THE spiralling cost of farm inputs such as petrol and fertiliser will drive up the prices of fresh produce to the consumer rather than the loss of fruit and vegetable crops caused by the recent flood and rain event in Queensland and New South Wales.

That’s the summation of Growcom CEO Stephen Barnard which was given in response to questions on whether the crop losses would have an impact on fresh produce prices on the supermarket shelves.

And he has called on retailers and buyers to ensure that farmgate prices that growers receive for their produce better reflect the current economic climate to ensure the financial viability of farmers.

“The effect in the grocery aisle [of the flood event] should be negligible as the crops grown in the hardest hit areas are also grown in other parts of Australia,” Mr Barnard said.

“Our markets are national in scale, and production is spread far and wide.

“In summary, it’s unlikely one natural disaster could be so catastrophic as to rock the horticulture industry, any one crop, or the supply chain.”

But he argued that prices for fresh produce should be higher and continue to increase.

“Recent analysis completed by Ausveg, the national peak body for the vegetable industry, shows growers are dealing with record prices for farm inputs, yet there remains virtually no movement on price at the farm gate and retail level,” Mr Barnard said.

“This means growers are continuing to bear the brunt of global trade conditions, absorbing rising costs of chemical, fertiliser, fuel, lumber and labour costs without any relief in price from buyers.”

The analysis revealed that key agricultural inputs, both fertiliser and fuel, have on average increased in price over the past two years by 110 percent.

“While all horticultural businesses vary in terms of their production costs, vegetable growers’ businesses are facing between 25 to 40 percent increase to their cost base,” Mr Barnard said.

“In the same period, a basket of the most common vegetables, carrots, potato, lettuce and broccoli, has only cost consumers 7.5 percent more, while other agricultural commodities like wheat, cattle and milk have risen by 39, 136 and 22 percent respectively.”

by WENDY CREIGHTON

PRICE and stamina were the reasons a local campdrafter decided to train with water buffalo.

It’s a decision which was spurred on by the ever upward trend in cattle prices when the drought broke.

Kalbar’s An…

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

Scott Moore hasn’t seen the latest Netflix documentary about saving the world from climate change. 

But the fifth-generation Kalbar farmer had already switched to some of the techniques featured in Kiss The Ground when he took over the family farm about three years ago. 

Sure he did so, in part, for the environment. In part it was to save money. 

But, mainly, it just made sense for his property. 

Mr Moore’s farm runs between Warrill Creek and Kents Lagoon. When not in drought, it’s land that floods a lot. 

And if the rich soil in which he grows his vegetables has been recently tilled, the black gold washes away in heavy rain. 

So, the 28-year-old grower stopped tilling it. Simple as that. 

Actually, it was a practice his father had been doing for years. The young farmer just did it more. And when he does plough, he’s more targeted about it. Instead of ripping up an entire paddock to plant a new crop, Mr Moore uses a strip-tiller to turn narrow lines of soil in which the seed will be planted, and leaves the spaces in between untouched.

Using this strip-tilling technique, Mr Moore won’t turn the ground again until he plants the next crop.  

“We’re seeing the benefits from doing it now,” Mr Moore said. 

“It's saving a lot of time, wear on the machines and a lot of diesel costs.”

The land is responding too. 

“Our soil is getting a lot softer,” he said. 

“We find worms now in the soil where we couldn’t before. We’re not killing everything with cultivation.”

Conventional, modern cultivation practices can involve ripping up a paddock four times before planting. 

It’s “very intensive” and it changes the soil’s structure.

“When the harvester comes, if it gets wet, they get bogged,” Mr Moore said. 

“You get wheel marks two-feet deep in the dirt and it takes a long time for the soil to recover.

“With no-till, and strip-till, we’ve had crops of sweet corn that had two inches of rain the day before harvest.

“The harvesters come in and didn't mark the paddock at all.”

Like any techniques, minimal tillage has its drawbacks, he said. And it doesn’t work for every crop. 

Mr Moore uses strip- or no-till on about three quarters of his 77 hectare property to grow crops like sweet corn, mung bean and barley. 

But he still uses standard techniques to grow green beans and celery. 

“They’ve gotta have a raised bed so they’re not sitting in water,” he said.  

Similarly, root crops like carrots, which require ground “nice and perfect” are suited to heavy ploughing. 

The techniques present challenges when it comes to using fertilisers and herbicides too. But, overall, it’s paying off. 

“Our crop yields are better than we’ve ever had,” Mr Moore said. 

“So we’re not doing any damage, and we’re also saving money.” 

And Mr Moore believes there will be a long-term trend towards more sustainable farming techniques. 

In the future, he said, “more people are going to be looking into that stuff”.

One of those who plans on doing the looking is Aria Salan.

The veterinary nurse is studying a bachelor of environmental science with a focus on soil and water and Griffith University. 

A “horsey person” who grew up in Warwick and now lives outside of Beaudesert, Salan shudders at the sight of bare paddock. 

But far from being anti-farmer, Salan thinks primary producers hold the key to tackling global warming. 

“I think farmers will be the most important people in our society,” Salan said. 

“Because they’re the ones managing the land, and land is what can save us.”

Salan said soils are a “wonderful carbon sink”.

The young scientist can talk “soil cycles, carbon, nitrogen and all the chemistry stuff are probably not all that interesting to most people”. 

“But, basically, soil can capture carbon dioxide and store it as a solid mass,” Salan said.

“In doing that, you’re taking something in the atmosphere that is bad and turning it into something that is good for the soil.”

Growing up and living rural, Salan sees “a lot of climate denialism”. 

But when it comes to farming, at least, “at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter”.

“I know climate change is happening and science agrees on that almost unanimously,” Salan said.

“But even if it wasn't, these techniques are going to make farming more efficient.”

Salan’s focus is on grazing land. By improving paddock rotation and planting more trees and deep-rooted native grasses, Salan said graziers can cultivate carbon-rich and aerated soils that hold water and nutrients better.

“Grazing covers 50 percent of the land mass in Australia,” Salan said. 

“If we can use that to sink up carbon in the atmosphere and meanwhile ensure food security, everyone wins.”

For farmers like Mr Moore, those wins aren’t just about improving the yields of today. 

The Kalbar grower said he aimed to farm until he “can’t anymore”. 

Then he hopes to be able to hand the property on to his own children. But that depends on doing right by the land. 

“If we keep doing things that are no good for the soil, we’re not going to be able to farm forever,” he said. 

“We’ve gotta look after the soil. At the end of the day, that’s all we’ve got and that's how we make money.”

“If you’ve got healthy soil to start with, well, you’re in front.”

by JOE HINCHLIFFE

A sustainable industry which produces a high-value, native protein is poised to enter its next generation in the same place in which it was born – the Scenic Rim. 

Or that’s the vision of a father and son team of engineers turned off-grid redclaw farmers at least. 

But according to the man who pioneered the industry more than four decades ago, they will have to overcome many challenges first.

Peter and Alex van Velzen are in the midst of million dollar earthworks transforming their Tabragalba property from cattle to crayfish country.

After what father Peter described as a two-and-a-half year struggle against bureaucracy, they have just received their first batch of 10,000 tiny craylings and constructed their main 120 megalitre dam. Now they just need to add water. 

And if La Niña does deliver on its drought-breaking promise, the van Velzens say they are perfectly positioned to capture that rain. 

Having dammed half a valley running from the Birnam Ranges to the Albert River, they calculate that 85 millimetre falls on saturated soil would be enough to fill their main dam.

“One big storm, and we’re in business,” Alex said. 

The young chemical processing engineer said the property’s rain-catching topography and heavy clay soil make it ideal for aquaculture. 

“I looked at 130 farms over nine months from Gympie and Toowoomba down towards NSW,” Alex said.

“I ended up finding the perfect one 10 minutes down the road from mum and dad’s farm.”

The van Velzens have brought the permaculture principles they applied to their Tamborine fruit farm with them.

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

Flies are widely considered a nuisance, not a food source. 

But not to a Thagoona couple on a mission to produce almost all their food on their own one acre block. 

And they might be at the forefront of an emerging agricultural industry for South East Queensland – one which scientists say could change the way we eat hamburgers and ice cream forever. 

Former commercial farmer and tradie, Jon, has built a farm to attract and breed Black Soldier Flies. 

It is part of a backyard food production system he and his partner Anita run, which includes goats, chickens, quails, fruit and vegetables. 

But ‘farm’ is a pretty generous term for the fly set up. It is simply a small, rectangular box raised to about waist height. 

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

Authorities in Queensland were on high alert after a virus ripped through Victoria, claiming hundreds of thousands of avian lives and forcing many more into lockdown. 

Nearly half a million domestic birds in that state were culled in the weeks following the first case of the virus in late July 2021. The birds destroyed were overwhelmingly chickens, but also turkeys and emus. 

The three separate outbreaks were the hardest bird flu ever to hit Victoria and have led to calls for backyard chook owners and free range producers, in particular, to help prevent a similar situation occurring in Queensland. 

Such an outbreak has the potential to devastate the South East, which is home to around 90 percent of the state’s $588 million poultry industry. 

Chicken farming is on the rise in Queensland following a decline in the dairy industry.  

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Perry Jones said bird flu was one of the state’s two biggest threats to animal biosecurity, the other being African swine fever. 

The collapse of international travel since Covid-19 has significantly reduced the threat posed by the latter.

But following events in Victoria, Mr Jones said the department was on alert for an outbreak of the former. 

The Boonah-based district biosecurity inspector said the state was well placed to avoid bird flu and ready to act should one occur.

He said it was now industry requirements for major producers to chlorinate the water they provide their poultry, eliminating a major source of transmission from wild birds. 

Avian influenza viruses are common in wild birds and strike domestic poultry when the two interact. 

Mr Jones said the big sheds which comprised the majority of the Scenic Rim’s industry were fitted with wires and nets to prevent that interaction. 

“The only risk would be it starting in backyards where there may be intermingling with wild birds and domestic birds,” he said.

Johanna Bell runs a small free range chicken farm and orchard on Tamborine Mountain. 

Like many on the mountain, she grew up with backyard chooks and would give away surplus eggs. People loved them, she said, with some insisting on paying. 

And once they tasted free range eggs, many couldn’t go back to mass produced. 

“It grew from there,” she said. “So we thought, why not follow our passion?”

In 2016, the family went commercial. Allamburra Organics now runs about 200 chooks, which roam alongside sheep in a patchwork of rainforest, avocado groves, lychee and lime trees. 

Under the watchful eye of maremma dogs, the hens produce around 150 eggs a day. These are delivered around the South East through the Scenic Rim Farm Box, sold in a few local shops or at the farm gate. 

The business is now at a “happy medium”, Ms Bell said. 

“It’s a bit of a balancing act with supply and demand,” the young farmer said. 

“We only want to meet local demand and we don’t want to overcrowd our farm with thousands of chickens.”

It is the kind of idyllic farm that many consumers picture when they buy free range eggs.

But not all free range egg producers operate on such a boutique scale. 

The free range farms at the centre of Victoria’s outbreak ran tens of thousands of birds and prompted a backlash from the Victorian Farmers Federation against such large scale, free range operations.

Queensland’s last outbreak occurred in Lowood back in 1994 at a layer farm with 22,000 birds, a flock considered small by industry standards.

But Victoria’s Chief Veterinary Officer Graeme Cooke told ABC’s Landline the virus did not discriminate between producers. 

“Avian influenza has affected cage birds all over the world, often with catastrophic consequences, irrespective of whether there’s free range flocks or not,” he said late last month.

“The most important thing is to have very good biosecurity to prevent those wild birds making contact with the domestic birds.” 

Mr Jones said biosecurity officers were permanently at the ready to respond to an outbreak. 

But he said the system was “heavily reliant” on chicken owners and poultry producers to immediately report sick birds and mass mortalities. 

“When people hide it away or don’t report it, that’s when it grows and becomes a problem,” he said.

He called on chook owners to prevent interactions between wild and domestic birds, especially around feeders and water sources. 

If you suspect avian influenza in birds within Queensland, contact the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries immediately on 13 25 23 (business hours) or the Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888 (after hours).

by JOE HINCHLIFFE

An emu farmer in the Scenic Rim is set to defy drought and recession by expanding his business.

Steve Schmidt can run up to 3,000 of Australia’s biggest birds on his Coleyville property, describing himself as one of the last “fair dinkum emu farmers” in the country.

Now he has bought the adjoining block and lodged an application which, if approved, would allow him to run another 2,000 emus. 

And far from hurting his business, Mr Schmidt said the coronavirus pandemic was only driving more demand. 

“Even with Covid, I can’t get any [government] money, ‘cause I’ve been getting busier,” he said. 

“People know emu oil is good for the immune system.”

Mr Schmidt said he couldn’t meet the “massive demand” for both emu oil and meat.

His journey farming Australia’s national emblem began in Marburg more than 25 years ago, when he decided to experiment on his own aches, pains and high cholesterol by drinking emu oil he produced. 

Now he speaks with missionary zeal about the oil’s unique cocktail of omegas, which he says can treat everything from arthritis to diabetes.

Claims such as these drove an emu farming boom in the early 1990s.

But Mr Schmidt is among a handful of survivors from that high-water mark, reckoning there wouldn’t be 10 serious emu farms left in Australia. 

The issue, he said, was that there were too many birds and not enough abattoirs and facilities to render their oil. 

Compounding this is the fact that emus, unlike other livestock, don’t take to live transport and can only be processed in a small window of the year when they have built up enough fat to see them through long periods without food and water. 

Mr Schmidt overcame this hurdle by building his own “top-of the-art” facilities and doing everything on farm.

“There wouldn’t be a better emu processing plant in the world,” he said. 

Which has allowed him to make the most of an animal which doesn’t come with many of the drawbacks associated with more traditional livestock. Because they eat their own manure, the animals don’t attract flies, and they aren’t smelly or noisy.

“They don't get foot rot, they don’t get flyblown … they don’t get ticks or parasites, provided you’re doing it all properly,” he continued.

“I don't even use wormers, I just use charcoal.”

But most of all, emus are hardy, built to handle everything this harsh continent can throw at them, from frost and ice to desert heat.

Which is what is driving Try It Emu Farms latest expansion. Mr Schmidt said having more land would allow him to better rotate paddocks and “drought proof” his property. 

So what does emu meat taste like? 

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

Farmers and independent mechanics should have a ‘right to repair’ tractors, but more needs to be done to prevent manufacturers preventing this by hoarding software, tools and parts.

That’s a take home message from the consumer watchdog, after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission handed down a report into competition and fair trading issues in agricultural machinery sales this month. 

The report looked at a range of competition and fair trading issues in markets for the direct sale of agricultural machinery, as well as for after-sales services, such as repairs. 

It made a number of recommendations aimed at improving competition and access by purchasers to after-sales services.

The ACCC said that modern tractors, harvesters and other agricultural machinery use complex computerised systems that involve embedded software and specific tools and parts. “While this technology has increased productivity, it has also meant that access to this software, tools and parts is needed to repair the machinery,” the ACCC wrote in a statement.

“These are often held or controlled by manufacturers, limiting the ability of independent repairers to do the work.”

The issue was not confined to the agricultural industry, and the ACCC said it should be considered in its wider context. 

As such, the watchdog recommended that agricultural machinery be considered for future inclusion in the motor vehicle service and repair information sharing scheme.

“Competition in after-sales markets would be improved if independent repairers had access to software, tools and parts on fair and reasonable commercial terms,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said. 

“This is an important issue that runs across a number of industries, both in Australia and overseas.” 

The report also recommends that agricultural machinery be included in any broader ‘right to repair’ scheme introduced in Australia. 

“In particular, the ACCC believes that future right to repair legislation could include requirements for manufacturers to: 

• grant access to diagnostic software tools and parts to independent repairers on commercially reasonable terms; 

• have a sufficient supply of parts readily available in Australia for a defined period from the date of the sale agreement; and 

• provide purchasers with information about how long a certain software system will be supported.”

It also listed control over and use of data as a key emerging issue.

“Our survey findings indicate that many purchasers of agricultural machinery don’t understand the circumstances under which manufacturers can collect, share and use the data generated by their machines,” Mr Keogh said.  

Warranties were also found to have “significant limitations”, including their short duration which can often be limited to one or two years.  

“The survey we conducted showed that purchasers often don’t understand the terms of warranties when they buy agricultural machinery, which involves a significant investment,” Mr Keogh said.  

by JOE HINCHLIFFE

A historic station in the Kerry Valley which is a Wagyu cattle stud and has potential for mining and tourism operations has gone under the hammer for a cool $27 million.

Shamrock Vale Station was established in 1875 and covers 5,200 acres of alluvial plains on the banks of the Albert River.

Its new owner, Dick Karreman, conceded he “paid too much” for the farm but was “looking forward to making it earn its money”.

Though the farm boasts a diverse range of agricultural products, Mr Karreman said he would focus on its Wagyu cattle.

Shamrock Vale Station’s website claims to have the Scenic Rim region’s premier Fullblood Goshu Wagyu stud as well as “a wide variety of cropping, cattle, honey production and other small business enterprises”.

It also has 1,000 acres of cropping producing lucerne, barley, wheat, corn, soya beans and silage.

The station’s sales pitch by Beaudesert real estate agency C1 Realty said it had “potential for expansion into the mining and tourism industries” and was “a remarkable opportunity for an entrepreneurial buyer”.

The farm also has a chapel which can be used for functions.

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

Two years ago even the weeds on Debbie and Rod Richardson’s farm were dying.

There was “pretty much no grass” on their 670 acre Running Creek property in the foothills of the McPherson Range.

“It was dust and dirt in most places,” Mrs Richardson recalled.

 “Even the weeds died … and the lantana, believe it or not.”

Their Sahiwal cattle soug…

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by BRIAN BENNION

AN AMBITIOUS decade-long plan to build a cannery in the Lockyer Valley to resurrect the beetroot industry is finally coming to fruition.

Lockyer Valley Fruit and Vegetable Food Processing Company launches its multi-million dollar project at Withcott on Friday.

CEO Colin Dorber said the company had taken a 40 year lease on a 52ha site at Withcott with an option to buy and was ready to lodge a development application in January.

He said they hoped to start ground works by late March.

The construction cost of stage one is $15 million and the fit-out is $60 million.

Stage 1 of the project would include a frozen line, vacuum packed and a small volume of fresh and is hoped to include a small powdered plant. Stage 2 would include the cannery.

The Lockyer Valley Fruit and Vegetable Food Processing Company board has six directors including former Ipswich City Councillor Cheryl Bromage.

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

THE sight of fruit rotting on trees in Stanthorpe and strawberries withering on the bushes in the Sunshine Coast this year drove home a hard truth that growers know all too well.

There aren’t enough Australians willing to pick the fruit and vegetables we all expect to be in our fridges.

Because when the international borders closed, no amount of government incentives and schemes to coax urban Aussies into the fields could replace the flow of seasonal workers upon whom growers have come to rely.

But Queensland researchers are coming up with technologies which might provide another solution to labour shortages: robots.

CQ University is currently developing what it says will be the world’s first mango auto-harvesting robot, with prototype testing underway on a Yeppoon farm.

 Led by Professor Kerry Walsh, the team began its journey towards robot pickers several years ago by coming up with technology to non-invasively test the quality of fruit.

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THE company which owns Australia’s largest cattle herd has announced five sustainability commitments aimed at improving animal health and welfare and reducing methane emissions from its cattle herd.

Australian Agricultural Company (AACo) CEO Hugh Killen was speaking in Brisbane last week when he outlined a range of initiatives being introduced by the company, including trialling a seaweed additive to feedlot cattle to reduce methane output.

The publicly listed company also plans to establish a new fund to help turn climate science and research into ‘real world action’, invest in new ways of measuring biodiversity and soil carbon on farms, and a commitment to creating a new certification standard for animal welfare.

Mr Killen said the initiatives were being launched as a result of demand from both customers and bankers, according to a release from the Australian Associated Press.

“The desires of our customers are being felt and expressed stronger than they ever have been before [on] provenance, traceability, sustainability, animal health and welfare,” Mr Killen said.

“Understanding the whole life cycle is actually key to every conversation we have in the market, all around the world and they're demanding change.”

He added that climate politics had created a challenging situation for the sector.

“The political environment is obviously constantly changing and stakeholders' expectations within that are very diverse.

“In many forms, I think it's actually quite unfair, but it is what it is. And we're going to have to deal with that,” he said.

“Obviously, increasing regulation is coming in a big way, it's going to restrict access to global markets, for sure. And future access to capital is uncertain, I think, for businesses that don't actually have a sustainability journey.

“We're seeing that with bankers already … the flip side for that is obviously businesses that can show and demonstrate progress against sustainability goals will get plentiful capital, and probably reduced rates.”

THE company’s trial on the seaweed additive will be run in conjunction with eco-tech company Sea Forest using a seaweed supplement Asparagopsis, which is “yet to be tested in Wagyu and over 300-days in a non-laboratory environment”.

AACo initially plans to commit 80 Wagyu cattle to the trial.

“Only through trials like this can we fast-track the application across the broader industry and make the changes that we, along with our customers and the public, expect,” Mr Killen said.

TYPICAL Australian grassfed beef cattle with a diet supplemented by small amounts of grain produce 1,600 times the protein they consume.

Grainfed beef cattle produce almost twice the amount of protein they consume.

These findings come from a new CSIRO study looking at the ‘net protein contribution’ concept to measure the quality and quantity of protein cr…

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

Abattoirs and butchers in the South East could get more money from cattle reared on the stations of Western Queensland and the Northern Territory in coming years.

At least that is what a team of scientists from the University of New England hope to achieve by researching the eating quality impact of rail transport in comparison to road t…

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

The state secretary of the Queensland Beekeepers’ Association has a lot on her mind at the moment.

Like every other industry, beekeepers are being buffeted by ongoing waves of disruption triggered by COVID-19, and Jo Martin is grappling with state borders and long-distance transport.

But there is one trend that she says, above all, keeps her up at night: the “exponential rise” of backyard beekeeping.

“In the last four years, we've had an absolute doubling of hobby beekeeping in Queensland,” Ms Martin said.

“We've gone from 3200 to nearly 8300 registered beekeepers in Queensland in a few short years.”

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by JOE HINCHLIFFE

Griffin Windley spent his summer school holiday helping out on the family and neighbouring farms.

When it was too wet for the harvester, he picked corn by hand. It was his job to pick the finger limes growing behind the family farm, to work the Farm Shop Cafe and to chip weeds.

The 11-year-old Kalbar boy has been helping on the farm for as long he can remember. And he loves it.

“It’s cool watching plants grow from seed,” he said.

Griffin knows exactly what he wants to do when he graduates from Ipswich Boys Grammar.

No it’s not farming.

“Adventure,” he said.

Agriculture comes next.

“After a few adventures, then I’ll come back to the farm.”

For his efforts and commitment to the way of life, Griffin is among the 20 nominees for the Young Farmer Award at this Wednesday’s Kalbar Australia Day Awards.

He’s not the only Kalbar kid on the list.

At 12, Jackson Rieck is no farming novice. For years he followed his dad Mick around the family farm, pitching in where he could.

“He’s always been Mick’s right hand, his shadow,” his Mum, Tracey, said.

“For a few years now, he’s been working independently.”

This week the Rieck’s got back from a holiday at the coast to the news that school would be postponed for a fortnight.

Some kids would be disappointed at not getting back to see their schoolmates. Not Jackson.

“It’s good,” he said, with a big grin, of the extra time off.

Why? Because it means he can get stuck into more farm work.

“Dad’s got me slashing, mowing all the grass,” he said.

When he finishes school, Jackson plans to take over the family farm.

Not all the nominees have a family farm to take over.

Nine-year-old Oliver Stephan lives down the road from his cousin Jackson in Aratula.

But his Mum, Andrea, reckons her boy has been riding tractors since he was a baby.

His dad Brett is a diesel fitter by trade and runs the harvest for the Riecks.

Young Oliver checks the paddocks for work every weekend and holiday.

And he knows exactly what he wants to do when he grows up.

“Run a hay farm, harvest for Mick and do a diesel fitting trade like Daddy,” he said.

Not every region can boast a new crop of young farmers like the Warrill Valley.

It might be something in the water: the security offered to Moogerah irrigators gives long-term confidence to the land.

But the boys’ mums reckon there is “something special about the area”.

“It’s the sense of community,” Mrs Rieck said.

Mrs Windley agreed.

“Just last night Griffin was saying the same thing,” she said.

“Everyone here is so nice to one another, when someone needs help, everyone chips in.”

by JOE HINCHLIFFE

The global trade in flowers is forecast to rise in value by tens of billions of dollars by the end of the decade.

Which is news to Karalee commercial rose and gerbera grower Sonia Bitmead – though not news she has reason to celebrate.

Dubai-based Future Market Insights released an analysis of the global floriculture market late last month, predicting a surge in valuation in that industry from US$ 49.8 billion to more than US$ 80B by 2029.

But Mrs Bitmead said that while the fortunes of the global flower trade was intrinsically linked to those of Australian growers, the ties had not proved positive.

In fact, she said a development in that global trade which started about 15 years ago had almost “destroyed the Australian flower industry”.

That was when growers abroad started flying in cut flowers to the Australian market.

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We cover the agricultural and rural sectors through a lens of sustainability in the economic, cultural and environmental sense - instead of just covering cattle sales and markets our focus is on emerging technologies, practices and farms and businesses who are equipping themselves to face a harsher future on the land. 

We aim to assist producers and rural tourism providers in learning from each other and from national and overseas innovators and potentially adopt better practices that create long term viability for regional business and sustainable outcomes for the region's environment.

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