Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / NT Farmers Association CEO Paul Burke says the exportation of melons and pumpkins is going strong, with the first load of garlic also leaving the Territory this year

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NT Farmers Association CEO Paul Burke says the exportation of melons and pumpkins is going strong, with the first load of garlic also leaving the Territory this year · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now we know it is National Agriculture Day today and
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  Speaker 1: who better to have a chat with on this very
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  Speaker 1: special day about the industry than the Northern Territory Farmers
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  Speaker 1: Association CEO Paul Burke.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners, and happy
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  Speaker 2: agg day.
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  Speaker 1: Any Hey, what a fantastic day. Sounds like the perfect
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  Speaker 1: day to have a mango dakri and a steak for.
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  Speaker 2: Lunch two at least.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Paul, I know there's actually some pretty pretty wonderful
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  Speaker 1: stats when you look at what our agriculture industry does
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  Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory. You know, we talk about
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  Speaker 1: the territory like batting way above our average in terms
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  Speaker 1: of exports around Australia, but around the world as well,
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  Speaker 1: like we are doing an awful lot and it's grown
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  Speaker 1: impressive eleven point six percent and is going to continue
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  Speaker 1: to expand.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, the industry has had a really really strong couple
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  Speaker 2: of years, and given we had COVID, there's been so
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  Speaker 2: many challenges around getting food off but our farm are
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  Speaker 2: so creative in the way they do things and they've
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  Speaker 2: managed soldier on through and one of the great things
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  Speaker 2: that I think we've seen over the last couple of
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  Speaker 2: years is all the shelves are always full of fruit
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  Speaker 2: and veggies. We ran out of pasta and toilet paper,
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  Speaker 2: but you can always get a bit of fruit, fresh
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  Speaker 2: fruit and veggies. And I think the other part of
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  Speaker 2: that is we're now sending our best mangoes in the
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  Speaker 2: world to Korea, to Hong Kong, to the buy So
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  Speaker 2: we've got the Mango Express going out every week with
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  Speaker 2: thirty tons of fruit on it. So that's an amazing
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  Speaker 2: story as well to achieved that through these really difficult times.
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  Speaker 1: Truly, when you think of the way that we all
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  Speaker 1: were just a couple of years ago and the issues
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  Speaker 1: that we were dealing with around COVID, it is truly
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  Speaker 1: amazing to think that our industry has actually grown in
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  Speaker 1: that time.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think we'd be one of the few
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  Speaker 2: industries that could show that sort of growth over that period.
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  Speaker 2: But I think the other thing is is it kept
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  Speaker 2: people employed out in the regions and there's not a
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  Speaker 2: lot of opportunity and a lot of the regions and
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  Speaker 2: you look at a lot of the social problems, I
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  Speaker 2: think agriculture's got a really big part to play in
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  Speaker 2: the future for the territory talk me.
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  Speaker 1: Through some of these numbers in terms of the value
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  Speaker 1: that some of our different like our different fruits are
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  Speaker 1: kind of worth on that, you know, on that scale
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to our trade, like the mango is
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty eight million, absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: One hundred and twenty eight million, and if you think
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  Speaker 2: back nineteen eighty so I was a very young person,
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  Speaker 2: it was zero. So we've grown to one hundred and
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  Speaker 2: twenty eight million over that forty year period, and that's
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  Speaker 2: been on the back of you know, small farmers growing big,
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  Speaker 2: but also new entrants. And the mango industry is a
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  Speaker 2: really special industry where a lot of our growers are
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  Speaker 2: actually refugees from Vietnam that came here through that period.
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  Speaker 2: So it's an amazing story and a real celebration of
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  Speaker 2: the farming community.
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  Speaker 1: And some of the others, you know, like melon's eighty
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  Speaker 1: two million, your veggies eighty mil, tropical fruits ten point
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  Speaker 1: seven million dollars, field crops and fodder forty of sorry,
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  Speaker 1: thirty four point six.
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  Speaker 2: Has some great stories there, and I think the one
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  Speaker 2: for me that really stands out is the growth of melons.
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  Speaker 2: And we'll continue to see that. We've had melons going
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  Speaker 2: out of the territory for the last twelve months every
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  Speaker 2: week along with pumpkins. So we're exporting a lot of
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  Speaker 2: pumpkins and melons out now. So we're really starting to
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  Speaker 2: see where three or four years ago we're sending very
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  Speaker 2: little fruit out of Australia or out of the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 2: and if we were, it was going out of Queensland.
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  Speaker 2: But now we've actually managed to nail it here in
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  Speaker 2: the territory and really create some opportunity for all territories.
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  Speaker 1: How important do you reckon you know, the industry is
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  Speaker 1: the agriculture industry is when you talk about growing the economy.
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  Speaker 1: I mean we hear a lot about the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: government saying that we're going to grow the economy to
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  Speaker 1: forty billion by twenty thirty. How important is the industry
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  Speaker 1: in this?
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  Speaker 2: I think the egg industry, the tourist ministry, and the
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  Speaker 2: resources industry will underpin the development of the territory over
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  Speaker 2: the coming years. And we've got to get that right.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to make sure that we protect the environment
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  Speaker 2: and listen to everyone's needs and wants, and that includes
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  Speaker 2: the Aboriginal people on their land. But I think there
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  Speaker 2: is a really wrong story to be told around this,
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  Speaker 2: and we do have some Aboriginal businesses starting to establish now,
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  Speaker 2: so about five hectares of garlic, so nearly forty tons
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  Speaker 2: of garlic when out of the territory this year the
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  Speaker 2: first time I've ever produced garlic race on Aboriginal land
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  Speaker 2: in the center of Australia. So an amazing story.
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  Speaker 1: That's awesome, that's wonderful to hear. You've got to have
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  Speaker 1: garlic in everything you cook.
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  Speaker 2: Don't you Garlic chili and mangoes for dessert.
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  Speaker 1: To start, that's exactly right.
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  Speaker 2: And a territory beer. We've got it all covered.
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  Speaker 1: We've got it all covered. How things going. Have there
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  Speaker 1: been some improvements when it comes to sort of recruiting workers,
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  Speaker 1: especially after those new measures were announced by the government.
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  Speaker 2: Workers are still really tough and the competition across all sectors.
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  Speaker 2: We're competing with the civil civil sector, we're competing with
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  Speaker 2: the mining sector. So you know it's going to continue
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  Speaker 2: to be tough. We've got to work out how we
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  Speaker 2: attract people here and we've got to stop talking down
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  Speaker 2: the territory at this time of year about oh it's
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  Speaker 2: so hot you who would have.
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  Speaker 1: Lived all the time everywhere.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely at least we're not ten foot underwater, and Raha
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  Speaker 2: goes out to the people down there, but you know,
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  Speaker 2: our climate's starting to look pretty good.
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  Speaker 1: It really is. Now, how are you going to be
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  Speaker 1: celebrating National ag Day today?
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  Speaker 2: I'm pretty keen on a steak and Amanda dak that
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  Speaker 2: you raised earing, I'm hoping for that. I've certainly I'd
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  Speaker 2: probably celebrated more yesterday. I was out on farms all
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  Speaker 2: day yesterday talking to growers and understanding how their year's gone,
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  Speaker 2: and the mood is very positive. They've struggled for workers
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  Speaker 2: and input costs are high, and I don't need to
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  Speaker 2: say that to everyone that knows that that's paying the
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  Speaker 2: home bills, but really proud to see the produce going
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  Speaker 2: out and the quality of the food is just first
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  Speaker 2: rate good stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Well, Paul Burke, Mt Farmers CEO. Always good to catch
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  Speaker 1: up with you. Thanks so much for joining us in
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  Speaker 1: the studio. I hope you can get your hands on
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  Speaker 1: a mango dakre for lunch.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, Thanks listeners, and thank you farmer today.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely good on your Paul. Thank you