The 41st Australian Cherry Industry Conference got underway yesterday at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne, with delegates in attendance receiving advice on how to add value to their businesses under the theme ‘getting it right'.
Proceedings began with the Australian Cherry Industry's annual general meeting. Later on Tuesday, a Cherry Industry levy payer's meeting was held, where members voted in favour of a levy increase of A$0.07 per kg. Four cents out of those A$0.07 will be used for research and development, with each dollar matched by the Australian government through Horticulture Australia Ltd, while the other A$0.03 will be used for promotional endeavours. Cherry Growers of Australia president Tim Reid said the levy increase had been very strongly supported.
The president of the Victorian Cherry Association, Andrew Smith, took to the stage to discuss the key aims for this year's conference, chief among them being the ‘getting it right' theme.
'The theme for this year's event is ‘getting it right'. You have to ask yourselves, ‘am I doing what I need to do to get what I want?' You've really got to put yourselves under the microscope,' Mr Smith said.
A keynote speaker at the event was the chair of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Michael Taylor, and he gave an in-depth presentation on an issue that is going to be crucial in the development of the Australian cherry sector - water scarcity.
'Australian farmers are very skilled at coping with the vagaries of climate and water scarcity,' Mr Taylor said, before sounding a note of warning.
'The world's going to face some real challenges when it comes to the scarcity of resources. We're really on the cusp of some extraordinary changes over the next few years.
'As the UN says, access to water for food production is going to be crucial, as we move from a population of around 6.5bn people to closer to 9bn.'
The remainder of the programme featured addresses from experts in the field of business development, soil, nutrition, orchard pest control and climate change.
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