Published since 1986
JUNE, 2021
www.farmernews.com.au
Big deal for walnut farmers PAGE 4
Saving the brumbies in Victoria PAGE 10
THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR
REGULATIONS allowing camping on crown land provide a ‘one size fits all’ approach across the state, where river systems and topography are widely diverse, and ecosystems and use of crown land vary significantly. On Tuesday, May 25 regional Victoria converged on Parliament House to vocalise this multitude of concerns, in the hope that metropolitan Melbourne would listen to their rural neighbours. Turn to page 2 for the story.
Better budget deal for farmers PAGE 20
The untapped goodness of persimmons By EMMA OLIVER WITH demand exceeding supply, and a domestic market that is growing at a good rate, Chris Stillard, Barooga based persimmon grower and president of Persimmons Australia, sees the huge potential for this orange fruit, himself
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investing significantly in the crop to become one of the largest producers of sweet persimmons in Australia. “Local recognition and appreciation of persimmons is steadily on the rise,” said Chris as the local season draws to a close, and consumers look to imported fruit to fill the void.
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In season from late February to mid-June, Australia imports a further 445 tonnes of fruit between June and November to meet local demand, and is not yet producing the quantities needed to develop significant export markets. Producing annually just over 2500 tonnes - with
a gross value of $11.6 million - Australia’s harvest represents less than one per cent of world production, with Chris seeing not only the huge opportunity for regional expansion of new varieties to close this market gap domestically, but also the potential of developing a more robust export market .
The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries spruik persimmons as one of the ‘next up and coming emerging markets’. “The market does need to get to a point of surplus, before we can tackle the holy grail of exporting,” Chris said. “Persimmons should not
be refrigerated as this will hasten the decaying process of the fruit, so the potential at the moment is for Australian producers to trial different varietals to extend the season, and then look to developing the export market during the Northern Hemisphere off-season. ■ Continued pages 6-7
NORTH EAST & GOULBURN MURRAY PLATINUM DEUTZ-FAHR DEALER
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