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Advice on Publications Available.Professor Yosef Mizrahi, Professor of Desert Agriculture in the Department of Life Sciences and the Institutes for Applied Research at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel has been spending the last ten months on sabbatical leave at the University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury. (It is perhaps of interest that a sabbatical year for an Israeli academic comes around every sixth year).
He has recently been explaining his views on the timing of government funding of fruit and nut research in Israel at a number of meetings throughout Australia. These meetings have included those of the West Australian Nut and Tree Crop Association in Perth, the Rare Fruits Council meeting in El Arish, near Cairns in north Queensland, a seminar presented to staff and students at The University of Queensland Gatton College, Lawes, and meetings in Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Professor Mizrahi maintains that the government's policy of funding established crops rather than new crops means that the profits to be made from innovative new ideas are being entirely funded by producers themselves and by externally-sourced funding.
Fruit producers in Israel are not poor farm workers, but upper middle-class people. To attain these incomes, producers need to be innovative and progressive in the introduction and culture of new crops not previously grown in the area.
Professor Mizrahi illustrates the process of introduction and commercialisation of new crops in the graph shown. Producers start off with a period of net loss, while the plants are becoming established, shown as A to B on the diagram.
As expertise in varieties and agronomy is acquired, plants start fruiting, and markets are established for the new crop product, and income increases shown as B to C on the diagram. Eventually, producers attain high efficiency, market acceptability and export markets are established. The produce has achieved good consumer interest and good prices.
The period from C to D is a period of good profitability during which research and development is refined and profits are good, often being used to further develop the crop. It is easy to convince governments to invest at this time, since profitability is good and the industry also starts investing in R&D. Prices remain high during this period, usually because demand increases as availability increases since the market is becoming aware of the new crop product.
At the point D, the enterprise starts to lose its profitability. The crop product begins to suffer increasing competition in the market, with producers in other countries using the methods and varieties developed by the innovative growers.
As the profitability starts to fall, government interest in supporting the industry grows. By the time relative profitability has sunk close to zero, it is likely the former new crop is now regarded as an established crop with problems, which thus warrants more R&D funding.
The end result is that limited official support for R&D work starts to become available once the crop has been established and increases just at the time when the crop is at its lowest profitability. If official research money was available at the beginning of the cycle, rather than at the end, this would be of much greater benefit for the country concerned.
Professor Mizrahi estimates the cycle, from net loss (A) to zero profitability (E), portrayed in the diagram has taken 17 years in the case of cut flowers in Europe, although there are some examples of unique fruit crops which have taken 50-70 years to reach point E. His plea is for governments to make research and development funds available when they can have the greatest impact, especially on profitability. As well, the relatively short cycle means that the search for new crops candidates should be continuous.
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