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Agriculture - Horticulture Industry - Australia

Australia

Benchmarking Rural Industries' Practices and Productivity Performance and Review of Industries' Capacity to Change

This benchmarking project describes the main environmental challenges facing the Australian horticultural industry and outlines the industry's response to these challenges in terms of use and adoption of recommended management practice. The project provides an analysis of national and industry scale information and is not intended to have property level uses. Regional adoption rates of practices are documented and future directions for the industry are proposed where regional data was available.

The information used in the preparation of this benchmarking report is derived from investigations commissioned by the Horticultural Research and Development Corporation (HRDC), and documented in the publication "Horticulture. Productivity and Sustainability" (HRDC, 2001). This HRDC report provided the source material for the benchmarking project reporting. Main findings of the HRDC report that are relevant to this benchmarking report are documented in this storyboard.

Investigations have identified the major resource management issues confronting the industry as soil erosion, waste disposal and options for dispensing of used chemical containers. The industry is attempting to address these issues through the preparation of best management practices (BMP), applied research and development and supporting extension programs.

Some of the major findings of this project for the horticultural industry are that:

• a diversity of environmental challenge exists
• a diversity of crop types within the industry exists and creates management issues in terms of co-ordination of response to environmental challenges
• improvements in linkages between the research and development components of each commodity group would assist in co-ordinating industry responses
• basic level environmental and economic reporting is not consistent between industries making regional level reporting difficult
• smaller crop groups are finding implementation of better management practices harder than the large crop groups due to a lack of resources and skills.

KEY FACTS

• Multi commodity industry and a significant domestic and export earner
• Widespread growing regions throughout Australia, generally more concentrated in areas supplied with irrigation
• Often located close to urban centres
• Well structured and experienced organisational support structure for individual commodities
• Industry organisational structures need co-ordination
• Substantial research and development budget

Where is Australian horticulture produced?

The horticultural industry is diverse and widespread. The industry supports more than 100 crop types. and these are categorised into 21 commodity groups. For the purposes of this investigation, these commodity groups are further grouped into broad categories of annual and perennial production types, each with several commodity groups. This dissection was used due to each broad grouping having a similarity of natural resource management (NRM) approach.

A summary of this division for the Australian horticulture industry includes the following commodity groups:

• annual horticulture beans and peas, brassicas, cucurbits, leaf vegetables, melons, nurseries, onions and garlic, peppers, potatoes, root vegetables, sweet corn and tomatoes)
• perennial horticulture (asparagus, bananas, berry fruit, citrus, nuts, , pome fruit, pyrethrum, stone fruit and tropical fruit)

Horticultural growing regions are grouped by agro-ecological region (AER). The main production areas for horticulture are listed for the AER's below.

Arid interior

Carnarvon, WA; Sunraysia, Vic; Sunraysia, NSW/Vic

North wet/dry tropics

Darwin rural area, NT

North-east wet/dry tropics

Bowen, Qld; Burdekin, Qld; Atherton Tablelands, Qld; Thuringowa, Qld

North-west wet/dry tropics

Ord, WA

Semi-arid tropical/subtropical plains

South-west, Qld

Subtropical slopes and plains

Lockyer Valley, Qld; Granite Belt, Qld; Darling Downs, Qld; Burnett, Qld; Warwick, Qld

Temperate highlands

Northern Midlands, Tas; Central West, NSW; East Gippsland, Vic; Cooma-Monaro, NSW; East Central Highlands, Vic; Central West, NSW; Central Murrumbidgee, NSW; Northern Tablelands, NSW; South West Slopes, NSW; Loddon , Vic

Temperate slopes and plains

Southern Coast, WA; Central West, NSW; Riverina, NSW; Riverland, SA; Murray Mallee, SA; Central Murray, SA; Sunraysia, Vic; Central Macquarie, NSW; Goulburn Valley, Vic; Loddon, Vic; Sunraysia, NSW/Vic

Wet subtropical coast

Cooloola, Qld; Beaudesert, Qld; Lockyer Valley, Qld; Bundaberg/Isis, Qld; North Coast, NSW; Burnett, Qld; Bundaberg, Qld; Mid North Coast, NSW; Far North Coast, NSW; Sunshine Coast, Qld; Gayndah/Mundubbera, Qld; North/Far North Coast, Qld; Livingstone, Qld

Wet temperate coasts

Northern Midlands, Tas; Burnie-Davenport, Tas; Meander Valley, Tas; North Wast, Tas; Derwent Valley, Tas; North East, Tas; Werribee, Vic; Manjimup, WA; Perth, WA; Gippsland, Vic; Mornington Peninsula, Vic; Yarra Ranges, Vic; Hornsby/Baulkam Hills; Preston, WA; Lower South East, SA; West Gippsland, Vic; Huon Valley, Tas; Gosford, NSW; Onkaparinga, SA; South West, WA

Wet tropical coasts

Atherton Tablelands, Qld; Wet Tropics, Qld; Cairns, Qld

The AER regions are presented in the following figure.

The proportion of Australia's horticultural industry in terms of area, yield and value of production within each of these regions is presented in the following table.

Agro-Ecological Region	Area (Ha)		Yield (Tonnes)		Value ($M)
	Annual	Perennial	Annual	Perennial	Annual	Perennial
North-west wet/dry tropics	2,094	966	42,405	6,070	30	12
North wet/dry tropics	71	1,221	516	5,122	3	10
North-east wet/dry tropics	9,461	9,656	159,559	39,475	143	61
Wet tropical coasts	1,409	10,839	23,137	152,112	33	153
Semi-arid tropical/subtropical plains	198	68	5,243	1,549	3	1
Subtropical slopes and plains	9,729	8,082	189,032	84,918	122	59
Wet subtropical coast	16,872	49,162	274,294	291,791	273	311
Wet temperate coast	51,357	18,337	1,267,799	401,262	736	303
Temperate highlands	14,314	9,709	260,274	257,700	162	159
Temperate slopes and plains	30,550	47,936	875,035	904,671	387	628
Arid interior	734	3,660	14,882	70,871	12	55
Total	136,787	160,437	3,112,177	2,215,540	$1,905M	$1,754M

The horticulture industry is distributed throughout all Australian states and centred predominantly near major river systems or irrigation developments.

Horticulture is grown in areas of high rainfall or in areas with accessible and reliable water supplies. Temperature ranges for horticultural crops range from warm frost free winters needed for growing tropical fruits to cool, frequent winter frosts for citrus and pome fruits. Soil types are often free draining and considered as good agricultural land.

The industry is supported by infrastructure of packing sheds and often refrigerated transport networks. In recent times, the horticulture industry has commenced competing with sugar industry in certain areas for the productive soil and water resources.

The industry employs in excess of 93,000 people. The largest area of horticultural production occurs in the temperate slopes and plains agro-ecological region (AER), predominantly in the lower Murray-Darling basin. Production yields are greatest for perennial crops in this area, though yields for annual crops are greatest in the wet temperate coastal AER, which is also the largest area of land use for annual crop production. The wet subtropical coastal region is the largest perennial crop growing area with production predominantly occurring in the Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Maryborough and Wandoan areas and the upper Murray-Darling Basin area.

A representation of the location of annual and perennial production areas, based on ABS data, is given on the maps below.

What land and water resources are invested in Australian horticulture production?

Horticultural production occurs across a wide range of environmental conditions, with distribution restricted primarily by access to water, water quality, quality of soil and by topography. Major production areas are concentrated in fertile areas with high annual rainfall or abundant water resources from rivers, streams or reticulated irrigation scheme areas.

Soil types supporting horticultural production range from the highly fertile deep krasnozem soils, moderately deep to shallow duplex podzols and podzolics and alluvial soils on the floodplains of river systems. An important attribute of these and other horticultural soils are that they are well drained. The landscape supporting the horticultural industry is also highly variable, ranging from flatter alluvial areas for annuals to moderate/steep slopes for some of the perennials.

The industry is supported by the infrastructure such as packing sheds and processing plants. In recent times, the horticulture industry is competing with the sugar industry for productive soil and water resources.

In 1996-97, the Australian horticulture industry includes:

• 273 384 ha total production area
• 164 054 ha of irrigated horticulture (ie. 60%)
• water use of 1 640 ML for irrigation (1995-96)
• gross value of production of $3 625 million
• average return per megalitre of irrigation water is $590

The proportion of Australia's horticulture area used for each commodity group is:

Commodity Group	Area (Ha)	% of Australian horticulture area
Annuals	136,787	50.0
beans and peas	18,040	6.6
brassicas	13,910	5.1
cucurbits	9,340	3.4
leaf vegetables	6,040	2.2
melons	7,710	2.8
nurseries	4,670	1.7
onions and garlic	5,630	2.1
peppers	1,880	0.7
potatoes	45,450	16.6
root vegetables	9,880	3.6
sweet corn	5,430	2.0
tomatoes	8,830	3.2
Perennials	160,437	50.0
asparagus	2,140	0.8
bananas	11,610	4.2
berry fruit	1,624	0.6
citrus	30,400	11.1
nuts	19,750	7.2
pome fruit	18,690	6.8
pyrethrum	740	0.3
stone fruit	26,910	9.8
tropical fruit	24,710	9.0

How much horticulture does Australia produce and where is it sold?

The breakdown of production, value and average return within each commodity group is outlined in the table below.

Commodity	Production (t)	Value ($m)	Average return ($/ha)
Annuals	3,112,180	1905.4	13,927
beans and peas	83,260	74.6	4,135
brassicas	181,730	152.6	10,971
cucurbits	116,910	74.9	8,019
leaf vegetables	160,120	115.8	19,172
melons	163,370	91.2	11,829
nurseries	-	378.2	80,985
onions and garlic	205,070	107.7	19,130
peppers	32,220	40.6	21,596
potatoes	1,393,660	489.3	10,766
root vegetables	317,930	177.1	17,925
sweet corn	64,790	26.5	4,880
tomatoes	393,120	176.9	20,034
Perennials	2,168,558	1719.4	12,590
asparagus	7,884	37.5	17,523
bananas	199,580	216.6	18,656
berry fruit	13,140	68.4	42,118
citrus	645,260	391.8	12,888
nuts	23,440	101.9	5,159
pome fruit	940,470	513	27,448
pyrethrum	590	-	-
stone fruit	151,824	216.2	8,034
tropical fruit	186,370	174	7,042

In 1999, Australia's horticulture industry produced 3.1 million tonnes of annual crops and 2.2 million tonnes of perennial crops. The total values of these products were $1,905 million and $1,719 million, respectively. The distribution of Australia's horticultural products on a percentage basis to domestic and export markets is shown in the graphs below.

In 1997/98, between 65% and 70% of Australia's horticultural produce was exported to Asian countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia. Other major export destinations included the United States, New Zealand, Germany and the United Kingdom.

What are the key characteristics of Australian horticultural producers and farms?

Key characteristics of Australian horticultural producers and farms include the following averages:

Key characteristic	Horticulture average	Fruit industry	Vegetable industry
Median age of owner/manager (years)	45	46	44
Owner/manager completed higher education	21%	30%	13%
Owner/manager work>40 hrs/wk on farm	68%	80%	57%
Level of farm income ($)	53,112	58,603	43,796
Level of farm debt($)	193,158	226,530	136,546
Level of off-farm income($)	17,925	16,286	20,705

Characteristics that are likely to affect the adoption of management practices relate mainly to:

• high incidence of fruit managers having a higher level of education
• access to off-farm income

In 1998-99, Australian horticulture employed more than 93,000 people across 13,865 properties. The State distribution of these employees and properties is provided in the chart below.

What are the main environmental challenges facing Australia?s horticulture industry?

The key environmental challenges facing the horticultural industry were determined from consultations with State government agency, grower organisations and individual growers.

The State agencies identified the following environmental challenges:

• chemical container/ waste disposal and options for storing farm chemicals;
• soil loss;
• soil nutrient levels and availability; and
• organic matter/ soil structure decline.

Growers identified the following environmental challenges:

• chemical container/ waste disposal and options for storing farm chemicals;
• soil nutrient levels and availability; and
• soil acidity.

What is the Australian horticulture industry doing to meet these challenges?

The horticultural industry is responding to these challenges through a number of mechanisms, including:

• Industry strategic planning;
• Adoption of management practice;
• Development and implementation of Codes of Practice;
• Research and development; and
• Interaction with State government groups.

Industry strategic planning

The following table highlights industry specific strategic plans in effect through out various commodity sectors in Australia and the environmental issues covered by these plans. The year of currency is also shown.

Industry	Current until	BMP	IPM	Water Use	Quality Assurance	Education	Bench-marking
Mango	1996
Melon	X
Nursery	2001
Pineapple	2000
Potato	1999
Tomato	2001
Pyrethrum	2000
Strawberry	2004
Vegetable	1997
Canned Fruits	1997
Banana	1998
Avocado	2000
Almond	2001
Macadamia	1999
Stone Fruit	2000
citrus	2000
Chestnut	1997
Cherry	1997
Apple and Pear	1998

- evidence of strategies in environmental planning areas

Adoption of Management Practice

Management practices being adopted to address the issue of chemical container/ waste disposal and farm chemical storage include:

• : establishment of safe chemical collection and disposal areas through local government authorities
• Roll-out of the "Drum Muster" program
• distribution of "Spray Sense" advisory leaflets
• case studies for successful waste disposal sites for chemical containers
• development of a on-site waste compaction unit to assist with handling and recycling
• research into the use of bio-polymers that will bio-degrade when incorporated into the soil.

Management practices being adopted to address the issue of soil loss include:

• the use of rotations in intensive temperate cropping areas
• installation of graded drains in vegetable cropping areas
• identification and use of shade-adapted cover crop species
• sustainable use guidelines for specific soil types (Krasnozems)
• reduced tillage options on sloping land with high erosion risks
• mulching to reduce both soil loss and movement down slope
• various cover cropping practices
• QFVG Farm Care Code of Practice containing soil loss minimisation strategies

Management practices being adopted to address the issue of soil nutrient levels and availability include:

• setting maximum phosphorus and irrigation water application rates specific to regional soil types
• implementing monitoring program in association with controlled fertiliser application program
• develop cultivar and region specific nutrition requirements
• various nutrient management strategies aimed at determining nutrient influence on vegetative and reproductive development
• risk assessment of soluble fertiliser overuse

Management practices being adopted to address the issue of organic matter/ soil structure decline include:

• green manure cropping
• addition of composts and/ or other plant residues
• maintaining organic matter through minimising soil disturbance and aeration
• combination of mulching crop residues into the soil surface and other practices

Management practices being adopted to address the issue of soil acidity include:

• detailed guidelines for the prevention and amendment of soil acidity in low-flow irrigation areas
• matching nitrogen inputs to crop demand
• using alternative forms of nitrogen fertiliser
• improve irrigation efficiency to minimise leaching
• early sowing after fallow
• incorporation of perennial species to cropping system
• • regular lime applications

Codes of Practice

Codes of Practice are becoming increasingly common across larger rural industries. Horticulture is no exception.

The Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Grower's Association is working towards environmental sustainability with the development of the Farm Care Code of Practice. HRDC and NLWRA (2001) consider the adoption of national or regional Codes of Practice to be limiting due to fragmentation of the industry, particularly vegetable growers.

Research and development programs

The Horticultural Research and Development Corporation (HRDC) is a national organisation that funds and manages R&D to advance Australian horticulture. Currently $30 million per year is invested in 500 projects in some 40 different horticultural industries. The functions of HRDC are to:

• investigate and evaluate R&D requirements;
• program, fund, coordinate; and
• carry out R&D projects.

HRDC play a critical role in linking the various industries to state agencies and in delivering the outcomes of R&D efforts. Key research efforts focus on three areas:

• pest and disease management;
• Cultural/ harvesting practices; and
• Total Waste Management.

Industry Links with Government

Australia is a signatory to a number of international treaties and conventions that will likely have some impact on the agricultural industry. The Commonwealth intervenes in matters related to most agricultural industries through financial mechanisms (eg. taxation, grants to the States) Horticulture industry products and enterprises are subject to Commonwealth corporations, trade and commerce powers that potentially allow regulation of production, processing. marketing and exports.

States generally have responsibility for the development and implementation of environmental policy matters. Schedule 2 (4) of the Inter-governmental Agreement on the Environment (IGAE) specifies that the "development and administration of he policy and legislative framework will remain the responsibility of the States and Local Government." The majority of agricultural legislation is within the power of each State.

Local governments manage environmental and planning issues from legislation delivered from the State level. The IGAE stated that local government is responsible regional to local issues but with cooperation at other levels of government.

How do these factors affect the future prospects of the industry?

The industry has recognised, through this industry-wide audit process, key environmental challenges, namely chemical container/ waste disposal, options for storing farm chemicals soil loss, soil nutrient levels, organic matter/ soil structure decline and soil acidity.

In order to meet these challenges, industry will need to determine BMP's for each of these issue areas. These BMPs will require scientific investigation, targeted research activities, commodity group level extension activity and self regulation through Codes and guidelines. These activities are being influenced by wider environmental considerations such as catchment conditions policy, water quality policy and chemical use policies. The horticultural industry is a participant in these processes at the commodity group scale.

In addition to the BMP approach, improvement in environmental performance can be achieved through:

• Increasing focus on integrating solutions to pest and disease management
• Improvements to the structure, management and planning of organisations
• Greater investment in environmental R&D projects on an enterprise and regional basis
• Specific development of industry awareness programs
• Improvement of resources and environmental skills in some of the smaller crop groups
• Consolidation of environmental and production data on a regional basis

Further information

Link to Map maker to make a map using this information.

Link to data available for download on "A spatially consistent sub-set of agricultural statistics (AgStats) data 1982/93 to 1996/97"

"Benchmarking environmental challenges and agricultural practice - an overview" report

Horticulture Australia web site

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