R&D Edition: Vegetable production in the Northern Territory

Vegalogue is a regular podcast from vegetable, potato and onion industry peak body AUSVEG, where we examine the pressing issues and latest developments in our sector.

With two distinct seasons, the Northern Territory’s vegetable industry has one principal growing window that is ideally placed to meet the needs of Australia’s southern states during their winter.

Most of the NT’s young vegetable industry’s output is sent interstate, which has had a big impact on its structure and crops, but the evolution of Northern Territory horticulture has also been touched by the big South East Asian influence on the territory’s culture and grower community.

AUSVEG’s Deborah Hill had a chat with Mariah Maughan, VegNET Regional Development Officer for the Northern Territory, about the opportunities and unique challenges for vegetable production in the NT.

Learn more about the project discussed in this episode:

• VegNET 3.0 (VG21000)

Thanks for listening to Vegalogue! You can find out more about AUSVEG and the Australian vegetable industry at ausveg.com.au. Subscribe to our newsletter, or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tik Tok, or Twitter/X.

Transcript

Welcome back to the Vegalogue Podcast, a dialogue about the Australian vegetable industry from Ausveg.

I'm Tom Bicknell.

With two distinct seasons, the Northern Territory's vegetable industry has one principal growing window that is ideally placed to meet the needs of Australia's southern states during their winter.

Most of the NT's young vegetable industry's output is sent interstate, which has had a big impact on its structure and crops.

But the evolution of Northern Territory horticulture has also been touched by the big Southeast Asian influence on the territory's culture and grower community.

Ausveg's Deborah Hill had a chat with Mariah Maughan, VegNet Regional Development Officer for the Northern Territory, about the opportunities and unique challenges for vegetable production in the NT.

Hi, I'm Deborah Hill, and today we're having a chat with Mariah Maughan, who is the VegNet Regional Development Officer for the Northern Territory with the Northern Territory Farmers Association.

And we just thought we might have a chat about what the vegetable landscape looks like for the Northern Territory and how it might differ from traditional commodity-based horticulture around the rest of the country.

So welcome, Mariah.

Thank you for having me.

The best place to start is an overview of vegetable horticulture in the Northern Territory, what the principal crops are, what some of the challenges are, what your typical markets are.

Are you able to give us a quick overview of what that looks like for the Northern Territory?

The NT vegetable industry has a reported value of 80.1 million.

Most of our vegetables are grown in the Greater Darwin region.

That kind of encompasses approximately an hour to an hour and a half out of Darwin.

And I would say the majority of vegetables grown in that region of your consist of Asian vegetables, most common would be okra, snake bean, and Asian melons.

In the Katherine region, so heading further inland and heading southwest, you have more of a pumpkin and asparagus production.

And then heading further south into the central region of the NT, we're looking at pumpkin and garlic production as the most common commodities.

Asian vegetables and pumpkins and melons and so on have fairly obvious consumers.

But who are the consumers for snake beans and okra?

Yes, so I would say our Asian communities in Melbourne and Sydney.

Because the Northern Territory works on a wet season and a dry season, we're quite unique compared to the Southern Australia.

We work on similar to Northern Queensland, as well as parts of Northern WA on a tropical weather system.

So we really don't have much of a winter.

But essentially growing in that warmer climate, in the time of the year where it's very cold in other parts of Australia, it can lead us to having an advantage in growing some crops that do grow well in warmer climates and require warmer climates to grow.

So growing okra and say snake bean, Asian melons in the dry season in the Northern Territory does give us a market advantage in say Melbourne or Sydney wholesale markets, because it is very difficult to grow those crops in regions closer to Melbourne and Sydney that time of year.

What sort of challenges do you face, particularly to get to those major markets?

So the Northern Territory is definitely used to having extreme weather.

Our wet season, which is every year between say November and April, we're looking at quite dramatic weather events.

In the coastal areas, that can look like cyclones, but in general, it can look like heavy rainfall events.

So we are well prepared for these events.

We know that our paddocks will flood over the wet season in many areas and that our roads and railways could have damage throughout a wet season.

So that is no, I guess, surprise to us, and we adapt to that.

So our growing season is the dry season.

We're not commonly looking to be growing throughout that wet season.

There are some crops such as okra that do grow well without throughout that wet season and can withstand some of those weather events.

But we mainly work with the seasons and we work with the weather conditions that we're given.

Those different climatic conditions would lend themselves to some fairly unique biosecurity issues like pests and diseases.

How different is it in Northern Territory to Southern Australia?

I think we experience pest challenges and different pest challenges all throughout Australia.

All farmers manage that.

But yeah, in the Northern Territory, like surely other areas as well, we really have to work with the seasons.

For example, as we get into the end of the dry season, the start of the wet season, so for example, October, November, December, we're starting to see more humid, more increased temperatures.

What we can see with that is increased pest pressure, as well as increased disease due to that humidity.

Some growers will work with those changes in climate as much as possible to adjust their farming practices to manage those pests and diseases.

I guess some will make the decision more to finish up with their main crop before those difficult weather events and conditions come in.

I mentioned remoteness, but around that remoteness, we don't have any processing facilities in the NT, either through processing or processing for, say, your major chains, Coles and Woolworths and that.

Yeah, so if you want to sell locally, you're really looking at local markets.

And by local markets, I mean like literally markets, stores in Darwin on the weekends.

Other than that, as I mentioned, all produce is sent into state, so growers do need to be really skillful in accommodating for that transport costs to ensure they can still make a profit.

What are the opportunities and benefits for the Northern Territory with vegetable horticulture then?

I think there's great opportunity in the Northern Territory.

So we're a reasonably new industry.

We are 30 years young.

So there's great opportunity for growth in the Northern Territory.

Input costs can be in some areas lower than it would be in higher population areas.

Same with looking for land.

Within the industry, I also think, just looking at the Northern Territory, I can see in the future the potential for protected cropping really starting to grow.

I think with that, we do need to ensure that the markets are there and that the markets are offering a premium price that is able to make that a viable option for the growers.

So I think really, really looking at the market is important first, but I do think there is potential for protected cropping in the Northern Territory to really grow.

I think it could also soften some of that harsher weather.

I think another one is room for us to grow in the Northern Territory is really moving like many parts of Australia to a more sustainable soil practices and pest management practices.

We want to achieve more profitable outcomes in the long run.

And I think looking at ways to have a more sustainable production is really important.

Pests like all around Australia is a big issue.

So looking at how we can manage them in a way that's more sustainable is really important.

And I guess the last point on that is Darwin really has a Darwin in particular for the NT really has a Southeast Asian influence.

And I think we really embrace that in our vegetable industry and what it looks like to be a vegetable farmer in the Northern Territory.

I think what that looks like has a heavy Southeast Asian influence from what we grow and also what ethnic groups grow those vegetables.

And I think we really embrace that.

And that is something that is reasonably unique.

So as your role as the VegNet RDO, how do you facilitate those kind of goals and aims for the Northern Territory?

So with the VegNet project, my role really looks like assisting growers in issues that they're having on farm and to improve productivity and profitability.

What that could look like is running workshops, industry tours, one-on-one supports, developing extension material, and so on.

And really looking at different, I guess, issues within the industry that industry needs assistance in.

With that, I think the way to best get progress and success is really listening to our growers.

So listening to our growers in what are the main issues, what are they wanting to get assistance in, and how is the best way to get that assistance.

We've really got the feedback from growers that they really value farm trials, industry tours, and short half-day information workshops.

So we've been focusing our energy and attention on those areas.

They've also given us feedback on the areas that they would like to see information delivered in, and protected cropping is a really big one.

We've got a lot of feedback on that.

Market opportunities and diversification is another, and pest management has come through really strong.

So I think really listening to our growers of what are the issues that they're facing and the topics they'd like us to focus on, and then secondly, how they would like us to deliver extension in those areas.

So it's a fairly diverse cross-section of activities that you're doing.

So what sort of things will you focus on in the short term compared to, say, the long term?

I think they both work in with each other.

So we've got our kind of long-term goals of improving soil health through more sustainable soil practices.

We've got increasing market diversification, providing more opportunities for growers.

We've got increased awareness and uptake of protected cropping.

So there's those long-term goals.

And to be fair, the short-term goals more look like smaller versions of those long-term goals that help us get there.

For example, some of the short-term goals of what we're doing this year is in regards to market opportunities and diversifications.

We've got feedback from a lot of growers that as their main avenue for selling is going to wholesale markets in Sydney and Melbourne, they would love an industry tour that's really looking at market opportunities at those wholesale markets, the ability to meet and be aware of the buyers out there in the different markets, so Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, the times of years that it may be best to send to certain markets and others.

So really a greater visibility of that, as well as a greater network in order to do that.

So we're looking at a farm tour at the end of this season in November this year that would actually be spent across, say, six days going to Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne markets, taking approximately 10 growers, vegetable growers with us.

In order to see those market opportunities there, is there different crops that they could be growing that they feel they could grow in the Northern Territory, which they can see a demand for, as well as the opportunity for growers to meet new agents.

I think some of the larger farms are able to do this quite easily, in especially corporate businesses, are able to make these networks quite easily.

But what we're seeing in the Northern Territory is a lot of the vegetable farms are smaller family farms.

So providing that opportunity for growers, they've given us the feedback that that is really important.

Another one is looking at pest management options.

We've got that feedback and that farm trials, a great way for growers to receive that extension.

And so we're looking at bird management, essentially on farms.

Birds are a big issue for, in particular, a snake bean, and especially on farms, which is very common, where they grow both mangoes and Asian vegetables.

Birds can really damage a considerable percentage of their produce for both the mangoes and the snake beans.

So we're looking at essentially a bird pest control laser that we're going to put on a farm for a few months to see if this reduces the level of bird damage to both snake bean and mangoes.

And what we would then do is run extension around that.

Open up the farm essentially for growers to come and see how this bird laser works and how and if it's been successful.

You talked a bit about protected cropping as being a potential for future development of horticulture in the Northern Territory.

How do you see that?

What do you see that is looking like?

And what sort of vegetables could be grown under protected cropping up there?

So currently in protected cropping, I guess it's split into kind of two areas.

We've had protected cropping in shade houses for quite a while.

What that has historically looked like is growing Asian vegetables in particular, but also cucumbers in a shade house.

The shade is still grown in the ground.

I think in the last five or so years, we've seen a shift with some pioneering growers that have made the shift into hydroponics.

And with those hydroponics still in the shade houses, we're looking at, most common is Lebanese cucumber.

I think there is real potential for further research in the Northern territory around the absolute ideal hydroponic growing systems and protected cropping systems in the Northern territory.

The different opportunities for what we should be growing in the markets are opportunities around that.

And really ascertaining on a research level, what best practice in hydroponics and protected cropping could look like in the Northern territory.

So I think there's a real opportunity for both growth on the farm and grower level, but I think also expansion in our research in the Northern territory into protected cropping.

So thank you, Mariah, for having a chat with us today about what makes the Northern territory unique and the celebration of your uniqueness, I guess, in terms of what vegetables are grown and the cultures that influence that landscape as well.

So thank you so much for your time today.

No worries.

Thanks for having me.

The VegNet 3.0 project is funded by Horn Innovation using the Vegetable and Onion Research and Development levies and contributions from the Australian Government under project code VG21000.

You've been listening to the Vegalogue podcast.

Don't forget to subscribe and give the podcast a rating and review.

Vegalogue is produced by Ausveg, the big industry body for Australian vegetable growers.

You can find more news and information from Ausveg at ausveg.com.au on our social media channels or in Australian Grower magazine.

I hope you liked hearing about the NT's snake bean production.

Did you know snake beans are the only snakes that can walk?

That's because they have legumes.

Thanks for listening to Vegalogue.