Australia: WA Horticulture Update to highlight new industry trends

Future trends in the horticulture industry, including the changing retail landscape and shifts in consumer decision-making impacting growers and agribusiness, will be the focus of the 2018 Western Australian Horticulture Update.

Registrations are open for the event, hosted by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development on 16 and 17 August at Crown Convention Centre, Perth.

Department Research, Development and Innovation managing director Mark Sweetingham said the update would help strengthen partnerships and collaboration at all levels of the supply chain.

“Keynote speaker and event MC, Tristan Kitchener of Kitchener Partners - a strong advocate for supply chain members working together to understand and meet the needs of consumers - will speak on the shifting retail landscape,” Dr Sweetingham said.

“Sessions to be covered include growing demand for benchmarking and range of financial information required to successfully run a business.

“Trends in the horticulture industry will be demonstrated by growers who have implemented innovative practices on-farm and in the production process.

“A session on collaborative export for horticulture enterprises by agribusiness consultant Dr David McKinna will highlight better opportunities for growers, while representatives of the strawberry, cauliflower and honey industries will discuss value adding in their businesses.”

Market City privatisation and what it means for the horticulture value chain in WA will be outlined by Perth Markets Limited chief executive officer Stephen Ward.

Tastings of Western Australian wines from Wines of WA and a networking session to consolidate learnings will end day one of the event.

The second day of the update will focus on the human health benefits of horticultural foods.

Dr Sweetingham said University of Western Australia researchers would outline how apples keep the doctor away and citrus issues would be discussed by Shane Kay, who would share Moora Citrus’ export experience, and Derrick Thompson of Hitachi Australia, who would highlight the importance of data for the horticulture industry.

The 2018 WA Horticulture Update is supported by vegetablesWA, Pomewest, WA Citrus, the Agricultural Produce Commission, Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia and Wines of WA.

The event is sponsored by Perth Markets Ltd, C-Wise, Bankwest, United Crates, Loscam, Live Lighter and Market West.

More information is available on the department website at agric.wa.gov.au. Register to attend at eventbrite.