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.First priority: identify industrial or fibre crops that have potential to generate future profits.
Second priority: adopt a unified approach across Australia in terms of new crop development.
The problems with an industrial crop industry, such as the manufacture of ethanol, could be investigated by proposing a five-year plan to the Commonwealth Department of Primary Industry and Energy to establish a pilot plant.
Specific fibre crop industry needs:
Hemp: recognise unsatisfied demand in New Zealand for manufacturing uses (US$1,000 per ton); source clean fibre for the market place; increase the strength of other fibres, such as cotton lint; establish the economic potential of the hemp in dustry.
Kenaf: promote kenaf as a wood, wood chip or current import replacement and as a good long fibre source; increase benefits from value-adding.
Flax: produce good quality fabrics.
Cereal straws: investigate potential for cardboard or particle-board manufacture.
Other Fibre crops: sunn hemp, Sesbania, timber, mallee, woody weeds.
Specific oil crop industry needs:
HO Oils (Canola): determine the potential industrial use, including the value of pre-processing; recognise the competition in the market place from other sources; overcome cross contamination between different types of canola crop; build on the strengths such as the established agronomic experience, the established market, and genetic potential for improvements from breeding.
Jojoba: develop the uses for jojoba oil in manufacturing; raise capital costs for establishment of the industry; recognise that an industry needs critical mass to be viable; overcome the past history of this crop; investigate possibilities and p roblems with cross-product substitution; build on the strengths such as the crop's potential use for land reclamation, for example in salty areas.
Meadowfoam: recognise the crop's potential for cooler, rather than warmer, regions; supply a long-chained oil for industrial uses.
Specific fuel crop industry needs:
Identify a crop to produce ethanol for Australia (13 billion litres potential), for example, sugar (Western Australia), woody weeds, cereal straw or mallee; determine the economic feasibility and economic potential of ethanol production requiring a high initial capital investment; remove organic matter during processing; overcome competition in the market place from established fuel suppliers; raise public awareness of the possibilities of this industry; overcome difficulties with current legislati on with respect to the excise on alcohol; identify by-products to render the industry more attractive; build on strengths including the advantages of using co-products, the environmental advantages of using renewable sources of energy, the potential to bl end ethanol with fossil fuels and the availability of technology.
Specific starch crop industry needs:
Guar: improve its competitiveness on the world market; investigate the wide range of uses to determine economic feasibility.
Amaranth and Quinoa: investigate their industrial uses.
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