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.Rob Fletcher and Gerry Kregor, Editors
This is the tenth issue of the Australian New Crops Newsletter and the first for which a subscription has been charged.
The newsletter will now cost AUD20 per annum and we thank those who have subscribed so far. Those who have not yet subscribed are receiving the list of contents of this issue and an invitation to subscribe.
The ever-increasing size of this newsletter again bears testimony to the increasing availability of information pertinent to the commercialisation of new crops. We have taken the view that the item we leave out may be the item someone is looking for.
We are grateful to the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and the Grains Research and Development Corporation for their support of the first nine issues of the Australian New Crops Newsletter and acknowledge some continuing support from the former corporation for the next two years.
The present issue of the newsletter tackles the problem of new crop industry scams. Three bogus advert- isements placed in newspapers and on radio and TV throughout Australia in April this year by the Australian Securities Commission (now the Australian Securities and Investments Commission) attracted enquiries from several hundred potential investors.
These enquirers were interested in investing in schemes about which they knew nothing, apart from the contrived information contained within the advertisements. We have included advice in this issue from the ASIC on what to look for when investing in primary production schemes.
As well, the ASIC has provided a brief introduction about the legal requirements for establishing and reporting on companies. We have also reproduced a handout used at UQ Gatton College as part of a demonstration of the 'hype' often associated with the publicising of new crop schemes.
We have reported on the Emerging Opportunities in Agriculture Information Days using the side-show model and the recently published Do Our Own Marketing Research manual for new crops.
There are several articles concerned with following up this initial marketing research phase with new crops such as information sourcing, break-even analysis, business planning, cooperatives and multi-level land use.
The Second Edition of the Listing of Potential New Crops for Australia has also been examined to extract the names of crops which have attracted increasing attention in the literature over the past ten to fifteen years. This information was derived from the numbers of mentions of each potential new crop in articles published since 1960.
Although attention of this kind does not necessarily infer positive outcomes, the list as reproduced in this issue does include many of the species which are currently popular.
Crop profiles in this issue focus on Australian native citrus, kenaf, native pepper and oil palm with comments about Kakadu plum, argan and taro.
The Lentil Company of Horsham, Victoria and its niche marketing approach for pulses is the featured new crops developer in this issue.
Regular features include letters to the editors, new crops research, publications, periodicals, conferences, organ- isations, enquiries, web links and mailing lists.
Since this is the tenth issue, we plan to reproduce all ten issues of the Australian New Crops Newsletters in a single volume of perhaps 400 pages for those who wish to have a complete set. The cost will be AUD40 plus AUD6.50 postage.
Following requests from a number of readers, the complete list of new crops publications mentioned in the first nine issues of the newsletter has been included in this issue in an abbreviated form.
We would like to thank all contributors to this issue. As previously, we appreciate the contributions from other new crops workers and will continue to seek out information which has potential benefit for those attempting to commercialise new crops.
As in previous issues we have tried to achieve an Australia-wide balance with respect to the content of the newsletter. Any apparent over-use of Queensland examples in some of the articles has been for illustrative purposes and we welcome correspond- ence about similar opportunities in other states.
We welcome contributions from members of the new crops industries in other states and will continue to solicit contributions from anyone in Australia with a useful story to tell.
Letters to the editors and suggestions for improvements to the newsletter are always welcome.
We apologise to those who may have asked for direct asistance with information sourcing to whom we have not yet replied. Also, we apologise for the delay in publishing this issue.
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