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29 April 2025
Western Australian agrifood export eNews
Last call for the Vietnam insights – WA Exporters Roundtable Breakfast
Vietnam is fast becoming a key player in the agrifood and beverage global market, driven by a growing middle class, expanding culinary preferences, and a vibrant dining culture.
Join us in hearing more about this opportunity, discussing market entry strategies and learning about the export journeys from Western Australian agribusinesses who are leveraging this potential!
What to Expect:
- Latest updates on Western Australia’s trade relationship with Vietnam.
- Learn about challenges and tips for entering the Vietnam food and beverage market.
- Hear firsthand from WA agribusinesses about their Vietnam export journeys.
- Connect with other WA exporters interested in expanding their presence in the Southeast Asian market.
Featured Speaker:
Duc Tran, Investment and Trade Director, Government of Western Australia Ho Chi Minh City Office
Special Guests:
David Wong, General Manager of Brownes Dairy
Jay Albany, Chief Executive Officer at Dirty Clean Food
Event Details:
- Date: Friday, 2 May 2025
- Time: 07:15 to 09:30am (registrations from 7:15am)
- Venue: Swan Room 1, The Ritz-Carlton Perth, 1 Barrack Street, Perth
- RSVP: Space is limited! Express your interest by sending email to: export@dpird.wa.gov.au before 5pm, 29 April 2025.
Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to connect with fellow exporters and explore the vibrant Vietnam market. We look forward to seeing you there!
To deepen your understanding of the Vietnam Market in the lead up to the WA exporters roundtable, check out Austrade Trade Commissioner Hanoi Chris Morley’s Agrifood opportunities in Vietnam webinar on 16 April.
Source: DPIRD | Image: LonelyPlanet.com
Western Australian agrifood-tech startups, businesses and farmers who are developing innovative solutions in the agrifood sector are reminded to apply for the 2025 HARVEST program, with applications closing soon.
Now in its sixth year, HARVEST has supported more than 80 businesses, offering an exciting program to help accelerate the growth of agrifood innovators.
Delivered by industry experts, the program covers topics such as positioning for growth, investment, intellectual property, commercialising new technology, export strategies and ‘pitch’ coaching.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Investment Services manager Peter May said the program provided great opportunities for participants to accelerate the commercialisation of their innovation, connect with like-minded entrepreneurs, expand their industry networks and access new markets.
“HARVEST helps businesses which are developing a product or have a product in market and are looking to explore new opportunities to innovate, value add and scale up,” Mr May said.
“The 12-week accelerator program will provide participants with networking opportunities, workshops and field trips aimed at fostering innovation, connections and developing their business skills.
“In 2025, HARVEST will include a two-day intensive business bootcamp to be held at the Muresk Institute in mid-June, followed by fortnightly masterclasses and tech demos held in Perth.
“HARVEST will culminate in late August with a regional WA field trip, where participants will get to connect with farmers, growers and potential users of their tech in the field and a showcase event in Perth.
Mr May said that the program highlighted the department’s continued support for developing innovation in the regions and building the State’s emerging agtech community.
Applications close 5 May 2025. More information about the program or to apply is available online.
Source and image: DPIRD
A revolutionary autonomous orchard spray unit will be on show at an upcoming Manjimup field day, as part of a national project exploring how multi-leader 2D narrow orchard systems can improve climate and business resilience.
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is examining how the autonomous sprayer – the first of its kind to be used in Western Australia – can benefit growers across the country.
The initiative is part of the five year Narrow Orchard Systems for Future Climates Hort Innovation Frontiers project with other states, universities and industry, including Pomewest and local ag-tech businesses Tobias Industries.
DPIRD research scientist Asad Ullah said the compact spray unit could help create labour efficiencies, reduce wastage and improve on-farm safety.
“The diesel autonomous spray unit is guided by digital GPS maps, which create a travel path for the machine to run from the shed to the orchard and then up and down the orchard rows without the need for a driver or even a remote control,” Dr Ullah said.
The technology can also be converted to pull conventional farm machinery, like a mower, as well as monitoring equipment, such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology or cameras, to do several jobs at the same time.
The autonomous sprayer will be used to treat the trees planted for the project at DPIRD’s Manjimup Horticulture Research Institute over the next five years, as well as others at the site that are part of the Australian National Apple Breeding Program.
Plant material from trees that produce Bravo branded apples and two advanced breeding selections were grafted onto two dwarfing and one semi-dwarfing vigour rootstocks and planted in Sep 2024 across 0.3 hectares of 2D multi-leader rows.
The research findings will feed into the national project to be extended to apple, pear, cherry, apricot, plum and nectarine orchards across Australia to improve efficiencies and build climate resilience.
Dr Ullah said the work would help growers to understand how this new technology performs and how it could benefit their business.
The Narrow Orchard Systems for Future Climates field day, featuring the autonomous sprayer robot, will be held on Tuesday, 20 May 2025 at DPIRD’s Manjimup Horticulture Research Institute.
For more information about the national project visit the Horticulture Industry Networks webpage.
Source and image: WA Gov
Australia’s network of free trade agreements continues to offer valuable opportunities for sectors such as red meat, grain, seafood, horticulture, and other industries in agriculture.
The Federal Government’s focus on trade diversification has broadened global market opportunities. This includes agreements with the United Kingdom, India, and the recently signed deal with the United Arab Emirates, which will provide further market access once applied.
“Australia’s prosperity is directly linked to trade. More trade, with more trading partners, means more jobs, more pay, more opportunities, and a lower cost of living,” said Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator Don Farrell. "Our job is to continue supporting our primary producers by opening doors for exporters and build on the trade outcomes we have achieved since coming to office.”
Meanwhile, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins MP, pointed out the critical role trade plays for farmers.
“Trade is critically important to agriculture, and by strengthening the sector we create new opportunities for small business and regional communities, and importantly higher paying jobs both directly in agriculture and across the supply chain.
“Australian red meat exports increased in 2023–24 and are expected to reach a new record in 2024–25, aided by further reductions in tariffs on Australian beef exports to Mexico and Korea and expanded beef quotas under the Australia-United Kingdom FTA.
“The India, UK trade agreements are supporting expanded opportunities, and the recently signed FTA with the UAE will provide new opportunities for Australian sheep meat exports”.
With these improved market conditions and the efforts of Australian farmers, agriculture exports are expected to reach $70.1 billion in 2024–25, the third highest on record. Trade supports Australian jobs, with one in four jobs linked to trade. Export-related jobs also offer 10 per cent higher average annual incomes.
Source: Food& Beverage Industry News | Image: DPIRD
Mites like Varroa are threatening Australia’s $14 billion honey bee industry.
A new global innovation challenge has been launched to find technologies for detecting and managing European honey bee mites. This project aims to improve Australia’s ability to detect exotic mites at the border and provide beekeepers with technology to manage Varroa mite effectively.
Through the global challenge, we have collaborated with CSIRO and Hort Innovation to invite innovators, problem solvers and organisations to provide advanced technology solutions for the surveillance and monitoring of mites. These will then undergo a desktop evaluation.
Potential future phases of the project would generate an independent evaluation of advanced technologies field tested in Australia for the beekeeping industry.
The honey bee industry is critical to Australia’s agriculture, not only producing honey and wax but also pollinating crops, with the industry worth more than $14 billion annually.
This project has been developed under the Catalysing Australia’s Biosecurity (CAB) initiative. CAB aims to drive innovation and transformation across Australia’s biosecurity system and is a collaboration between the department and CSIRO.
For more information, contact innovationpilots@aff.gov.au or visit the global challenge web page.
Source and photo: AFF
Further information
Agribusiness, commercial fishing and aquaculture news from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD). If you have any questions or information to share, please email export@dpird.wa.gov.au.
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Important disclaimer
The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and the State of Western Australia accept no liability whatsoever by reason of negligence or otherwise arising from the use or release of this information or any part of it.
Copyright © State of Western Australia (Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development), 2024.
