The Horticulture for Tomorrow environment initiative was established in 2004 as part of a five-year environmental vision for horticulture, developed in collaboration with the industry:

"By 2010, Australian Horticulture will have embraced a systematic approach to environmental management that underpins the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the industry."

Horticulture for Tomorrow has successfully developed and launched the Guidelines for Environmental Assurance for Australian Horticulture and the Horticulture Natural Resource Management Strategy, undertaken 10 Regional Industry Pilots and is currently in the process of undertaken an environmental impacts stocktake of the horticulture industry.

The initiative is being managed by HAL, on behalf of the horticulture industry, utilising funding from Government Grants.

For more information on Horticulture for Tomorrow, click here.

Australia has one of the most variable climates in the world, with large extremes of rainfall and temperature. Climate change as a consequence of global warming will add to the difficulties which horticulture industries have in coping with an already variable climate.

Climate change and climate variability is increasingly becoming a key focus area for industry. To date work in the climate area has included increasing collaboration with other R&D Corporations, through the Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries Project; studies into the opportunities and threats of climate change on horticulture; and the development of the Horticulture Climate Change Action Plan.

The Action Plan focuses on three priorities for research:

1. Adaptation
2. Mitigation
3. Information, Communication & Awareness

The Horticulture Climate Change Action Plan has been developed by the HAL Environment Portfolio, in consultation with and on behalf of industry. Options for funding the implementation of the action plan are being discussed with industry.

The HAL Environment Portfolio is focused on undertaken further climate research and activities for the horticulture industry to better manage the risk of climate change and climate variability. The Horticulture Climate Initiative will be a critical component to this.

For more information on the Horticulture Climate Initiative, click here.

The Horticulture Water Initiative (HWI) is the national horticulture strategic initiative to address the issue of continued access for industry members to water. The goal continues to be "Ensuring access to water for responsible and profitable use" and this assumes that the use is sustainable from an economic, environmental and social viewpoint.

HWI has been funded by the across-industry program since 2002 and has five objectives:
1. Empower industry
2. Partnerships
3. Innovation and adoption
4. Informing policy
5. Positioning

The initiative incorporates a Water Steering Committee (made up of industry representatives from different States and horticultural industries), a Horticulture Water Coordinator, a strong communication component and a communications reference group.

For more information on the Horticulture Water Initiative, click here.

A number of programs have been implemented since 2007 to provide information to horticultural producers to help during times of severe water restrictions.

Horticulture Drought Information can be sourced from:
• www.horticulture.com.au/drought
• www.horticulture.com.au/mdbdroughtinfo

Established in 2003, the National Coordination of Recycled Water Use in Australian Horticulture project aims to coordinate the development of recycled water (reclaimed urban waste water) in Australian Horticulture. Providing and facilitating the transfer of knowledge within the recycled water industry, to ensure a consumer accepted and environmentally sustainable recycled water industry develops in Australia.

Knowledge transfer is undertaken through effective communications and the development of key resource material for grower, public and industry use. For example, Using Recycled Water in Horticulture: A Growers Guide and Growing Crops with Reclaimed Wastewater.

A regular newsletter, called ReWater, is distributed quarterly to a broad reference group. This newsletter was recently recognised as a nationally significant publication, and as such will be collected and archived by the National Library of Australia to ensure that Australians have access to the document now and in the future.

For more information on the Recycled Water project, click here.

The National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (NPSI) is a key investment area of the Environment Portfolio specialising in irrigation innovation, research and knowledge management. The program focuses on generating knowledge of relevance to irrigation regions and commodities aimed at improving the environmental and productive performance of irrigated agriculture and horticulture in Australia.

HAL, through voluntary contributions and matched Government dollars, has funded both NPSI Phase 1 (2003-06 - completed) and NPSI Phase 2 (2007-10 - ongoing).

NPSI Phase 2 will, among other things, provide a mechanism for irrigation research investors, from all the interest groups Australia wide to collaborate and facilitate the discussion of research needs and implementation for the industry.

Specifically for horticulture, the second phase of NPSI will tackle key issues facing the industry, such as:

• The need to develop new innovative irrigation technologies capable of delivering significant increases in production and profitability from significantly less water;
• Availability and security of water, including sustainability, property rights, trading, water restrictions and management practices;
• Policy issues including who should pay the costs of water extraction (public versus private good), who owns the saved water, will there actually be environmental gains from any saved water and how will it be measured?
• Change management processes for contraction or expansion and upgrading of existing irrigation areas; and
• Design guidelines and criteria for the development of new more sustainable irrigation areas and levels of service for horticulture.

For more information on NPSI, click here.