Year ends on a nervous note

The 2007/08 financial year has ended on a nervous note, with a faltering economy and industry concerns about rapidly rising input costs.

What has been interesting over the past 8-10 months is not only the speed at which the global economic outlook changed so dramatically, but how other issues such as global warming, are now seeing trends which have been strongly championed by Governments and industry experts alike over the past decade, start to be questioned.

While some commentators are still advocating the outsourcing of production of fruit and vegetables to overseas countries where labour costs are cheap as the way of the future, we are now seeing trends which show that developing countries will increasingly hold this production for their own use.

We also have economists who, rather than saying globalisation is inevitable, are questioning whether it is sustainable. Recent global shortages of rice and wheat have seen a renewed emphasis on food security and the role of Governments in ensuring they have longer term plans and strategies in place to feed their own populations.

The ‘eat local’ mantra is once again becoming popular. The issue of ‘food miles’ is a hot topic of conversation. Ironically, while we have seen a recent focus on fresh fruit and vegetables, the logic of importing bottled water has escaped any real scrutiny!

Similarly, the logic of transporting many processed and packaged goods half way around the world from source to destination should also be questioned ahead of the distance fresh produce travels within Australia. Many of the issues currently impacting on the world's western economies have long been taken for granted.

I cannot recall any state or federal government that has made a real effort to have a long term vision for Australia’s horticulture industry based on a real commitment to having a domestic fresh fruit and vegetable industry.

Sure, there have been numerous attempts to build an industry vision/plan, but these have mostly centred around an industry plan and exporting.

Do the various local, state and federal governments share a plan that ensures a commitment to firstly having a fresh fruit and vegetable industry in Australia, and secondly, is there a focus on ensuring the appropriate land, water, labour and infrastructure resources in 10, 15 or 20 years' time?