Last week the Australian Farm Institute (AFI) held the 12th annual Agricultural Roundtable, an event that brings together key public and private sector players to discuss the future of the industry.

The event also served as the awards ceremony for the 2016 John Ralph Essay Competition. This year’s topic was agri-environment schemes. Congrats to winners Dean Ansell (Open Category) and Brendan O’Keeffe (Novice Category).

Here are my three takeaways from the event:

(1) It’s all about the brand

Roger Fletcher, Director of Fletcher International Exports (FIE), explained the interesting history of their company brand over dinner the night before the conference: it was created by one of his daughters in the 70’s after he promised his kids a box of chocolates if they could come up with a brand. FIE is now Australia’s largest exporter of Sheep meat. With the same brand, which Mr. Fletcher said claimed is their “best asset- you can’t underestimate the value of a story.”

The theme of changing consumer preferences, and implications for brand value, was mentioned throughout the event. Steve Marafiote of Sundrop farms explained that their 3Bl (triple bottom line) approach has helped them establish a brand that stands for quality, and aligns with consumer demands for sustainability without compromising commercial returns. And David Blackmore of Blackmore Wagyu Beef similarly emphasized how important their brand has been to their success, and how critical it is to protect your brand as an asset.

(2) The media is influencing investment decisions

In a session Friday that focused just on investment, we learned that farm debt levels are up, and explored new financing mechanisms for the industry. We can expect to see lots more in this space, including crowdfunding, new business structures that decrease risk, and new financing mechanisms that attempt to take a longer term perspective on returns. Value, ROI, and viable exits will still of course remain the basic guiding principles, but the session was careful to emphasize that government regulations will have to keep up, or risk stifling this kind of innovation.

The role of the media was also brought up in context of investments. Lots of media attention on certain types of investment (e.g., foreign investment) can distort perceptions of what’s actually happening. Though it’s getting a lot of media play, foreign investment still remains quite small overall.

(3) Global trade uncertainty will impact Aussie Ag

I thought I’d had my fair share of political debates and, well, politicians in general given the U.S. election. But then Bob Katter showed up. No one was falling asleep after lunch with him on stage!

The session’s three speakers took three very different views on free trade and what Australia’s policies can, have, and should do for Aussie Ag. Though they all disagreed, each speaker had well-research points and (mostly) data-driven arguments.

Net net? It has to be a balance- in today’s globalized world, it’s not enough to focus on a single industry or even a single country. One has to embrace the complexity that comes with broadening the system boundary to ultimately, hopefully, find a stomach-able solution.

I do agree with Mr. Katter’s view that, “a tremendous tectonic shift has occurred, starting with Brexit, and now including the U.S. election.” We shall see!