NOTES ON THE OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS FOR HORTICULTURAL DIVERSITY ON THE NORTH WEST COAST OF TASMANIA
OPPORTUNITIES
- Availability of high quality basalt derived soils
- Adequate water resources
- Temperate
climate
- Clean/green
image
- Diversity
is already a feature of products in Tasmania
- Existence of small scale value adding,
for example in berry fruits, tracklements, olives, dairy products
- Growing popularity of Mediterranean style cooking
- Past experience: in the first half of the 20th century crops such as flax and hops
were grown west of the Cam
- Horticultural enterprises can be established through personal effort and planning
with the ability to absorb the financial costs over time
THREATS
- Versatility
of basalt derived soils not understood
- Versatility of soils not recognised or
promoted
- Soils considerably undervalued
and being locked up in industrial plantation developments for 25+ years
- Existence of phytothera
in the NW a problem for some orchard establishment
- Government policy directed to the “big end” of town:
vertical integration
in potatoes, pyrethrum, poppies, buckwheat. Even walnuts where individual enterprise and risk is discouraged through promotion of “rental schemes” for tree establishment
- Tax incentives
favour plantation establishment over orchards
- Government infrastructure establishment policies
(instanced by the
Major Infrastructure Development Approval Bill
) favour mining and forestry over horticulture and agriculture
- Unrealistic capital expenditure estimates offered by advisory units for horticultural enterprises where effort and expertise
can substitute for much of the financial outlays (diversity developed in the back paddock)
- Training
is directed to employment rather than enterprise in the tertiary sector
In the Flowerdale/Preolenna district
, usually seen as a spuds and dairying area, the following are established: pyrethrum, poppies, annual cut flowers, proteas, cherries, apples, emus, chestnuts, hazelnuts, broadacre herbs and vegetables and nurseries.
Colleen Dibley
Preolenna Chestnuts