WA horticulture export markets

https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1246/thumbnail.jp

Market opportunities for Western Australian mandarins and oranges

Citrus growing in Western Australian (WA) is concentrated north and south of Perth and in the north around Kununurra and Carnarvon. WA currently produces about 18 000 tonnes (t) of citrus each year. Most production is sold on the local Perth market, with negligible exports. State production is expected to grow from 18 000t in 2014 to 35 000t by 2015 as large plantings come into full production (DAFWA). If local consumption and processing grow only modestly, the WA industry seeks to replace current supply of mandarins and oranges from interstate with WA product as well as identify export opportunities to avoid oversupply. Future enhancement of competitiveness depends in large part on the ability of industry to improve the quality of WA citrus, manage costs and increase efficiency. WA citrus industry is fragmented; and prices have declined significantly in recent years. Falling prices imply that local producers must either achieve lower costs via scale or management improvements, or higher prices from better control over quality and marketing.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1235/thumbnail.jp

Market opportunities for WA fruits

The purpose of this analysis was to identify potential high-value markets for selected WA fruits. The limited size of the domestic market, coupled with slowing population growth, makes a robust increase in export necessary to achieve the aspirational goal of ‘doubling the value of agriculture’ by 2025 (Radhakrishnan 2017). Building opportunities for WA produce through identifying export markets with the best potential return, underpinned by demand, is of prime importance. This report analyses the market opportunities for seven fruits — apples, avocados, grapes, melons, oranges, plums and strawberries. These fruits were selected in response to an earlier analysis by Radhakrishnan, 2017, in which selection was based on current export level (more than $1 million) or supply expansion or potential identified in other reports. Vegetables were excluded as Coriolis has completed a detailed study on vegetable market opportunities for VegetablesWA (VegetablesWA 2016)https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1245/thumbnail.jp

Measuring the benefits from R&D investment beyond the farm gate: the case of the WA wine industry

Evaluations of public sector agricultural research and development (R&D) often focus on farm level benefits. Flow-on benefits that accrue to other sectors such as processing and marketing typically are ignored. This paper however includes these benefits. Using the Western Australian wine industry as an example this paper highlights the relative importance of farm and flow-on benefits generated by farm-level R&D. A wine industry value chain model is used to measure these benefits. The benefits per dollar of R&D investment are found to be $2.8 at the farm level compared to$14.9 when flow-on benefits are taken into account. In this case, solely reporting farm level benefits hugely understates the returns to the R&D investment. The R&D policy implications of the inclusion of flow-on benefits are discussed briefly.R&D investment, Benefit cost analysis, Value chain modelling, wine.,

Snapshot and trends in the production and overseas trade of fruits from Western Australia

Western Australia produced 129 046 tonnes of fruit in 2015–16, worth $477 million. This was a 62$193m in 2015–16 and now accounts for just over 40% of WA’s total fruit production value. Increased production, WA consumption and demand from the eastern states have led to a 780% increase in the value of avocado sales from WA between 2011–12 and 2015–16. Apples are the biggest crop by quantity and the third biggest by value. Across all fruit sectors there has been a rising trend in export values, which increased 115% between 2007 and 2017 in real terms (after accounting for inflation). Strong sales of strawberries have been a major contributing factor. WA exported $38m worth of fruits in 2017. Of this total, strawberries accounted for 67$25 million and 3509 tonnes in sales. Strawberries command the state’s biggest fruit export market share and global sales are increasing. But, despite the rising trend in exports, the real export price of strawberries fell in 2016 and 2017https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1244/thumbnail.jp

Snapshot and trends in the production and overseas trade of vegetables from Western Australia

This publication provides a snapshot and trends in the production and overseas trade of vegetables from Western Australia. WA’s total vegetable crop reached 328 857 tonnes in 2015–16, worth an estimated $490 million. This was a 33Quantity increased by 24The state’s vegetable growers use sophisticated cropping systems in a range of environments and soil types, which stretch from the tropical north, near latitude 16°S, to the temperate south at 35°S1. Carrots were WA’s major vegetable crop by value and quantity, with production of about 120 000 tonnes, worth$118m in 2015–16. This represented 24% of the total state vegetable industry’s value. Production growth in the carrot sector was mainly due to strong export sales, worth almost $80m in 2015–16, to key overseas markets. Sales of$56m made tomatoes the second largest vegetable crop by value with production of 30 320t in 2015–16. Potatoes were second by quantity (42 183t) and third by value ($41m). Beans have had the strongest production growth between 2011–12 and 2015 –16 at 550Export trends for WA’s vegetable industry have been highly favourable, with the value of this trade increasing 91$99m. This greatly exceeded a minor 0.2% gain in the value of imported vegetables in the same period — reaching about $10m in 2017. Onions had the strongest growth in export values from 2007 to 2017. The United Arab Emirates was the highest value export market for WA vegetables. In the 2007–17 period, WA vegetable exports to most Middle Eastern markets experienced higher than average growth. But exports to the major destinations of Singapore and Malaysia fell below average, despite the total value of exports to these destinations increasing in that time. WA’s share of the value of total Australian vegetable exports grew from 35Increased imports of the high-value vegetables, garlic and asparagus, to WA in recent years, have been outweighed by less onions, capsicum and peas being imported. Garlic had the highest share of vegetable import values at$3m in 2017, or 33% of the total value of all vegetables imported to WA by value, followed by asparagus. Mushrooms had the biggest growth in import value of 1693% between 2007 and 2017. Major countries supplying vegetables to WA include China, with 34% market share of value, and Mexico at 27%. It is expected there will be continued growth in imports from these markets.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1250/thumbnail.jp

Markets for Western Australian seed potatoes

Western Australia has a major share (70%) in seed potato exports from Australia. However, exports from WA have declined by 56% from 3703 tonnes in 2010 to 1302 tonnes in 2015. In addition, Australia experienced a fall in the consumption of potatoes during recent years reducing local demand for seed potatoes26. Identification of potential new overseas markets is required if WA export seed production is to increase.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1247/thumbnail.jp

Returns to research and development investment of the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia : benefit cost analysis, 2006-2007

Strategic decision making is enhanced by the consideration of benefit cost analyses of many projects. Each year a selection of projects is evaluated to assist in the determination of the most appropriate allocation of funds. This is only one of the methods that are employed by the Department’s Executive to increase market competitiveness and profitability in agriculture and the pastoral industries. This report includes both ex post and ex ante analyses, as they are complementary processes.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1096/thumbnail.jp

Biallelic KITLG variants lead to a distinct spectrum of hypomelanosis and sensorineural hearing loss

BACKGROUND: Pathogenic variants in KITLG, a crucial protein involved in pigmentation and neural crest cell migration, cause non-syndromic hearing loss, Waardenburg syndrome type 2, familial progressive hyperpigmentation and familial progressive hyper- and hypopigmentation, all of which are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. OBJECTIVES: To describe the genotypic and clinical spectrum of biallelic KITLG-variants. METHODS: We used a genotype-first approach through the GeneMatcher data sharing platform to collect individuals with biallelic KITLG variants and reviewed the literature for overlapping reports. RESULTS: We describe the first case series with biallelic KITLG variants; we expand the known hypomelanosis spectrum to include a 'sock-and-glove-like', symmetric distribution, progressive repigmentation and generalized hypomelanosis. We speculate that KITLG biallelic loss-of-function variants cause generalized hypomelanosis, whilst variants with residual function lead to a variable auditory-pigmentary disorder mostly reminiscent of Waardenburg syndrome type 2 or piebaldism. CONCLUSIONS: We provide consolidating evidence that biallelic KITLG variants cause a distinct auditory-pigmentary disorder. We evidence a significant clinical variability, similar to the one previously observed in KIT-related piebaldism