The economic comparative advantage of the region lies in the natural resource base – land, water and increasingly minerals.
Economies reliant upon natural resources and ‘commodities’ face some challenges. Natural resources are subject to on-going policy change. Commodities are subject to the vagaries of climate and international price fluctuations. A good agricultural season benefits most sectors in our economy, but a poor season can be disastrous.
It would be good to have some new industry options that are not at the mercy of the weather and commodity price cycles, such as technology and knowledge based industries which service markets outside the region and internationally.
Are there opportunities to add-value our agricultural products, to diversify into higher-value commodities, or to build R&D and technology based ‘clusters’ which service agriculture?
The Narrabri area for example, has developed knowledge, technology and R&D expertise in servicing the cotton industry. Similar opportunities may exist to service the growing mining sector.