’s farming systems. It will provide an evidence-based picture of what farming systems could, should and need to look like to be profitable, productive and sustainable in 2050. 

There are fewer than 28 annual planting opportunities to create this shift.

There’s a need – and thus an opportunity – to create a long-term vision of what farming businesses and communities might look like so the agricultural industry can plan for it.

Globally, much of the innovation in agriculture is focussing on indoor, intensified, or urban farming. These approaches do not address the unique Australian context of predominately broadacre and extensive landscape farming. As such, Australia could play a leading role in informing the rapid transformation of this system, which is also utilised in many other parts of the world.

Our focus will initially be on the livestock and mixed farming enterprise system as it covers the bulk of farming land in Australia.  

As a first step, CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, in collaboration with the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and industry stakeholders, have co-designed a series of plausible future scenarios for Australia’s farming systems in 2050. These scenarios draw on expertise in genetics, robotics, digital twins, artificial intelligence, landscape management, climate modelling, socio-economic analysis, social sciences, responsible innovation, operations research, risk management, farming systems, circular economies, precision agriculture management and more. 

We will provide the thought leadership to outline a vision for transformative change in the Australian agricultural system. Close collaboration with other researchers, industry and government will ensure that Ag2050 delivers an achievable, stepping-stone approach to scaling and implementing system innovation. 

Scenarios Report

The first phase of Ag2050, the Ag2050 Scenarios Report, explores a range of significant trends, risks and opportunities to identify key shifts and actions needed to support Australian farming systems into the future.  

This Report presents four evidence-based scenarios, co-created with stakeholders from the agricultural sector, providing plausible insights into the potential landscape of Australian farming systems by 2050. The scenarios explore implications and trade-offs between a range of critical challenges for Australian agriculture such as climate change, supply chain risks, consumer preference changes, a range of possible land uses, trade and technology disruptions. 

These scenarios highlight the need for further cross-sectoral collaboration across research, industry, and government on the solutions required to achieve sustainable, productive and resilient farming systems by 2050.

Accessing the Ag2050 Scenarios Report

Read more and download the report.

The broader Ag2050 project

The broader, multi-year Ag2050 program of works will draw on the Report as well as CSIRO’s deep domain expertise and national connections. CSIRO is the only institution globally that could deliver this initiative.

Collaborators

The first phase of Ag2050, the Ag2050 Scenarios Report, is a collaboration between the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), CSIRO Futures, our strategic and economic advisory arm, and our Agriculture and Food business unit.

We are working with the Australian Farm Institute as a project partner to explore the science, technology and policy pathways to a thriving Ag sector in 2050.