Natural disaster preparation for tree crop growers around Australia will receive a $1.7 mln injection through the funding of the next phase of the national Australian Tree Crop Map. The Australian Tree Crop Map will be supercharged to include new plantings and more detail for the participating tree crop industries.
Horticulture peak industry bodies Avocados Australia, Australian Banana Growers’ Council, Citrus Australia and Australian Macadamia Society are all partnering in this mapping research, which is also useful for directing labor forces and forecasting productivity.
Hort Innovation chief executive Brett Fifield said the map will arm tree crop industries with never-before-seen information. “The Australian Tree Crop Map can be used by authorities and horticulture industry groups to track impacted areas following extreme weather or biosecurity events and provide assistance where it is needed most. This vital tool has already been used during weather events such as cyclones, and through this funding boost will see the introduction of increased capabilities through crop cultivar, planting year density and other available benchmarking and packhouse information, where available.”
Source: horticulture.com.au
