Horticulture

The sale of walnuts is the most common and most criminal business in rural areas of Ukraine. Anyone can make money on nuts. Make it easy. Many walnuts grow on lands without an owner. And dealers buy nuts of any quality in every city market. Not surprisingly, even 15 miles from the site of the fighting with the Russians, the business of selling nuts is booming.

The National Farmers’ Federation’s (NFF) Horticulture Council is calling on the Federal Government to ensure its much-heralded solution to the growing workforce crisis works for the whole of the sector. Following Covid-19 disruptions, there was a swift shift towards a greater reliance on the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme, but with that came headaches for smaller employers who previously relied mostly on backpackers.

Peak industry body for Queensland horticulture, Growcom is calling on the federal government to engage in genuine and meaningful discussion after the passing of the new Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022 so industry can understand how it will be implemented. Growcom CEO Rachel Chambers said when discussing a Bill called ‘secure jobs, better pay’ you need to have the business owners, the people who create the jobs for employees, around the table. Without employers there is no employment.

Some proactive person has given our local bees a helping hand by constructing a nest in a tree outside the Blue Cow in Herbert Street. A group of tourists was amazed by the unique structure saying how good is this, as they watched the bees buzzing around their modern nesting site.

Kalyx Australia, a national agricultural business, announced it has completed its acquisition of Staphyt Research Limited’s New Zealand business; a move that sees the company grow its presence for the first time beyond Australian shores. For over two decades now, Kalyx has been leading independent agricultural research in Australia with their national presence and operational excellence.

Macadamia growers could significantly reduce their labour costs in the future through new tree varieties that are shorter and enter production earlier. The Hort Innovation-funded national macadamia breeding program led by Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) has found one trait which produces a shorter tree variety and a second that triggers earlier nut production from young trees.

A solution that may help people in distress – this berry makes sour, acidic, and bitter-tasting food and drinks taste sweet, helpful for people whose sense of taste has been disturbed due to treatment or illnesses ... Queensland farmers who are growing Australia's first Miracle fruit farm, Chris Beckwith and Karen Pereira, are passionate about the fruit's positive value and making it available to Australians struggling to eat.

In the summer, Ukrainian farmers adapted to work in wartime. However, Ukrainians will have to forget about fruits and vegetables in winter ... With the onset of winter, many Ukrainians will stop buying vegetables. Farmers won't be able to grow it. The reason is the lack of gas or the high cost of gas.

Vanilla is an emerging rural industry in Australia with huge potential. There is one major roadblock which is preventing the spice from really taking off. The orchid relies on hand-pollination and it’s labour intensive. Julie Sosso has a plan to change this.

Australia will need to both consume and export more avocados as the nation’s growers navigate a period of soaring production growth over the coming five years, specialist agribusiness bank Rabobank says in a new report. This year alone, ‘per capita (person) supply’ of avocados is estimated to be up 26 per cent on the previous 12 months to 4.8 kilogram – equating to 22 avocados per Australian.

Amid Australia’s first Varroa Destructor Mite outbreak, the grower-owned research and development corporation Hort Innovation has joined forces with the University of Sydney to develop a world-first hormone-based pesticide that is safe for honey bees but fatal to Varroa mite. As part of the $1.2M initiative, scientists will create molecules that selectively bind to and interfere with the hormone receptors of Varroa mite and fellow honey bee pest, small hive beetle, interfering with reproduction, development, and behaviour.

Australia’s $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan is yielding some unintended consequences as decades of sage warnings went ignored ... Money is the motivator. “Almonds, citrus, and table grapes can all be grown above or below the Barmah Choke, but horticulturalists believe they can each be grown more profitably below the Choke.”

Parts of New South Wales are in the grip of a Varroa mite infestation, the most serious pest for honey bees ... Narrandera apiarist and owner of King Bee Honey, along with his wife Wendy, David Mumford, is one of the region's beekeepers to be affected. The Riverina region has fared well so far compared to other areas which have had hives eradicated.

Jane Richter. The early onset of cold weather in Queensland coupled with great rains in the last 12 months means there is a bumper crop of newly maturing ginger being harvested right now. And shoppers should get the benefit ... if only the retail giants would pass on the huge cost cuts that they have been enjoying for at least the last month ... The wholesale market sale price in Sydney recently dropped to below $7 per kilo for fabulous fresh large-sized mature ginger, and yet the product is still being sold at $45 or more per kilo by the major retail chains.

Casey Dunn. Australian agritech startup, Bee Innovative is revolutionising the centuries-old practice of commercial pollination. Its groundbreaking technology gives growers a real-time insight into how well bees are pollinating a crop, enabling interventions that boost yield, quality and profitability ... And the recent detection of Varroa ... further demonstrates the importance of cutting-edge technology in the early detection, tracking, and eradication of incursions ... BeeID utilises advanced facial recognition technology ...

When you’re the largest producer of Australia’s strawberries, grow more than a quarter of the state’s pineapples, and are recognised globally for seafood, it’s no surprise to find Moreton Bay is already home to a fast-evolving food and agribusiness industry.

Horticulturists and agriculturists who take water from aquifers in the Gingin groundwater area south of Gingin Brook and Moore River will have any reductions to their entitlements delayed, according to the Gnangara groundwater allocation plan.

Banana freckle has been detected at a rural residential property in the Northern Territory’s Top End. Banana freckle is a fungal disease of banana leaves and fruit. There is no risk to human health from eating affected bananas. Banana freckle is a serious threat to the industry.

A new Queensland fruit fly outbreak has been declared in Renmark North, following the detection of flies in monitoring traps. Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) staff will be visiting properties in the new 1.5km red outbreak area, which overlaps the existing Renmark West outbreak area and takes in the localities Renmark North and Chaffey.

A targeted campaign across Vietnam and Malaysia featuring luxury, ribbon-handled gift boxes filled with premium Australian cherries has resulted in close to 4000 boxes sold and importers and consumers wanting more.