Bleak future for horticulture (continued from last month)
What are we going to do about it? What will it take to keep the tree fruit industry competitive long term in the global economy?
If there is no R&D, there is no progress. Standing still is going backwards. Simply doing more of what we have always done is a recipe for extinction.
In the next 30 years the world will need to produce 50 per cent more food from the same land and water to feed a rapidly increasing world population.
Rising standards of living in India and China promise greater consumption of fruit, vegetables and grains of high quality which places Australia in an excellent position. However, such a positive outlook cannot be realised without our orchardists becoming more efficient in producing fruit of high quality.
Need for greater efficiency
If we don’t become more efficient, we are going to price ourselves out of the market.
Gaining efficiency through new technologies and improved orchard management requires research that is relevant to the modern tree fruit industry.
Without research, this industry is going nowhere —it is doomed—and our overseas competitors will continue taking a greater share of our domestic and export markets.
Failing to take advantage of our unique position
Australia has some of the best environments to produce fruit.
There are not many places in the world where one can grow a wide variety of pome and stone fruit and harvest these over eight months of the year as happens in some areas of Australia, including the Goulburn Valley in Victoria.
The challenges of global food shortages may pass us by. We may have to be fed by our overseas competitors.
The opportunity to build on 40 years of experience with the Tatura Trellis will soon be lost unless the fruit industry and state and federal governments get their acts together and invest in R&D, extension and training of production horticulture.
For more information, see Tree Fruit April 2014
