In May 27, Natural Resource Management (NRM) Summit industry leaders declared their support for the direction of the Horticulture for Tomorrow program and called for an NRM coordinator for each state to assist with on farm changes to improve environmental outcomes at catchment level.

Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) is working to deliver the resources needed.

According to Associate Professor Jack Sinden, chairman of the Industry Leadership Group for Horticulture for Tomorrow, there is a need for industry at the national level to understand the current situation, its implications, and to act immediately to provide future direction for industry in this area.

"Although a great deal of good practice is already taking place, there is still room for improvement, particularly if Australian horticulture wants to stay ahead of the game," said Associate Professor Sinden.

"Australian horticulture is worth more than $8 billion/year and is the fastest growing agricultural industry in Australia," he said. "Horticulture touches everything you eat, everything you grow in your garden and even the pitch that your favourite sporting team runs onto on the weekend.

"To ensure that horticulture is sustainable and still here for future generations, we need to make sure that horticulture is employing the best environmental practices," he said.

Discussion at the NRM Summit identified the following areas for industry development:

• Introduction of a 'recognition framework' to report the industry's environmental credentials. The framework must be third party auditable, meet legislation and be relevant across the entire supply chain.

• Investment in science that will expand understanding of the impact of climate change on production, shelf-life and food safety.

• Development of strong NRM partnerships between industry, governments and regional NRM bodies.

Professor Sinden said:"Simply put, it is going to cost growers money to employ best practice, but the industry and consumers need to understand the price of change compared to the cost of not doing anything."