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.Crops represented included persimmon, macadamia and cauliflower.
Generic needs:
First priority: marketing.
Stakeholders were identified as producers, consumers, processors, wholesalers, traders, government, retailers, suppliers, transport/distribution/packaging operators and the advertising/public relations industry. These problems would be solved by marketing (good prices, market demand, coordinated markets, promotion, ongoing feedback, quality control, establishment of contacts and networks, packaging, processing, distribution), market research (requiring seed money, initial contacts, such as QFVG (Queensland Fruit and Vegetable Growers), government, specialist growers, Rare Fruits Council, retailers, information, gross margins analyses, and trial marketing to "test the water") and the development of new markets (by media publicity, in-store promot ion, education on preparation, cooking, and storage, establishment of a recommended retail price, encouragement and the identification of the attributes and advantages of the product).
Equal second priority: form a grower organisation.
These problems would be overcome by encouraging the initiation of an organisation from several sources, making the organisation self-sustaining, sharing the commitment, encouraging cooperation and team building, the development of a vision, sharing the leadership, auditing the skills available to the group, and developing mission objectives.
Equal second priority: access information and education.
These problems would be overcome by conducting a literature search and identifying the libraries and organisations likely to have sources of information, identifying the information needs of growers, encouraging co-learning, encouraging a grower commit ment to sharing information, encouraging organisations such as the state departments to provide unbiased, relevant, specialist workshops, encouraging information distribution via such networks as Agrilink and the Internet, providing mechanisms whereby lan d-holders can learn on-farm together, encouraging action learning through workshops, conducting on-farm research and focus groups, distributing lists of funding providers and locating and cooperating with regional development bureaus and learning how to a pproach funding bodies.
Equal third priority: ensure supply.
Equal third priority: fund research and development.
Equal fourth priority: ensure financial management.
Equal fourth priority: aim for sustainable development.
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