Consumers will now have a better understanding of the sustainability, ethics and farming practices of the horticulture sector through the release of the Australian-grown Horticulture Sustainability Framework.
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The framework was a national project that saw over 600 industry participants take part over a 12 month period and was released by Hort Innovation with the intention of increasing consumer awareness on the ethical and sustainable practices of major food producers across the country.
"Australian horticulture is continuously adopting environmentally responsible tools and systems" Hort Innovation CEO Matt Brand said.
The four key pillars of the framework includes growing food that nourish us; the people and enterprises that conduct the work; the issues relating to our planet and the resources we use; as well as reducing any waste in production.
"Each horticultural industry will determine how they use the framework, with some industries using the information gathered to develop their own industry specific approach" the framework says.
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Joseph Ebbage, Market Development Manager from the Almond Board of Australia said that the Riverina was one of the worlds largest and fastest almond growing areas and that the framework would provide a 'holistic' way of understanding and communicating the broad scope of sustainable almond farming in Australia.
"In developing our Almond Sustainability Framework, we are taking 20 years of work in progressing the way we sustainably grow almonds and re setting our goals and objectives for the future" Mr Ebbage said.
As an industry participant, the Almond Board of Australia customisied the framework, tailoring it to the specific needs of the Australian almond industry.
According to Mr Ebbage, in developing the Almond Sustainability Framework, the industry will be able to continue on its journey of continuous improvement.
"The Australian almond industry is a very efficient manager of water with approximately 95% of orchards using water-efficient drip irrigation" Mr Ebbage said.
"The Sustainability Framework is helping us sharpen our focus by expanding the use of plant base and soil moisture measurement tools to schedule irrigation.
This technology and science driven irrigation decision making further improves our growers water efficiency."
For more information about the Australian-grown Horticulture Sustainability Framework you can visit here.
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