What the closure of this mango farm tells us about the future of Australia’s horticulture industry.
MMM Mangoes and Avocados has supplied Australia for more than three decades, a proudly family-run business.
This month, owners faced the difficult decision of selling the property, the new owners clearing the mango trees to make way for a stockhorse stud.
Though mangoes and avos have become synonymous with the Aussie dream, rising production costs and strict regulations have seen farmers struggling to turn a profit.
Basic necessary items such as electricity and fertiliser have been soaring in cost.
According to the Australian Mango Industry Association chief executive, Trevor Dunmall, it’s not just the mango industry suffering, “this is right across the fruit and vegetable industries.”
As well as slimming profit margins, farmers are also being swamped by bureaucracy.
“They’re getting buried under a mountain of red tape and paperwork, a lot of the time unnecessarily,” he told the ABC, going on to say stringent compliance requirements were hindering business.
In one story, aged posters with visible fading were flagged for compliance correction, but had “nothing to do with food safety,” he said.
For MMM Mangoes and Avocados, the closure comes at a time of growing insecurity in Australia’s horticulture industry.
AUSVEG’s survey last year found 2 in 5 vegetable growers were considering leaving the industry within the next year, an additional 2 in 5 saying if they had a viable exit strategy, would also leave.
The numbers are looking grim for an industry valued at $18 billion, worsened by supermarket greed, as Coles and Woolies field price-gouging accusations.
For farmers, issues plague production from initial compliance to begin growing, to harvest, and to final shelf price.
The Horticulture Code of Conduct is currently being reviewed, allowing farmers to voice their concerns about the strict regulations damaging their industry.
