SA horticulture finds it voice
Trevor Ranford (front right) with the inaugural board
South Australia’s horticulture industry has a new and unified voice.
The Horticulture Coalition of SA brings together the main players in a $900 million industry that includes growers of almonds, apples, pears, citrus,mushrooms, olives, onions, pistachios and vegetables as well as nursery and garden businesses.
The grower groups have been joined by the Adelaide Produce Markets, the SA Chamber of Fruit and Vegetables and Women in Horticulture.
Inaugural Chairman Trevor Ranford said “the decision taken by 13 horticultural commodity groups to form an overarching organisation was a major step forward for this vitally important sector”.
The role of the Horticulture Coalition of SA will be to take broad horticultural issues to all levels of Government and the wider community.
“The coalition will focus on the broader issues leaving the more specific issues to the individual commodity groups,” Ranford said.
“It will be a ‘bottom-up’ approach, from growers to their commodity organisations then where relevant, to the coalition.”
The formation of an over-arching body gives South Australian horticulture formal recognition on the new state-based agricultural organisation, Primary Producers SA which replaces the South Australian Farmers Federation.
“Our first priority will be to revise our Horticulture Blueprint Securing food production and supply for SA to 2020 and beyond with a very specific focus on biosecurity, water, planning and the high costs of doing business as faced by our growers,” Ranford said.
“Several of these issues will be actively pursued during the forthcoming Federal Election campaign including market access, imports, the supermarket duopoly, biosecurity and food labelling.”
A management group will consist of Ranford, Angelo Demasi from the Adelaide Produce Market, Geoffrey Fuller from Nursery and Garden Industry SA and Mike Redmond from GrowSA.
Ranford said the industry, worth $900 million at the farm gate, consists of 3,500 small to medium business employing 13,500 permanent and an additional 24,000 seasonal staff.
