CSIRO delivers ag routes, costs map

RESEARCHERS have provided a detailed map of routes and costings across Australia’s entire agricultural supply chain, potentially saving the industry millions of dollars annually.

The CSIRO researchers have applied the logistics tool TraNSIT (Transport Network Strategic Investment Tool) to 98 per cent of agriculture transport across Australia including commodities such as beef, sheep, goats, dairy, pigs, poultry, grains, cotton, rice, sugar, stock feed, horticultural and even buffalo.

The information was presented in the final TraNSIT agricultural report.

Transport infrastructure is essential to moving over 80 million tonnes of Australian agricultural (including horticultural) output between farms, storage, processors and to markets each year and costs close to A$6 billion annually.

The  tool identifies ways to reduce travel distance and time, save fuel costs, cut down on wear and tear to vehicles and produce and minimise stress for both truck drivers and livestock.

“Farmers will be saving money on transport as well as being able to deliver food to the market faster and with less damage and disruption,” CSIRO’s TraNSIT project leader doctor Andrew Higgins said.

“We expect these savings will eventually be passed on to consumers.”

In 2013, CSIRO developed TraNSIT to provide a comprehensive view of transport logistics costs and benefits based on infrastructure investments in agriculture supply chains in Australia.

The tool was originally applied to the beef industry before being extended to all agriculture transport across Australia.

TraNSIT is now being applied overseas, particularly in Indonesia, Laos and Vietnam to address supply chain inefficiencies and cross-border bottlenecks.

For more information on TraNSIT and to view the final agricultural report, visit https://www.csiro.au/en/Research/LWF/Areas/Landscape-management/Livestock-logistics/TRANSIT