Australian horticulturalists need to band together and create ‘team Australia’ to face competition from foreign suppliers.
That was the parting advice of John Webster, the outgoing managing director of Horticulture Australia Ltd (HAL), reported The Land.
“If we don’t achieve such an approach we cannot hope to catch up to ‘team Chile’, ‘team South Africa’, or ‘team New Zealand’,” he said.
A unified approach was needed if Australia was going to compete with those suppliers for export markets, and even to avoid the entry of cheap imports the local industry was unable to compete with.
Mr Webster had been at the head of HAL, Australia’s peak industry body, since it was established in 2001.
Australian horticulture is worth A$9bn, the third largest agricultural industry in the country.
The sector has been facing significant challenges in recent years from low water availability, labour shortages and high costs. Compared to its neighbour New Zealand, Australian production is particularly fragmented.
