What was it all about?

This project, which ran from 2012 and 2015, maintained and improved communication with Tasmanian apple, pear, cherry and stone fruit growers and other industry stakeholders with a view to facilitating growth, particularly in exports. Tasmania’s fruit fly free status provides the state with favourable market access into key Asian markets such as China, Korea, Japan, Thailand and Taiwan.

The project provided key industry development services to growers to facilitate export development, market access and international competitiveness. The project officer employed as part of this project was the first point of contact for growers and packhouses who had export-related enquiries. The officer and initiated an export information, compliance and training day for more than 70 growers and industry stakeholders in August 2015.

The project officer was also the industry liaison point between growers, the Australian Government and Biosecurity Tasmania.

This project also included a skills needs analysis for the Tasmanian fruit industry as part of an Agrifood Skills Australia survey. This allowed any skills gaps that could restrict the growth of the sector to be identified, and prompted work with tertiary education providers to ensure production horticulture training was available.