{"id":787755,"date":"2026-07-08T21:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787755\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:04:14","slug":"increased-demand-and-new-varieties-set-australian-coffee-industry-up-for-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787755\/","title":{"rendered":"Increased demand and new varieties set Australian coffee industry up for expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australians are among the world’s biggest coffee drinkers but less than 1 per cent of the coffee consumed nationwide is grown locally.<\/p>\n

As harvest gets underway on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, researchers and growers believe there is significant room for the domestic coffee industry to grow.<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Conditions are ripe for Australia’s coffee industry to grow significantly. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

Rising consumer demand, improved production methods and trials of new coffee varieties are fuelling optimism Australia could produce a greater share of its own beans.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Tobias Kretzschmar expects the Australian coffee industry to expand. (ABC News: Michael Nudl)<\/p>\n

Southern Cross University professor for plant breeding and genetics Tobias Kretzschmar has spent years trialling different coffee varieties to identify those best suited to Australian conditions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Australians enjoy their coffee in a variety of different ways. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

“We’re never going to be mainstream so we can’t ever meet the total demand of Australian coffee even if we ramped up with maximum potential,” he said.<\/p>\n

“What we’re looking at is a sustainable intensification.<\/p>\n

“I expect we can expand quite massively with the shift in consumer preferences, but also because we are starting to get competitive in terms of pricing.”<\/p>\n

Professor Kretzschmar’s research has identified four promising varieties of coffee, with growers now beginning to scale up production on commercial farms.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The harvest is in full swing on coffee plantations in Far North Queensland. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

While Australia’s coffee industry is concentrated in Far North Queensland and northern New South Wales, Professor Kretzschmar said new regions were showing potential.<\/p>\n

“We’re now going to test whether or not we can grow coffee in Western Australia but also expand production areas in the established regions,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That would allow coffee to become a bigger product in the Australian coffee industry and market.”<\/p>\n

He said interest was also growing among producers looking to diversify, particularly avocado growers.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

Australia could soon be growing a greater share of its own coffee beans for local consumption. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

“One of the key drivers we’re realising is there’s been an overproduction of avocados in Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There’s too many avocado farmers that are looking to diversify.<\/p>\n

“Traditionally, if you can grow an avocado, it’s pretty much the right climate and soil to be growing coffee as well, so that’s worth trialling.”<\/p>\n

Professor Kretzschmar said macadamia growers were also exploring coffee as an alternative crop.<\/p>\n

Bigger crops, bigger demand<\/p>\n

Far North Queensland coffee grower Jack Murat has been trialling some of the new varieties on his farm.<\/p>\n

He has been expanding production in both variety and volume.<\/p>\n

“We’ll be planting \u2026 another 80,000 plants [this year],” he said.<\/p>\n

\"vista<\/p>\n

Jack Murat is increasing production with another 80,000 plants on his Mareeba coffee plantation. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

Mr Murat said less than 0.5 per cent of the coffee consumed in Australia was produced, grown and roasted domestically.<\/p>\n

“If we can increase that a couple of per cent, we’ll be happy,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Jack Murat is trialling new varieties of beans on his coffee plantation in Far North Queensland. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

Mr Murat said consumers had become more interested in Australian coffee over the past five years.<\/p>\n

“I think the demand for Australian grown and produced coffee, but produce in general, is generally pretty good because we have a good standard of quality,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t see why the consumer can’t keep expanding and exploring the Australian growing route.”<\/p>\n

Mareeba coffee grower Rob Jaques is also expecting a bumper crop this season.<\/p>\n

“We were looking at one of the biggest harvests we’ve ever had, and it’s now being confirmed it is the biggest harvest we’ve ever had,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Mareeba coffee grower Rob Jacques says the profile of locally produced coffee is on the rise. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

He said his consumer base had increased 20 per cent year-on-year for the past four years.<\/p>\n

“The market there is huge. It’s imported coffee from around the world otherwise, and more people are coming to the realisation that Australian coffee is good,” Mr Jaques said.<\/p>\n

“There’s a few more people growing coffee in Australia now, which is really bringing up the profile of the Australian coffee.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australians are among the world’s biggest coffee drinkers but less than 1 per cent of the coffee consumed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,4244,27481],"class_list":["post-787755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-coffee","tag-production"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787755","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=787755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}