HORTICULTURE FOR TOMORROW - Industry Forums

Home

About Us

About Horticulture

Environmental Management

For Growers

Industry Ownership

Industry Ownership

Introduction

Industry Leadership Group (ILG)

Horticulture NRM Strategy

Industry Forums

Communication at both grower and industry level has also been undertaken throughout Horticulture for Tomorrow. Two Industry Forums were hosted to provide information to industry on the program; discuss issues surrounding environmental management for the industry, both now and into the future; and to gather feedback from industry as to the applicability of environmental assurance to their specific industry and region. Both forums engaged a high level of industry leaders and debate was rigorous, with support for the program and its approach to environmental assurance obvious at each event.

Historically there have been limited forums for industry to debate environmental issues so openly. Horticulture for Tomorrow has provided that opportunity for industry.

Industry NRM Summit May 2008
Industry NRM Session November 2005
Industry Summit November 2004

Industry NRM Summit May 2008

Industry leaders and environmental experts met to discuss the major natural resource management issues facing horticulture at the Horticulture for Tomorrow NRM Summit held in Sydney on 27th May 2008.

The objective of the Summit was to help horticultural industries incorporate environmental issues into their plans for the future. It considered the question “What are the major environmental issues confronting horticulture; and what does industry need to do in response to them?”

The Summit included a number of key presentations;

“Future Climate and Water Scenarios – the implications for horticulture; and what industry can do about them.” Ken Matthews (Chair, National Water Commission)
“Environmental Assurance – future issues for Australian horticultural industries.” Rob Robson (One Harvest)
“The Wine Industry – a case study in dealing with environmental assurance issues”. Gioia Small (Winemakers’ Federation of Australia & General Manager, Sustainability - Fosters Group)
“Caring for Our Country – following on from the Natural Heritage Trust and National Landcare Programs”. Rod Shaw (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry; Acting Executive Manager - NRM Division)
“Reflections on Horticulture for Tomorrow”. Associate Professor Jack Sinden (Industry Leadership Group / University of New England)

It provides plenty of time to discuss the range of environmental issues facing horticulture – and the additional steps that horticultural industries, and partners, can take to deal with them. An extra highlight was the range of posters and displays of natural resource management projects that horticultural industries have been involved in.

The Summit was aimed at leaders of horticultural industries, the people they work with in NRM programs and the many partners industry has in Government and regional NRM bodies. Approximately 60 participants attended the successful day. Participants agreed that the NRM issues the horticulture industry must address include managing complexity and climate change, responding to changing demands from the marketplace, adopting a continuous improvement approach, setting the agenda rather than having the agenda set for us, collaborating with non-traditional partners and adopting on-farm practices that will improve NRM while maintaining grower competitiveness.

NRM Summit Communique

For more information on NRM Summit Communique are attached.

Click here to download. (38 Kb)

Industry NRM Session November 2005

At the eleventh hour before the twice yearly HAL Industry Forum the HAL Project Manager – Environment was offered a session at the forum to focus on environmental issues in Australian horticulture. The session provided a valuable opportunity to engage industry and generate valuable input into current environmental-related projects and future planning.

It was decided that this session should follow on from that event hosted by Horticulture for Tomorrow at the Forum a year prior titled “Environmental management in Australian horticulture – threat or opportunity? What do you think?” In 2005 the theme was carefully selected to link with the previous summit outcomes and to utilise the hour and a half session. It was titled: “Where to from here – one year on from the Horticulture for Tomorrow Industry Summit (November 2004), how is Australian horticulture addressing environmental issues, have the opportunities and threats changed, what are the emerging issues and priorities?”

The aim of this session was to showcase the current Environmental Portfolio to the horticulture industry and request feedback from industry leaders regarding where to from here for environmental management in horticulture, with attendees at the forum including all horticultural commodity representatives (CEOs and Chairs of Industry Advisory Committees), Horticulture Australia Council and HAL Staff. The session showcased the national environmental programs currently managed by HAL, with representatives from the major environmental programs in attendance to give an update on their program as well as sit on a panel for the Q & A session. These were Charles Thompson (coordinator of the Horticulture Water Initiative); Peter Day (coordinator of the NRM Initiative); Richard Bennet (Chair of the Technical Steering Committee) and Vicky Kippin-O’Connor (member of the ILG).

This was followed by a workshopping session on the key environmental issues for horticulture into the future and how HAL and industry should be addressing them.

In the workshop, delegates identified current issues relating to environmental management and how they are impacting on horticulture, as well as priorities relating to what needs to be done in terms of future projects and agri-political action. The three issues identified as a priority were: the public perception of horticulture and the need to communicate our environmental credentials to the wider community; the importance of better water management; and the need for environmental management to be implemented in a sustainable way by growers.

A number of suggestions were made about how these issues could be tackled. It was suggested that water management could be address through increasing the efficiency and re-use of water and by better management of run-off; public perceptions could be improved by more proactive communications of success stories through the media and by better co-ordination of communications activities within the industry; and the implementation of environmental management by growers could be made more sustainable by increasing government support, minimising bureaucracy and by helping to ensure farm operations remain viable.

This session was valuable in allowing industry to comment and question some of the environmental projects and their progress to date, as well as highlighting the need for industry to take a proactive role in this area by prioritising investment now.

It is hoped that this will not be the last such session for the horticulture industry and NRM.

NRM Session

For more information on the NRM Session a copy of the notes are attached.

Click here to download. (89 Kb)

Download PDF

For more information on the NRM Session presentation see attached.

Click here to download. (718 Kb)

Industry Summit November 2004

The Industry Summit was hosted by Horticulture for Tomorrow in Sydney on 16th November 2004 to bring together leaders in the sector to discuss the important issue of environmental management within horticulture, highlight challenges and map the way forward for the future in an open, collaborative and engaging way. This was also the forum where the draft guidelines for Environmental Assurance and the draft Vision and Strategy for Environmental Management in Australian Horticulture were launched for comment.

Participants targeted included leaders of industry groups, commercial buyers, major growers, regulators and experts in environmental management in horticulture from government, academia and related quality systems. An invitation list was developed prior to the event, and was supported by the ILG and DAFF. Media activity was also undertaken prior to and after the event, this included media releases and updates via the distribution list.

The Summit program included:

Real life case studies on environmental management in horticulture and related sectors, including question and answer session;
Guest speakers from other quality systems (including EurepGAP, SQF 2000 and Freshcare);
Launch the new draft Guidelines for Environmental Assurance in Australian Horticulture;
Question and answers session about the draft guidelines with the Technical Steering Committee.

Participants were asked to put forward their ideas for a strategic vision for environmental management in Australian horticulture for the next 10 years. For example, they were asked to think about where they would like to see your industry go, and what are the issues growers need to think about to get there?

Presentation Pack

For more information on the Industry Summit presentations see attached presentation pack.

Click here to download. (200 Kb)

Industry Summit Notes

For more information on the Industry Summit discussions see attached Industry Summit Notes.

Click here to download. (375 Kb)