CITRUS Australia chief executive Nathan Hancock is planning to take his industry in a new direction in the new year.
The first Australian Citrus Congress, bringing the who’s who of the global industry together, will be held on the Sunshine Coast from March 5-7.
It will be an event that showcases a new-look annual presentation, combining Citrus Australia’s market outlook and technical forums.
There will also be a biosecurity symposium in parallel, followed by a study tour of the Bundaberg region for delegates.
Mr Hancock said the 2024 theme would be “Driving Profitability – Research, Connection and Direction” which he said “captures what the event is all about”.
“While our industry has faced some challenges on the back of the COVID pandemic – with rising input costs, trade impacts and some production issues – we are now looking at a more stable trading environment,” he said.
“But it is still vital we drive profitability going forward.
“Our new event promises to deliver the insights, connections and vision to help build that profitable future.”
The Australian citrus industry is one of the largest fresh fruit industries in Australia and the largest fresh fruit exporter – annually shipping out more than 250,000 tonnes valued at about $500 million.
Yet Australia only accounts for less than 1 per cent of global production and is one of the highest, if not the highest, cost producers in the market.
This was one of the reasons American citrus heavyweight Chris Cockle was expected to be one of the event’s most sought-after speakers.
Vice-president of sales (imports and exports) at Wonderful Citrus, one of North America’s leading grower-packer-marketers of fresh citrus, Mr Cockle will provide an outlook for Australian citrus exports, along with discussing opportunities and challenges for the global citrus industry in the future.
Mr Hancock said the biosecurity symposium would focus on huanglongbing (HLB) disease.
The symposium was expected to provide industry members with further knowledge and tools to assess the risk the exotic disease posed to individual business operations.
Attendees will also learn about how a detection of an exotic citrus pest or disease would be managed in Australia under existing emergency plant pest response arrangements.
With the arrival this year of varroa mite, any exotic threat has gained renewed concerns.
US-based Nate Jameson of Brite Leaf Nursery and Etienne Rabe of Wonderful Citrus will also be on the program, with Mr Jameson to explain how the citrus industry in Florida has continued operating under the cloud of citrus canker and HLB.
Mr Rabe will discuss the status of HLB and Asian citrus psyllid in California – all to an audience of citrus growers, supply service providers, researchers and policy makers.
