Berry Volumes in Australia Increase Despite Challenges Despite the challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the horticulture labour shortage, Australia’s peak berry industry body says there were no decreases in volumes across the different commodities. Moreover, Berries Australia Executive Director Rachel Mackenzie says that compared to the last year, for the quarter ending January 24, […]

Overview of the Global Pear Market in Australia The European pear market currently appears to be at a minor deadlock. There are talks of a difficult Conference season in the Netherlands. Other classic pear markets, such as Italy and Germany, are also dealing with an increased demand. A greater exception is France, where the pear […]

The Future of the Growing Season The growing season for tomatoes in South Australia has not been without its struggles. One of the main problems that growers are facing is the extremely high temperature. Due to this, there is a need to increase the irrigation. However, the supply has not been compromised at any costs. […]

Water Scarcity Causes Scare amongst Wide Bay Growers It is a known fact that Australia’s Wide Bay Region has a booming agricultural sector. Moreover, this area produced around 12 percent agricultural production in Queensland, that is worth greater than $1.5 billion. Nevertheless, the growing personnel are facing grave issues due to water scarcity. This is […]

Remembering Cyclone Yasi In the year of 2011, cyclone Yasi was responsible for destroying more than 80 per cent of Australia’s banana industry. Due to this cyclone, around $350 million worth of bananas were completely destructed. Moreover, farm owners in Cardwell, Innisfail and Tully suffered the majority of the losses. Historically low banana production meant […]

Conservation Agriculture and its Development in Australia The Australian story of farmer innovation in Conservation Agriculture reveals a complex interplay of policy, economics, science, and farming. Farmer experimentation with Conservation Agriculture began in the 1960’s and has continued to this day where around 80%-90% of Australia’s 23.5 million hectares of winter crops are now grown using Conservation […]

Australian National Lost Crop Register Exceeds Losses The thinning of the seasonal labourers along with the loss of crops is causing the farming world to have negative repercussions. However, what seems to be the cause for concern is that many are predicting that the worst is yet to come. According to reports, last week the […]

Rotting Stone Fruit in Swan Hill as Prices Plummet Due to COVID 19, restrictions were imposed on the usual gathering of backpackers and all of the overseas workers. As a result of this unfortunate pandemic, many farm owners were left in the lurch as their stone fruit was left to rot. In fact, many growers […]

Piecework Rates in Australia In today’s times, there are a lot of negative speculations around the salaries and conditions for horticultural workers. Hence, a great amount of attention is paid to the piecework provisions of the Horticulture Award. It has to be acknowledged that wages based on productivity have always been a part of the […]

Berry Production in Australia vs. the UK Growing Methods The berry growing apparatus between the two countries is quite similar. This is especially true in the region of Tasmania. Moreover, this is mainly due to tunnels. However, it should not be ignored that both regions have different climates. When it comes to strawberries, there are […]

Seasonal Workers to Return to Victoria and Tasmania In a historic agreement, both Victoria and Tasmania have agreed to let seasonal workers return to the farm so that the work goes on uninterrupted. This will in turn not hamper the Tasmanian seasonal worker program. Moreover, this also takes care of the fact that many more […]

In favourable news for New Zealand, around 2,000 Pacific workers are arriving in New Zealand. This will be considered as the first of Samoa’s 780 strong workers that are linked to the Recognised Seasonal Employment Scheme. Moreover, this group of workers have successfully landed in Auckland this week. Nevertheless, the rest of the group are […]

Table Grapes Back in Demand in Australia Due to the labour shortage situation, a Victorian table grapes producer is forced to admit that the upcoming season may be tumultuous due to the weather change and labour shortage. However, due to the great demand, there are hoards of opportunities that are present. Orchard Tech has decided […]

Overview Zucchini, or courgette, is a summer squash which means that it is a squash that is harvested while immature and in the state while its rind is still tender and edible. Its skin is dark green, light green orange or deep yellow. Botanically Zucchini is a fruit, but it is treated as a vegetable […]

Zucchini Production in Australia (2019) Overview Tomatoes are grown in almost all states across Australia. However, the majority of the production occurs mainly in Victoria and Queensland. In traditional times, most of this vegetable was produced outdoors. Nevertheless, in recent years, tomatoes are being produced in high-tech glasshouses. Lycopene is one of the most abundant […]

Overview of Sweet Potatoes The majority of sweet potatoes grown in Australia are produced in Queensland. Smaller volumes are grown in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. This vegetable originated in Central and South America. But archaeologists have found prehistoric remnants of sweet potato in Polynesia from about A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1100, according to […]

Sweet Corn Production in Australia (2019) Overview Sweet corn refers to the sweet variety of corn that is grown for direct human consumption. However, this does not include maize or other broadacre corn crops. This vegetable is wind-pollinated, so it should be planted in blocks, rather than in single rows. Early, mid, and late-season varieties […]

Overview of Pumpkins References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for “large melon” which is “pepon.” “Pepon” was nasalized by the French into “pompon.” The English changed “pompon” to “Pumpion.” Shakespeare referred to the “pumpion” in his Merry Wives of Windsor. American colonists changed “pumpion” into “pumpkin.” This vegetable […]

Overview of Potatoes Among many edible crops that emerged at the dawn of modern human civilization and managed to spread across the entire world, few managed to distinguish themselves by their ruggedness, storage quality and its nutritional value. The potato indigenous flowering plants of South America and the Andes mountains (modern-day southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia) […]

Overview of Peas Pea, (Pisum sativum), also called garden pea, herbaceous annual plant in the family Fabaceae, grown virtually worldwide for its edible seeds. This vegetable can be bought fresh, canned, or frozen, and dried. Moreover, they are commonly used in soups. Some varieties, including sugar peas and snow peas, produce pods that are edible and are eaten raw […]