It never rains… It pours.

We have all heard the warnings. We all have our ear to the ground and our eyes to the skies.

In horticulture, we are all budding meteorologists and hydrologists, so this stuff isn’t new to us. We know what we need to do.

In the last week I’ve read three important draft reports on the state of labour and accommodation shortages in Australia in particular, Queensland. The amount of information which has been, and is continuing to be, collated around these vital components of the horticultural sector over the past two years is unprecedented. One would think the fact that three reports are being compiled is a good thing, and don’t get me wrong, it absolutely is, if there wasn’t one huge issue. Bad data.

Horticulture is a complex beast. Across Queensland, multiple commodities provide a long list of unique growing requirements, issues to be solved and untapped opportunities whilst, multiple growing regions provide a complicated landscape of varied local government planning, a plethora of water issues and diverse climate conditions which seem to continually throw a spanner in the works somewhere across this vast state.

Last weekend a very popular 20-year-old international pop artist performed a live concert in Brisbane. It was a normal concert by Gen X standards with the usual line ups, overpriced food and drinks along with thousands of hyped-up fans. What was different about this occasion however was the ‘plant-based diet’ advertising just prior to the main stage concert, and the ‘social conscience’ aspects of the performance.

The New Face of Hunger, a National Geographic magazine article written by Tracie McMillan, paints a data driven story of the cruel irony that exists when people in rural growing areas are malnourished amid fields of fresh food.

The Jobs and Skills Summit held in Canberra last week has been given an overall pass mark by agricultural attendees and observers.

While we heard again bleeding obvious acknowledgements from all sides that there was in fact a very serious shortfall in seasonal labour, no great ground was broken in finding an immediate solution growers are seeking.

Next Thursday and Friday the great and good will assemble in Canberra for the Jobs and Skills Summit, the first major economic initiative of the new Albanese Government.

For anyone who hasn’t listened to a seasoned beekeeper discuss the incredibly amazing world of bees, let me just say, put it on your bucket list. From the drones having all but one purpose in life, genetics which doesn’t include a father and a body which boasts 4 wings, 6 legs and 5 eyes, the world of bees is fascinating. With their ability to produce honey, wax, nectar, royal jelly and of course pollinate they rightly deserve their title their title of “keystone species” as without them our ecosystem may not survive.

How do you solve labour shortages, increase the reverence of farming and improve the GDP? If you were a member of the audience at the Rural Press club last week, you would have heard the answer eloquently delivered by Anthony Lee, CEO of Australian Country Choice.

Great things are happening in the North of our great State, and from all the talk at the FNQ Growers Field Day held in Mareeba last week, even greater things are just around the corner.

So much more than a vital pizza topping, a delicious snack, or an accompaniment to a holiday cocktail, pineapples have been a mainstay of Queensland’s horticulture industry for over 100 years. For the year ending June 2021, 71,084 tonne of pineapple was produced in Australia, at a value of $46.8 million. Of that, 34 percent was sent to be processed, 66 percent was sent to the fresh market, and almost all of it was grown here in Queensland.

Resilience. Is anyone else feeling the pain? I would love to do a word count on how many times the word resilience has been used in news articles, grant programs and political speeches over the past decade.

I have been part of many meetings, programs and projects whose purpose was to ‘build resilience’, and Growcom of course has a resilience focus currently, and I’d dare say into the future.

When growers supplying retailers are being asked to jump over ever higher packaging, quality and other hurdles, can we not expect better treatment at the negotiating table?

The new Albanese Government would be excused for thinking they’ve caught the rough end of pineapple in terms of their timing coming into office.

Samboy, Thins, Kettle Chips and Natural Chip Company; the snacks that go crunch in your mouth and keep you coming back for more.

This week I am excited and honoured to be starting as the new Chief Executive Officer at Growcom, a peak industry body with a long and proud tradition of representing the interests of Queensland’s fruit, vegetable and nut industries.

After an extensive recruitment process, peak industry body for Queensland horticulture, Growcom is pleased to announce the appointment of Rachel Chambers to the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Had you asked Lachlan and Annaleise Donovan 25 years ago if they’d be running a thriving horticulture enterprise employing over 100 people, forging export opportunities, and managing ten avocado orchards, they might have laughed you out the door.

Granite Belt farming enterprise, Taylor Family Produce, has been growing vegetables in Queensland for over a century. Today the business grows iceberg and cos lettuce, celery, silverbeet, wombok cabbage and cauliflower across 344 hectares of land spanning two locations.

Bellenden Ker exotic tropical fruit grower, Josh Maunder is forging a new direction for the industry investigating improved methods of production centered around cyclone resilience, production capacity and profitability.