This year’s Hort Connections event allowed the industry to discuss topical issues while sharing innovations under way to help horticulture thrive
One highlight of this year’s Hort Connections in Melbourne was an industry breakfast, during which many of horticulture’s challenges were outlined.
The event also featured a host of plenary sessions through its two days, which enabled experts to delve into specific issues and innovations relevant to particular areas of horticulture.
This was in addition to the trade show, which allowed a record figure of more than 4,000 delegates to browse a host of machinery and technology being displayed at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
At the breakfast, Perfection Fresh CEO Michael Simonetta spoke about economic factors such as higher inflation plus increasing production costs and energy expenses leading to reduced or non-existent profit margins for the horticulture industry.
“Many of our friends and colleagues in the industry are experiencing tough times and we feel for them,” he said.
“We must be resolute, however, tough times never last, but tough people do.
“Worryingly, another issue is that Australians are eating less fruit and vegetables. This perhaps is our biggest challenge as an industry.
“In April this year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that Australians from financial year 2018-19 to financial year 2022-23 went from eating 200 grams of fresh vegetables a day to 186 grams. Fruit consumption dropped from 150 grams to 138 grams.
“These 14 and 12 grams respectively might not seem like much but doing some simple maths, and when you extrapolate these numbers across 27 million Australians, it’s a staggering 256 million kilograms less of fruit and vegetables being consumed.”
Describing the horticulture industry as an “infinite game”, Simonetta also said it would require a collective approach to bring positive momentum back to the industry.
“Amongst our many challenges, we must all sharing the inherent responsibility of helping to increase consumption,” he said.
“It must be at the core of everything we do. Tackling this challenge requires collaboration with our industry bodies, government, all stakeholders and business partners.
“Whether it’s experimenting with new varieties or adopting innovative packaging, it’s a trust in each other’s expertise and the shared vision of success that will propel us forward.”
Another of the speakers was Victorian MP and the state’s parliamentary secretary for agriculture Michaela Settle.
Describing Victoria as having “one of the most modern and productive agricultural systems in the world”, Settle spoke about some of the Victoria government’s investments into agriculture and horticulture.
These include $20 million in emissions reduction activities, $10 million for the Digital Agricultural Investment Scheme, $12 million for the on-farm Internet of Things trial, and $15 million for the Agtech Regional Innovation Network.
“We also know that the agriculture and particularly the horticulture industry are really driven these days by advancements in ag technology and we know the farmers and businesses who have these new skills, technologies and systems are able to deliver an even higher quality product,” Settle said.
“What we’re really keen to do is to maintain that competitive advantage and we’re continually innovating, investing in technology, science and skills.
Settle also highlighted that Victoria has been running a horticultural netting program on behalf of the federal government, which provides funding to eligible businesses for the purchase and installation of new netting over established production areas.
She also emphasised that horticulture’s reputation would remain important when expanding into new markets.
“Ensuring that our products maintain its excellent reputation is a key measure when endeavouring to establish new markets, which is why $4 million was announced in the most recent Victorian government budget towards implementing new nationally-agreed food safety standards for the berry, leafy vegetable and melon industries,” Settle said.
Master of ceremonies at the breakfast was television host and former Olympic swimmer Giaan Rooney, who also introduced speakers at many of the plenary sessions.
One of these sessions was called ‘agtech innovation – transforming horticulture for global growth’.
It featured Hort Innovation’s GM industry service and delivery Andrew Francey alongside R&D manager production Tom McCue, plus Vertical Oceans co-founder and CFO Patrick Vizzone.
McCue discussed a Hort Innovations research project which aims to find solutions to horticulture labour shortages by identifying and partnering with startups around the world using automation or other methods to increase efficiency.
“Our focus in this project is to find innovative technologies for startups and scaleups and address labour production challenges and shortages in Australian horticulture,” he said.
“Our goal is to attract global talent for R&D and create opportunities for partnerships and collaborations.
“We aim to discover new technologies that tackle these labour challenges. To support this, we recruited international startups and scaleups with outcomes to accelerate investment potential
“In order to do this, we actually segmented the landscape from a labour perspective into subverticals.
“We segmented into eleven key areas which included mechanised planting and seeding, robotic harvesting systems, smart irrigation, remote monitoring and control, precision ag, and training and skills development to name a few.”
This scouting process initially led to 1,600 companies being identified as potential candidates, McCue said, which was narrowed down to 100 and then 40 promising companies.
Ten of these are going through due diligence processes, with the next stage to embed these companies into Hort Innovation’s research and development programs.
Projected labour savings of up to 15 per cent have been identified, McCue said, along with significant efficiencies in water and fertiliser costs.
Hort Connections also included extensive machinery and technology displays at its trade show.