Horticulture Statistics Handbook shows $6.15 billion growth in past decade

Hort Innovation has flagged the figure in the launch of its Horticulture Statistics Handbook which covers 75 different horticulture categories and includes figures on national and state-level production values and volumes, exports and imports, processing volumes, fresh supply, retail and food service distribution.

The industry has added, on average, around $680 million in value every year for the past decade, producing 850,000 additional tonnes of produce.

In 2021/22, the production value of Australia's horticulture industry grew to $15.62b, with the total production value of Australia's horticulture industry growing steadily by $381.3m (2.5 per cent).

RELATED READING

The Horticulture Statistics Handbook is released each February and captures the previous financial year's data.

Developed by Freshlogic on behalf of Hort Innovation, the handbook breaks down the information into four categories: fruit, vegetables, nuts and greenlife.

During the launch of the handbook, presenters noted the time period the report covers, saying the report did not account for the past eight months where there had been major disruptions such as extreme weather events.

Freshlogic managing director Martin Kneebone said two significant trends he noted were the increase in areas of protected cropping production and more targeted growing.

"We've seen more specialisation by producers; they are getting narrower and doing what they do precisely," he said.

He said there was a greater uptake of information such as that produced within the handbook, to the betterment of the industry.

"People are getting more informed and using it," he said.

He praised the industry for it's double digit growth over the past decade.

"I think it's a really good story. It's a platform for more growth in the future," he said.

DESPITE a modest decrease in volume from the previous year, vegetable production values reached an all-time high of $5.54b in 2021/22.

There were value increases across the board in the vegetable category, including leafy salad vegetables, which increased by 19pc (+$94.2m), and tomatoes, which increased by 15pc (+$83m).

Leafy salad vegetables also reached new production volumes, increasing by 5.3pc in 2021/22. This marked the highest year of supply of fresh leafy salad vegetables.

Beans had the highest annual production value growth rate of all vegetables, up 64pc in 2021/22 and recording its highest production value of $134.4m.

Onions reached new production value highs, exceeding $249m.

Ausveg chief executive officer Michael Coote said while the long-term growth in the vegetable industry was impressive, the industry has recently been struggling with weather events, higher production costs and labour shortages.

"Weather events, labour shortages and supply chain issues have impacted production volumes of many vegetables, which has been challenging for growers," Mr Coote said.

"High production costs and challenges in sourcing labour have also significantly impacted growers' bottom lines, so while the overall production value of many lines is higher than previous years, the profitability of many growers is lower as these increases have not been enough to meet increases in costs.

"It is also important to put this data into perspective, with much of the publicised shortages and supply issues with many vegetable lines occurring late in the data period or in the subsequent financial year.

"That being said, when looking at the longer-term growth of the sector, both production volumes and production values have grown strongly, which is a great sign for the ongoing viability of the vegetable industry and for Australian horticulture more generally."

SEVERAL fruit categories experienced stronger values in 2021/22, including table grapes (increased $90m), watermelons (increased $27m), mangoes (increased $17m), mandarins (increased $14m), lychees (increased $10m) and nectarines/peaches (increased $8m).

Mango volumes increased 10 per cent on the previous year and reached the highest year of production value, recording $217.9m.

Australian Table Grape Association chief executive officer Jeff Scott said the increase in the table grape production value was a significant result given the challenges of the past couple of years.

"As an industry, we export around 70pc of our product. The past couple of years have presented huge challenges in getting our product to international markets, including transport and logistics issues, as well as lower consumer confidence in some international markets," Mr Scott said.

"The industry has really defied the odds and I'm pleased we're seeing an upswing in the industry's value."

THE nuts category overall saw a 16pc increase in production value between 2021 and 2022 with 287,079t (in-shell) and 176,993t (kernel) produced, valued at $1387.5m with 65pc of production in-shell sent to the cracking process.

Almonds led the charge with a 27pc increase in production value over the time to $916m. This, however, is considerably still behind the 2020 high figure of $982.6m.

In nuts, almonds, pistachios and walnuts all experienced significant gains in production value.

Sign up here to Good Fruit and Vegetables weekly newsletter for all the latest horticulture news each Thursday...