What was it all about?

Strong communication initiatives are essential to ensure the Australian avocado industry remains competitive by being well informed about emerging information, trends and issues in domestic and overseas markets.

From May 2011 to November 2015, this project was responsible for the delivery of a range of communication tools that aimed to inform, educate, engage and consult with all stakeholders, from growers to suppliers, exporters and importers, wholesalers, retailers, researchers, government officials, media and consumers.

These communication tools included:

• Talking Avocados, a quarterly hard copy publication featuring case studies, grower and industry profiles, R&D and marketing activities, and regional updates. The magazine is sent to approximately 800 stakeholders and also uploaded to the industry website.
• The Avocados Australia industry website (www.avocado.org.au), used to house industry and consumer information.
• The industry’s Best Practice Resource (BPR, www.avocado.org.au/best-practice-resource), an online portal linked to the industry website which provides useful industry management content developed by experts, including training programs and the Workplace Health and Safety module .
• The Guacamole e-newsletter, a fortnightly snapshot of industry information, R&D and news articles.
• Industry workshops, presentations and forums, including a successful R&D forum in Western Australia to ascertain the region’s needs, and assistance to host the 5th New Zealand-Australia Avocado Growers Forum.
• Qualicado workshops, linked to project AV12012, 16 Qualicado grower workshops were held across eight major production regions and 10 wholesaler workshops were held in five capital cities.