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Part of the Farmer Group Rural Newspapers Covering Victoria Published since 1984
MAY, 2013
37 Rowan Street, Wangaratta 3677 PAGES 22 & 23
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Pasture and Fertilisers
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Ripe future for fruit? Government and industry working together WR ¿ QG D VROXWLRQ WR IUXLW ERZO¶V IXWXUH By JODIE FLEMING
SIRE STRENGTH
Badger-Bluff Fanny Freddie’s daughters are now milking all over the world, including Australia. Freddie is the number two USA TPI sire and the highest proven O-Man son in the world, which demonstrates Agri-Gene’s strength with its current See page 11 for the full story. sire line up.
AS SPC Ardmona meets face to face with all individual fruit growers during the next few weeks to let them know whether the company is able to take on their fruit next season, the rest of the players in the industry are working on solutions at both state and federal Government level to ensure the struggling industry has a future. General manager of Fruit Growers Victoria John Wilson, said there are definitely some tough times ahead for cannery fruit growers in the short term, but many people are working toward a sustainable long-term future. Mr Wilson said that while some growers hadn’t made money over the past few years, there have been a number of factors to take into consideration when viewing the industry’s downturn. Owners of SPC Ardmona, Coca Cola Amatil, said it is the
Australian dollar appreciation that has killed the cannery’s competitive edge because fruit can be imported from Chile and South Africa for half the price of Australian production. There is also an oversupply of canned fruit on the world market and due to orchardists taking on overdrafts to get through the drought years, many are now in a lot of debt and are unable to afford any more overheads to get them through the current crisis of not being able to sell all of their fruit. “In the short-term, those processing fruit won’t be doing anything but marking time for a year or two,” Mr Wilson said. “SPC Ardmona is taking the bare minimum intake for the cannery, with Peter Kelly (SPC Ardmona’s managing director) stating that he wants to convince the supermarket chains to taking Aussie fruit into their homebrands. “If he is successful, it will have a positive effect on the industry
and would help, intermittently. “Tariff protection would also be very meaningful, considering we have about 750 hectares of fruit for production with no more market,” Mr Wilson said. He said that while the shortterm “means difficulty”, in the long term, Australia is a healthy, fruit growing nation, but it needs to change the way it operates to ensure there is optimum production for best productivity which has been successfully done with the apple industry. “We have excellent growing conditions, and plenty of water, but we do not have the infrastructure on the orchards,” Mr Wilson said. “We currently have a high debt ratio, which is why we are talking to the government about a transition package. “All of us in the industry and the government are working together to get a solution in place, which is difficult because one size doesn’t fit all. Continued page 20
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