Increased awareness amongst conventional and organic seed and seedling providers of the requirements for organic seedling production and determine their preparedness to supply this market and issues impacting on their ability to do so.
Provide the necessary technical and regulatory information to producers of vegetable seedling and other propagative material to permit the production of organic certified stock.
Methodology:
The project will consist of 3 Stages: 1. Assessing Industry Requirements for Organic Seedlings. - Develop a data base of certified organic and conventional vegetable seedling providers. - Telephone survey of organic vegetable producers and seedling suppliers to determine current and future supply and demand requirements for organic vegetable seedlings. 2. Raising Awareness of the Industry. - Prepare an outline of the requirements for organic seedling production. - Conduct 5, half- day workshops (in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland) for seedling suppliers and vegetable growers. Workshops aim to increase awareness of the changes to organic Standards with respect to supply of organic propagation material, and to outline the requirements of the National Standard with respect to organic seedling production. - Collate outcomes of workshop discussions and disseminate to participants for comment. 3. Preparation of AgNote and Final Report. - Publish an Agnote that outlines the requirements for organic seedling production. Print and electronic format. - Submit a Final Report to Rural Industries Research and Development Corp(RIRDC) with recommendations to the industry on how best to achieve a viable and quality organic seedling production industry. - Distribute a summary of findings to workshop participants and through industry networks.
Industry relevance:
In Australia, the majority of seed and seedlings currently supplied to organic producers are raised conventionally. At the present time it is estimated that the annual requirement for seedlings is in the order of 10-15 million per annum. However, existing organic suppliers are unable to meet present and future demands for supply of organic seed and seedlings. Furthermore, the market suitability and quality of organic seed and seedlings has been inconsistent. This situation presents both an opportunity and a threat to the Australian organic vegetable industry. There is a need to facilitate a process that leads to the uptake of the production of certified organic seedlings across Australia’s horticulture sector.
The inability of the Australian organic vegetable industry to meet the requirements of International and National organic standards is due to insufficient supply of quality organic certified seed or vegetative propagation material; as well as the potential for increased cost structures associated with specialised production and distribution requirements. Furthermore, lack of technical expertise and guidelines in organic nursery production are discouraging conversion of existing conventional operators.
Enforcement of this requirement could also provide opportunities. New players (eg conversion of conventional suppliers), product diversification and new product development (potting mixes, microbial inoculants, home garden organic seedlings, seedling trays), represent a few of the potential new industry opportunities which may arise.
Target audience:
Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) accredited organic certification agencies and their clients, vegetable growers, seedling production nurseries, nursery input suppliers, seed companies, State Agricultural Research & Development providers.
Project leader:
Dr Gregory HOWELL (no longer employed by NSW Ag)
Ph. Fax.
Additional project members:
Dr Gregory HOWELL (no longer employed by NSW Ag)
Collaborating agencies:
External organisation code:
RIRDC DAN- 217A
Funded by:
NSW DPI
Rural Industries R & D Corporation
Web references:
The information contained in this web page is based on knowledge and
understanding at the time of writing. However, because of advances in knowledge, users are
reminded of the need to ensure that information upon which they rely is up to date and to
check currency of the information with the appropriate officer of New South Wales
Department of Agriculture or the user’s independent adviser.
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