What was it all about?

From 2019 to 2022, this investment supported the export readiness of the Australian cherry industry to help Australian cherry growers to take advantage of existing, new and emerging export opportunities.

When this project commenced, the Australian cherry industry was (and still is) in a period of rapid growth. In a regular season, cherry production outstrips domestic consumption, which means export is critical. With the industry entering a new phase of export development, the team focused on export readiness, market access and trade development.

Numerous project priorities were identified, including responsibility for maintaining a biosecurity management plan and the industry’s export manual and delivering an export strategy covering market access, improvement and development needs.

Trade development and market access activities resulted in a new mainland protocol for trade to Korea, submission of business cases to support market access priorities, development and dissemination of an importer database, COVID-19 response activities to support trade, and revision of protocol work plans. Production-focused activities to increase the proportion of export-quality fruit were also extended to growers.

The project used information from previous export development projects and drew on experiences during the pandemic that exposed supply chain assumptions and weaknesses. These learnings demonstrated the importance of elevating the industry with commercially viable market diversification options to help it thrive in competitive, costly and often uncertain global trading environments.

COVID-19 posed significant industry risks and widespread changes to operating procedures. To help manage these issues, Cherry Growers Australia provided airfreight estimates to the government and information to help growers navigate the new trading environment with a much-reduced workforce and airfreight capacity. A crisis management report for trade-related market disruptions was also developed.

Assistance for growers included access to resources, an export help desk, export registrations, regular updates to the export manual, and webinars.

Growers were kept up to date through various communications avenues including meetings, the Cherry Growers Australia website and regular newsletters.

ACT NOW

To access copies of the Cherry Export Manual (including future updated versions), or for a copy of the cherry industry’s Biosecurity Management Program, contact Cherry Growers Australia at office@cherrygrowers.org.au.