Australia celebrated its first National Agriculture Day yesterday. It is a day to celebrate the contribution that local farmers have made to society and the economy. But how did farmers help society and economy?
The National Farmers Federation (NFF) released a paper called “Food, Fibre & Forestry Facts: A Summary of Australia’s Agriculture Sector”. In this paper, they released that last year, Australian farms surpassed $60 billion in farm gate income. This total could to rise to $100 billion by 2030.
Currently, there are 85,681 agricultural businesses in Australia with New South Wales having the majority of the farms. The paper had a focus on the dried fruit sector. Total Australian dried fruit exports in 2015–16 totalled 5,000 tonnes and was valued at $19.4 million.
Dried Fruit and Food Waste
Not only does dried fruit help the Australian economy but it also helps with food waste. For quality control, fruit and vegetables are frequently rejected because they do not meet the specifications by retailers and are cast aside. For example, bananas and mangoes that are too small, but otherwise perfectly okay, or cucumbers that are not a uniform shape.
What else can we reflect on National Agriculture Day? How are other ways we can reduce food waste?
If you would like more information on this topic or get the source URL for this article, then email us at [email protected]
