A recent CQ University project found that three popular, high-value spices could be cultivated commercially in Australia’s tropical regions, enabling farmers and processors across Northern Australia to capitalise on booming local and global demand.
According to a recent article from ABC Rural, just three per cent of Australia’s annual $494 million in domestic consumption of spices are produced locally; the rest are imported from Asia and Africa. Local product would mean more reliable supply to grocery outlets, more cheaply.
“We haven’t been growing this on a broad scale but we now have seeds available and we’re working on the agronomy for these high-value, short season crops that can work in rotation cropping,” CDU researcher Dr Tieneke Trotter told ABC Rural.
Source: Condiments, oils and cremation fuel on the table as Australia’s spice industry gathers momentum I ABC Rural