The challenges in a globally competitive society

摘要

As I travel around looking at industry competitiveness, I see a number of significant challenges ahead for horticulture in Australia. In the era of a global economy, we are seeing more and more challenges to both our domestic and export markets. I would like to take a look at these challenges one by one and ask you, the reader, to evaluate your own industry competitiveness. Compared to other countries which compete freely on the world market, we have one of the highest costs of capital. Our land prices are high compared to countries like Chile, Brazil, and other emerging powerhouses on the horticultural horizon. By this, I mean the cost of buying a hectare of producing citrus or mangoes. In other words, many of our competitors in these markets, candevelop two to three times the area we can for the same dollar value. To overcome this, we are seeing a focus on the establishment of horticultural enterprises in new areas - not only to maximise market windows, but also to reduce the capital costs. Conversion of broadacre land to horticulture helps reduce the establishment costs. This practice is common for 'corporate' or tax leveraged projects of large scale.