Guy Barnett,Minister for Primary Industries and Water
The Tasmanian Liberal Government believes the crop and seed production industry represents strong potential for growth as part of the state’s Sustainable Agri-Food Plan.
To help realise this potential, the Government is providing $40,000 to develop the Tasmanian Crop and Pasture Seed Industry Plan 2020‑23 which will set out priority areas for development, including profitable production, seed quality and purity, and better industry communication.
The Tasmanian seed production industry has grown four-fold during the past 10 years and now has an estimated farm gate value of $37 million, and the area under production has grown by about 80 per cent.
The plan has been jointly developed by the Tasmanian Seed Industry Group, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture and the Tasmanian Government, and through the Strategic Industry Partnership Program will help fund a project officer to implement the new plan.
The seed industry has gone through a period of rapid expansion enabled by the developments in the state’s irrigation capacity which has provided seed producers with access to reliable water and enabled seed production businesses to invest in their enterprises with greater certainty.
The plan is one of the initiatives listed in Tasmania’s Sustainable Agri-Food Plan 2019-23 which is the Government’s strategy for meeting the Agri-Vision target of a farm gate value of agriculture of $10 billion per year by 2050.
The plan is available online at www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/seed-production
