Overview of horticultural industry

• In 2005-06 the value of horticulture products in South Australia was $2.1 billion, and the major horticulture crops are:
  • potatoes
  • citrus
  • field vegetables
  • greenhouse vegetables
  • almonds
  • apples and pears
  • onions
  • stonefruit
  • olives
• The major regions associated with horticultural production are the Riverland, Murraylands, Adelaide Plains, Limestone Coast and Adelaide Hills.
• South Australia produces over 385,000 tonnes of fresh and processing potatoes annually. 100,000 tonnes of potatoes in South Australia are grown for processing.
• The main fresh market potato growing areas in South Australia are located in the Riverland and Mallee and on the Adelaide Plains (Virginia).
• South Australia has a diversity of climates, soil types, proximity to markets and harvest labour which suit the production of a wide range of field vegetable crops including carrot, cauliflower, lettuce, cabbage and pumpkin.
• There are about 900 citrus growers in South Australia, of which about 65% produce oranges, 25% produce mandarins and 22% produce lemons and limes.
• South Australian citrus is located mainly in the Riverland and Upper and Lower Murray regions, with lemons primarily grown in the Limestone Coast region.

South Australia’s Natural Resource Management (NRM) Regions
Across Australia, 56 NRM regions have been identified. Each state has been broken into a number of regions – in SA there are 8 regions in total.

Each of these regions has a committee (i.e. catchment council or NRM group) whose responsibility it is to co-ordinate natural resource management in each of the eight regions.

Key contacts
There are a number of other community groups and organisations in South Australia that aim to improve natural resource management at the farm, catchment and regional level.

There are also a number of Australian Government facilitators who work at a state level, and have a detailed understanding of NRM policy and programs. The Australian Government facilitators foster activities that fall within the Bushcare, Landcare, Coastcare and Rivercare themes.

Incentives
A range of incentives are available to primary producers to assist with natural resource management projects such as on-ground works (fencing, revegetation) and implementation of Environmental Management Systems (EMS).
For information on grants in Western Australia, go to: http://grantsdirectory.dlgrd.wa.gov.au/

Information on incentives can also be found at the following websites:
Australian Government grants
DAFF funding programs
NRM Toolbar
Community Water Grants
NRM Funding
GrantsLINK