{"id":769472,"date":"2026-06-30T08:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T08:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769472\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T08:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T08:12:26","slug":"australian-horticulture-hits-record-production-value-of-19-5-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769472\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian horticulture hits record production value of $19.5 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The value of Australia’s horticulture sector has more than doubled in a decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fruit, vegetable and nut production was worth $19.5 billion in the 2024\/25 financial year, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.<\/p>\n

Lucy Noble, head of industry insights at research and marketing body Hort Innovation, said the record result was driven by gains in the fruit and nut categories.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeing some really large growth in the actual crop in the ground,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Particularly in some of those tree crops, looking at almonds, industries like avocados.”<\/p>\n

\"Almonds<\/p>\n

Almonds reached a record $1.3 billion, increasing 19.6 per cent. (Brett Worthington)<\/p>\n

But costs continue to eat into profits and many producers are still waiting to feel the lift in value.<\/p>\n

The domestic value of fruit increased by 6.1 per cent to $7.3 billion, with growth in mature industries such as berries and citrus as well as emerging sectors such as passionfruit and papaya.<\/p>\n

“That kind of speaks to a more broader trend around exploring markets, expanding those relationships,” Ms Noble said.<\/p>\n

“Also, some really good seasonal conditions for a couple of those crops as well.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lucy Noble says the horticulture sector has been fostering overseas relationships. (Supplied: Hort Innovation)<\/p>\n

Growing overseas<\/p>\n

The local value of vegetables rose to $6 billion, up 5.6 per cent. Ms Noble said potatoes alone reached $1.2 billion.<\/p>\n

“We saw some good growth in categories like capsicums, which are more emerging, as well as head lettuce and pumpkins as well,” she said.<\/p>\n

In the nut industry, almonds led the growth at $1.3 billion, which Ms Noble attributed to a strong recovery in exports.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lucy Noble said expanding export markets was a key factor in the growth in production value. (Supplied: World-Link)<\/p>\n

Most of Australia’s horticulture serves the domestic market, with only 10 to 15 per exported.<\/p>\n

Ms Noble said expanding overseas markets was a key factor in the growth in production value.<\/p>\n

“Developing those relationships, as well as access to those markets, is really critical for the industry,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Noble said the industry had successfully broadened into India, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a story of investing in the critical markets, but then also looking at how \u2026 we diversify, making sure that there’s destinations for all different produce,” she said.<\/p>\n

Back home<\/p>\n

Ms Noble said growers were also exploring opportunities in the domestic market.<\/p>\n

“Australians want produce that is really efficient and suits the different kind of styles and eating,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/p>\n

Almost 95 per cent of Queensland’s avocado crop \u2014 covering an area of 10,400 hectares \u2014 bore fruit. (ABC Rural: Marty McCarthy)<\/p>\n

Despite the record production value, Ms Noble said farmers were not necessarily making more money.<\/p>\n

“While the industry is definitely generating more value, it doesn’t automatically mean that every grower is better off,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It does tell us a story of the industry being able to scale and remain competitive, but profitability still very much varies crop to crop, region to region, and season to season.”<\/p>\n

\"Cartons<\/p>\n

The industry successfully broadened into new export markets such as India, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan. (ABC Rural: Sarina Locke)<\/p>\n

North Queensland grower Karl Mau has just started picking strawberries and his tomatoes and capsicums are ripening early thanks to warmer-than-usual winter.<\/p>\n

“With the warmer nights everything just ripens up a lot quicker,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Everything’s just pushing along pretty well.”<\/p>\n

Mr Mau said supplying direct to consumers helped mitigate farmgate price variability.<\/p>\n

“We could move a lot of produce if we drop prices really quickly, but that’s not a sustainable model,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Especially with all the prices of inputs and wages going up.”<\/p>\n

\"Ripe<\/p>\n

The\u00a0local value\u00a0of fruit was $7.3 billion. (ABC News: Jessica Hayes)<\/p>\n

In regard to profitability, Mr Mau said meeting consumer expectations on price was more of a factor than the value of the national crop.<\/p>\n

“Some vegetables that we grow have to be on the cheaper end of things just because that’s what people are accustomed to buying,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Certain products that we grow, we can probably get a better price for than others.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The value of Australia’s horticulture sector has more than doubled in a decade.\u00a0 Fruit, vegetable and nut production…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,248925,365933,365932,365934,365931],"class_list":["post-769472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-fruit-crops","tag-nursery-and-turf-industry","tag-nut-crops","tag-record-production-value","tag-vegetable-crops"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}