VegNET – Northern Territory update: RDO on the road

1 December 2020

Despite the challenges faced, 2020 has seen the Northern Territory vegetable industry continuing to commit to providing fresh and valuable produce to Australia’s southern markets during winter. Vegetables Australia has been provided with an update on the activities that have been undertaken across the Top End and Central Australia.

The Northern Territory’s Dry season is typically the busiest production time of the year, with all vegetable and horticultural producers in full swing. This season has been no different, as a significant number of a variety of vegetables have been hitting the local and national markets.

NT producers have navigated the challenges of shortfalls in availability of seasonal workers that typically assist with production and the harvesting of produce, all the while with the ‘never give up’ NT attitude and resilient mindset.

This season has seen large volumes of okra, snake bean, cucumber, Asian greens and melons, pumpkins, zucchinis, eggplants, chilli, lettuce, asparagus and tomatoes roll out onto our supermarket shelves. The intensity of the dedicated growing season keeps VegNET NT Regional Development Officer Simone Cameron busy, and many hundreds of kilometres have been travelled over the last couple of months to support and engage with our wonderful NT producers.

Throughout 2020, NT Farmers RDO Simone Cameron visited towns right around the Northern Territory, including those in central Australia.

Hitting the road

In early September, the Northern Australia Food Futures Roadshow was held in Katherine. These regional roadshows are an opportunity to share outcomes from R&D in local communities throughout the region and provide an opportunity for landholders to engage with developing agriculture in their communities. Among the topics discussed were water and its opportunities and outlook, potential avocado options for the NT, and general horticultural developments in the region.

The event culminated with a bus tour around the Katherine region showcasing the vibrant pursuits of local producers, their farms and industry.

Now in its fourth year, the biennial Northern Australia Food Futures Conference focuses on developing cropping across northern Australia and the role of plant industries in the Developing Northern Australia agenda. The next conference will be held in March 2021, and is set to include horticulture, grains, cotton, forestry and fodder industries in the Northern Territory, the Kimberley and northern parts of Western Australia, and the Gulf and Cape regions of Queensland.

The theme for Food Futures 2021 will be Development and the Environment. Please visit the Food Futures website for more.

Putting waste on the agenda

In October, the annual Local Government Association of the NT (LGANT) held its annual Waste Symposium in Darwin. This year’s theme was Exposing the sexy in waste management. NT Farmers Association hold the current contract for the DrumMUSTER program and oversees the collection of AgVet recyclable containers in the NT and Kununurra.

With the operation of a new small transportable auto-baler, the NT program has been reinvigorated. In the short space of two months, over 4,500 drums in the Katherine region alone have been collected through this DrumMUSTER program.

Discussions at the symposium were had around the value of being able to adequately service our more remote regions of the NT, with a targeted aim to collect 30,000 drums annually. This is an achievable and more realistic aim now that the auto-baling unit is operational. More producers and regional councils can engage in the program as the recycling and baling of drums is now more accessible making the logistics of transporting of the agvet drums to a recycle depot more viable. One of the key objectives of this baler is for NT Farmers is to service our northern members and encourage territory-wide stewardship.

Simone Cameron presenting on behalf of NT Farmers.

Visiting central Australia

In mid-October, Simone visited central Australia to meet and connect with our valuable desert producers. This trip was filled with adventure and engagement. It was amazing to see recent rainfall had awakened the outback, with vibrant greens and stunning wildflowers mixed among the vivid ochre reds and blue horizons.

Visits included a stopover at Desert Springs Farm at Ali Curung, before heading to Oolloo Grape Farm at Ti Tree and then Territory Lettuce Farm in Alice Springs. Here, there was discussion around current market environments; workforce and labour concerns; seasonal environmental pressures on production; and the recently developed Vegetable Regional Extension Plan. Rounding out the trip was the B2B Expo, which was being held as part of the Northern Territory’s October Business Month.