NZ needs more horticulture professionals
The horticulture industry earns more than five times the export dollars per hectare than dairying with 123,000 hectares resulting in over $3.5 billion in exports. In comparison 11 million hectares of pasture is used to produce the almost $20 billion in exports from our pastoral livestock industries.
Horticulture is already one of our bigger industries with products going to 120 countries and employing 50,000 people. It has huge potential for growth as the middle income earners of Asian countries increase.
Horticulture does not require as much land as pastoral industries or forestry to continue its growth.
Not all agricultural land is suitable for horticulture but the expansion of the industry is not as land limited as the dairy industry, especially as irrigation becomes more widely available.
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