Victorias’ population is expected to increase by 1.4 million (30%) by 2030 and demand for locally produced vegetables will need to match this growth.
Seventy percent of Victorian vegetables are grown on Melbourne’s urban fringe where land and water resources are unlikely to become more available.
We must supply fresh vegetables to over 6 million Victorians by 2030
Developing and adopting sustainable practices is the challenge for the vegetable industry.
Our industry is almost totally dependent on oil for fertilisers, farm machinery and our food distribution systems.
Rising fuel costs and cheap foreign vegetable imports threaten the viability of local growers.
Adopting sustainable production practices will raise the profitability vegetable production
Soil Health
Degradation of food production systems is a worldwide problem and fortunately, solutions are being developed.
Horticulture Australia are investing your R&D levy in the development of a wide range of sustainable production systems.
Reducing production costs.
To be competitive with foreign imports, we must reduce our on-farm production costs.
Increasing the efficient use of water, fertiliser and plant protection products in large scale production systems are among the challenges ahead. |