Competing against the dropping cost of the international export market is a challenge many Australian producers face.
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For Yenda prune farmer Ann Furner, a recent trip to Chile to tour farms and hearing of the latest industry developments at the annual international prune congress brought the issue firmly into light.
“The labour cost in Chile was a lot cheaper compared to here in Australia,” she said.
“On top of that their farming, production and drying costs are all a lot cheaper as well.”
Mrs Furner said Chilean farmers were producing prunes at a cost of 10 cents a kilo, while Australian farmers’ costs were substantially more.
It’s a figure impeding the industry’s ability to provide competitive prices to consumers.
“Chile is one of our competitors because they are export producers to Australia so their ability to produce the product for a cheaper cost is an issue for the industry,” she said.
With Griffith being home to the largest prune growing area in Australia as well as the home of more than 250 citrus orchards and many other agricultural industries, it is an issue for growers already stressing about the uncertainty of the backpacker tax.
“This is a challenge for most Australian food producers,” Mrs Furner said.
“Now with the backpacker tax labour will become even harder for many people to find. I heard an interview recently suggesting backpackers will just bypass Australia for New Zealand.”
However, for Mrs Furner the future still looks bright despite these concerns, with recent trip unveiling innovative techniques.
“One of the things they do a bit differently and that allows them to produce up to four tonnes of dried fruit per acre is that their tree spacings are a lot closer together,” she said.
“Seeing how they do things was really beneficial, they don’t have some of the technologies we have and they tend to rely on their workforce whereas we rely on technological improvements.”