Consumers around the world are asking for more organic food products. Australia acknowledges that market need and is trying to position itself to take advantage of this opportunity in an even bigger way. In fact, The Australian Government has made a $4 billion commitment to increasing Australia’s agricultural competitiveness.
Consumers in overseas markets like parts of Asia, North America and the Middle East are increasingly affluent. Health-conscious, discerning consumers are looking for more pure and wholesome products – products that Australian producers can supply.
OBE Organic’s General Manager, Dalene Wray, recently participated in a roundtable discussion at Parliament House on how to increase the competitiveness of the Australian organics sector. Hosted by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, industry leaders in organic agriculture discussed how Australian organics sector could collaborate and grow to better access premium markets.
Some of Dalene’s key takeaways from the discussion include:
• There is a need for improved international market access
• More good quality data on organic food production in Australia will help the industry grow and will attract new farmers
• Adopting a single organic standard is one step towards equivalency and harmonization with international organic standards and is one solution to reducing the cost of organic certification for Aussie farmers.
Following validation of the preliminary discussions with organics industry representatives, a draft discussion paper has now been released for public consultation. See the draft discussion paper here.
Stay tuned for more updates as this initiative develops. Follow the Department of Agriculture and Water on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/DeptAgNews.
