More than 3500 people are attending the HortConnections Conference in Melbourne this week which is a 20% increase on last year’s “fantastic” attendance, says James Whiteside of AusVeg.
The conference is jointly hosted by the Produce Marketing Association Australia-New Zealand and AusVeg and a strong contingent of New Zealand delegates are attending. The trade fair will have over 195 companies exhibiting.
The event was jointly opened on Monday evening by PMA ANZ chairman Michael Franks, who is the New Zealand based chief executive of Seeka, and Bill Bulmer, chairman of AusVeg.
The conference theme is Growing our Food Future. The programme will challenge thinking on how the industry will look in 20 years time, Whiteside told the first session.
Delegates will look at questions on how to respond to the challenges of feeding our fair share of the world and how we will deal with a rapidly challenging environment around us, he says,
This includes climate change, sustainability and all things environmental, but also rapidly changing consumer sentiment and power.
“It is going to be fascinating to look at who sees these opportunities first. How will our food be grown; how and where will the capital needed to deploy these changes be found and what will the successful farm look like,” he says,
He says it is horticulture that the world will turn to.
“Our future is not in beef production, it is not in chicken or dairy.” Other sectors have environmental and logistical challenges that much of horticulture should be able to dodge.
There will be a “relentless wave of environmental and social issues that are going to push consumers our way”.
These are the opportunities we need to be preparing ourselves for, he says.
Reporter Pam Tipa is attending the conference on behalf of Rural News’ publication HortNews.
See the latest HortNews in next week’s Rural News plus more in-depth coverage of the HortConnections conference.
