TasAgFuture: Final Research Report and Discussion Paper

Aspirations in Food and Agriculture (TasAgFuture) was funded by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) to serve four broad goals:

1. To better understand diversity of farmers and food manufacturers in their own terms.
2. To help define agrifood goals for the state in broad terms, and how TIA can work with others to achieve these goals.
3. To inform TIA’s strategic direction based on sound evidence and analysis.
4. To inform setting of priorities and policy across the Tasmanian agrifood sector.

TIA’s leadership commissioned this research in recognition of the importance of occasionally stepping back and taking a big picture view of the agriculture and food sectors that TIA serves. Rather than do this through an analysis of existing data, TIA wanted to hear directly from its key constituents – people working in Tasmania’s food and agriculture sectors. TIA did not seek external funding as it wanted the work to focus on Tasmania’s agrifood sector as a whole.

The research lays a foundation for focused discussions about options, opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing and evolving sector. It lays important foundations for informed discussions that can link directions for Research, Develop and Extension (RD&E) with education, policy and industry priorities.