Working paper—Economic impact of ubiquitous high speed broadband: agriculture sector May 2021 The economic impact of high-speed ubiquitous broadband: agriculture sector Page 2 of 32 Ownership of intellectual property rights in this publication Unless otherwise noted, copyright (and any other intellectual property rights, if any) in this publication is owned by the Commonwealth of Australia (referred to below as the Commonwealth). Disclaimer The material contained in this publication is made available on the understanding that the Commonwealth is not providing professional advice, and that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use, and seek independent advice if necessary. The Commonwealth makes no representations or warranties as to the contents or accuracy of the information contained in this publication. To the extent permitted by law, the Commonwealth disclaims liability to any person or organisation in respect of anything done, or omitted to be done, in reliance upon information contained in this publication. Creative Commons licence With the exception of (a) the Coat of Arms; (b) the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications photos and graphics; and (c) [OTHER], copyright in this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Australia Licence. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Australia Licence is a standard form licence agreement that allows you to copy, communicate and adapt this publication provided that you attribute the work to the Commonwealth and abide by the other licence terms. Further information on the licence terms is available from https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This publication should be attributed in the following way: © Commonwealth of Australia 2021. Use of the Coat of Arms The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet sets the terms under which the Coat of Arms is used. Please refer to the Commonwealth Coat of Arms - Information and Guidelines publication available at http://www.pmc.gov.au. Contact us This publication is available in hard copy or PDF format. All other rights are reserved, including in relation to any departmental logos or trade marks which may exist. For enquiries regarding the licence and any use of this publication, please contact: Director—Creative Services Communication Branch Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications GPO Box 594 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia Email: [email protected] and [email protected] Website: www.infrastructure.gov.au The economic impact of high-speed ubiquitous broadband: agriculture sector Page 3 of 32 Contents Glossary 4 Executive summary 5 Ubiquitous high-speed broadband is increasingly important to economic outcomes 7 Box 1 What is ubiquitous high-speed broadband? 7 Australian agriculture and its use of digital technologies 8 Current state of agriculture, fisheries and forestry Agriculture is a diverse sector Productivity in the agricultural sector Technology is improving, but use varies across the sector Outlook for the AFF sector 8 9 9 10 11 Quantifying the impact of ubiquitous high-speed broadband on agriculture 11 How ubiquitous high-speed broadband can impact agricultural productivity Box 2 Growth accounting Quantifying the benefits of broadband to agriculture 11 12 14 The transformative nature of ubiquitous high-speed broadband in agriculture 16 Whole-of-enterprise connectivity drives better decision making and lower costs Box 3 Internet of Things and sensor technology Box 4 Sundown Pastoral Company Improved water use efficiency Improved market access Better supply chain management Improved liveability for regional communities Box 5 Murchison House Station 16 16 17 18 18 19 19 19 Unlocking the benefits of broadband to agriculture 21 Availability Affordability Ability 21 21 21 Appendix A—The Growth Accounting Model 23 An overview of the approach Growth accounting approach Forecasting Incorporating additional investment Linking the growth accounting to an agricultural output result Linking growth accounting to incomes 23 23 24 25 25 25 Appendix B—The scenarios 26 Additional investment Timing Sectoral scope 26 27 28 Tables / images Figure 1 Ubiquity and speed—outcomes in Australia 7 Table 1: Characteristics of the scenarios 13 Table 2: Economic outcomes of ubiquitous, high-speed broadband in 2029–30 by scenario 15 The economic impact o