We've been in business since 1954.
The Australian apple has got a good, clean,
green perception in overseas markets, so we've
actually expanded and developed into new varieties
and new techniques.
We've seen yields lift from 10 to 15 tonnes
per hectare to a current level of about 40
tonnes per hectare.
Part of that strategy, the industry in partnership
with the Queensland Government decided to
invest in developing scab resistant apple
varieties.
The Kalei is the first apple that has come
out of that program.
With Kalei, no sprays are required, so that's
a considerable saving for the growers.
With the new systems we're developing between
DAFF and the growers, with Kalei, we can produce
crops of between 80 and 100 tonnes per hectare,
every year.
So that's going to be an important factor
in the drive towards higher producing systems
going forward.
And we have doubled what the industry average
was 15 years ago.
The Australian beef is definitely known worldwide
and they trust our beast.
Efficiency is the key to our industry.
Here, if we're not efficient, we're not competitive.
And we were a full set Abattoir to Japan going
back 15 years, now we supply umpteen different
countries.
So it's brought along a lot more break up
orders, what we say that it we're breaking
the beast down into smaller and smaller cuts,
so this shed here needs to produce full time.
When I first started, I worked in the boning
room at Wingham Beef Exports, every afternoon,
anyone older than 21 had to go downstairs
and load cartons for four hours, now we're
putting in robots to do exactly what we were
doing then.
The automation comes in when the slicer places
the primus on the belt, the computer then
recognises what that piece is, we're packing
the carton, labelling it up so we know exactly
what's in that product and then we're sending
it off to be chilled.
And we're able to load it out on the following
day in a container.
What it's done is, its reduce our storage
time from probably two to three days down
to 24 hours.
And they're going to a wider range of destinations
being it domestic or export.
So at the moment we have a co-investment between
DAFF and GRDC which is the national mungbean
improvement project.
They provide us with a grounding and a link
to growers, but also to markets at the other
end of the value chain.
Globally mungbean is a really important pulse
crop, especially in south east Asia, so we're
heavily reliant on overseas markets.
The programs had a really big effect and it's
really supported the industry to double its
production to about 70,000 tonnes in the last
10 years.
What we're trying to do is to pull a lot of
project opportunities together, a lot of international
research, and we're working to breed new mungbean
varieties that are higher yielding and more
disease resistant.
I think Queensland Agriculture has a really
strong future and the recognition of the importance
of tropical pulses is a really solid grounding
for meeting the government's target of doubling
agricultural production by 2040.
I guess to some extent we're overwhelmed with
opportunities at the moment.
