Premier's Horticulture Industry Awards for Excellence

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Regional Development. Will the minister please update the chamber about last night's inaugural Premier's award for horticulture?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his question and his ongoing interest and support for the horticulture industry in South Australia because, after all, the horticulture industry is incredibly important to our state and has a very positive story to tell.

Last year, the value of primary horticultural production was around $3 billion, which was an increase of over 5.7 per cent on the previous year. This is on the back of high-value crops such as potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, and citrus in particular. This is all while the industry has experienced significant disruption with unseasonal weather patterns that brought floods, biosecurity incursions, volatile market conditions impacted by inflation, and labour shortages.

The horticulture industry in South Australia represents over 4,000 businesses and employs an impressive 13,000 full-time equivalents and 24,000 seasonal workers during peak production times. It is an industry that is growing and certainly has a bright future ahead.

Prior to the state election, the Malinauskas Labor team made a commitment to AUSVEG South Australia to rebrand their annual awards night and become a key sponsor for the event. Last night was the inaugural Premier's horticultural awards, and it is safe to say that the event was an overwhelming success, with a capacity attendance of around 300 people. One could say that we have laid a 'salad foundation' for the future—but one would not say that.

The event was well attended by all political persuasions, and I had the pleasure of seeing the Hon. Reggie Martin, the Hon. Frank Pangallo, and the Leader of the Opposition in this place. They all joined me, with many others from the other house, including the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition.

Of course, the night was held to honour and celebrate excellence within the industry, and it is appropriate to acknowledge the winners of the 2023 Premier's awards again here for the various categories. Trevor Ranford from Summerfruit Australia took out the Excellence in Biosecurity Award. Liteisha Lochert from Solan won the Woman in Agriculture Award, and I commented last night on the strong number of nominees in that particular award category, which was very good to see. Ben Hill-Ling from AgXtra won the Researcher of the Year Award, Peter Petsios from SA Tomato Co. nursery won the Industry Impact Award, and Mark Russo from Adelaide Hydro Fresh won the Young Grower of the Year Award.

Shane Eldridge from Eldridge Fresh Organics took out the prestigious Grower of the Year Award. The Grower of the Year Award recognises outstanding achievements across all aspects of horticultural production. Shane is a nationally respected organic grower who has grown his business from a small farm of only six greenhouses to over 500 acres of production spanning four farms.

I understand Shane will now be the SA-endorsed nominee at the national Horticultural Awards for Excellence, which will be decided and announced at the Hort Connections 2023 conference, which will be in Adelaide next month. It is great to have that conference here. I wish Shane all the best in these awards, and I have no doubt that he will represent our state with great distinction.

I want to take this opportunity to also congratulate all award nominees across the six different categories. It was wonderful to see a large number of individuals nominated in their respective fields for the outstanding contributions that they make to the horticulture industry. Thank you also to Jordan Brooke-Barnett and his team at AUSVEG for the work they put into organising the event. An event of this stature does not simply happen without a high level of planning and collaboration, and I congratulate them on another successful awards night. I look forward to continuing to be able to assist the horticulture industry and working closely with them.