NOTICE: Hard copies of the Australian New Crops Newsletter are available from the publisher, Dr Rob Fletcher. Details of availability are included in the
Advice on Publications Available.Tony Moody
New South Wales Agriculture
Telephone: 02 6391 3647
Facsimile: 02 6391 3650
Interest in new horticultural products arises from a wish to diversify from the main farm enterprise to produce relatively small consignments of a specialised product for a niche market.
There are now many products that fit this category in the Australian domestic market, most of them feeding an ethnic market demand, or a general demand based on ethnic cuisine. The broad areas are:
Asian green vegetables
Bok Choy
Choy Sum
Chinese Broccoli
Wong Bok
Chinese Spinach
Garlic Chives
Bor Choy
Exotic root crops
Cassava
Galangal
Turmeric
Taro
Yam
Yam Bean (Jicama)
White Radish
Exotic fruits
Sapotes
Carambola
Feijoa
Kiwano
Longan
Rambutan
Cherimoyas
Herbs and spices
Mediterranean herbs
Curry leaves
Lemon Grass
Thai Basil
Meloukhia
Chillies
Fancy salads, often hydroponic
Roquette
Fancy lettuces
Witloof
Edible flowers
Cucurbits
Bitter Melon
Hairy Melon
Luffa
Long Melon
Whenkin
Choice of crop will depend on the local environment:
The most usual market will be one of the wholesale markets where there are specialised wholesalers who deal in these products.
It is best to visit one of these markets to talk to those wholesalers about their views on:
These wholesalers include:
...Brisbane Market
Sherwood Road
Rocklea
Murray Bros 07 3379 1191
Shamrock Marketing 07 3379 7222
So Crisp 07 3278 2560
...Sydney Market
Parramatta Road
Flemington/ Homebush
Roy Cave and Sons 02 9325 6244
Exotic Fruit Traders 02 9325 6271
Southern Asia Farm Produce 02 0746 7781
...Melbourne Market
Footscray Road
Footscray
Mark Dykes 03 9689 7511
Quon Hoong Wah 03 9687 2602
As well as wholesale markets, the other market opportunities will be local retail outlets, in country locations, and Chinese and Asian food stores in the cities.
The latter buy only half of their fresh produce in the wholesale markets and culturally often prefer to source direct from the producer.
Transport to such buyers may be more difficult to organise, but they would be interested in smaller consignments.
Again, it is important to visit and strike up personal contact with them.
When investigating the market, it is most important to cover the following details, because these products have a speciality demand, and a niche market, which can very quickly become oversupplied:
There are few sources of market information in domestic Australian markets for prices of these products.
They include:
...Sydney
Telephone: 02 9764 3516 for details
...Brisbane
Telephone: 07 3379 4576 for details.
Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter
Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email:
r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au[
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GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF