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Speaker 1: Now we know that the Northern Territory government has awarded

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Speaker 1: KPMG a tender to undertake a business case for an

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Speaker 1: agra business precinct, add Lambell's Lagoon and well we also

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Speaker 1: know that the precinct is pitched to drive growth by

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Speaker 1: the sector, providing land for private agriculture development and to

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Speaker 1: create jobs, particularly for Indigenous territories. It is all part

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Speaker 1: of the government's major water development, the Adelaide River offstream

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Speaker 1: water storage project. I believe it's known as the Arrows Project.

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Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line to tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about the plan is Mt Farmer's Chair

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Speaker 1: Simon Smith. Good morning to you. Simon, Good morning Katie,

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Speaker 1: thanks so much for your time this morning. Now tell

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Speaker 1: us what kind of agriculture project might we see at

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Speaker 1: this site?

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Speaker 2: So I guess we take a step back. First, is

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Speaker 2: that this is only really in the planning stage, and

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Speaker 2: in t Farmers it's pleaded to be involved to see

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Speaker 2: where this does stack up. So it's still a long

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Speaker 2: way off. It's a long way from being shovel ready,

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Speaker 2: as they'd say, probably somewhere around seven to ten years.

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Speaker 2: And if it does go ahead, what we'd expect would

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Speaker 2: be high value horticulture is, I guess the best way

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Speaker 2: to describe it. So, where you've got land and water

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Speaker 2: combined with good security, farmers tend to look for the

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Speaker 2: highest value crops they can grow. And up here we

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Speaker 2: have the advantage of a climate that allows us to

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Speaker 2: grow things like out of season vegetables. People who drive

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Speaker 2: out the Arnum Highway or regularly see the growth a

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Speaker 2: lot of the farmers along there, snake beans, opera, those

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Speaker 2: sorts of things. But in ten years time it'll be

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Speaker 2: markets and economics that will decide what people want to

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Speaker 2: plant out there if they go ahead with the development.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, and that's exactly right. It's got to be viable,

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Speaker 1: doesn't It certainly does.

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Speaker 2: And there's a shortage of good quality water and land

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Speaker 2: combined in the territory, and that's we're hopeful it will

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Speaker 2: stack up. And obviously the governments very hopeful. They're investing

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Speaker 2: heavily in and we commend them for that. We also

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Speaker 2: commend them for that cautious approach of doing a study

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Speaker 2: and understanding and involving us and others in that study

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Speaker 2: to make sure we do when you're spending large amounts

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Speaker 2: of public money, the public rightly wants to know that

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Speaker 2: it's been cautiously spent, so if it does stack up,

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Speaker 2: but we're very optimistic that it will be a great

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Speaker 2: addition to the growth in horticulture and agriculture in the territory.

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Speaker 1: So talk us through how much land could potentially be available.

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Speaker 2: So potentially up to two thousand hectares, which is a

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Speaker 2: significant amount of land. But when you talk about high

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Speaker 2: value or horticulture, you're talking of fairly small farms. In

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Speaker 2: the scheme of things, somewhere between even five to thirty

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Speaker 2: hectares will be viable farming. For instance, now I run

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Speaker 2: a plant nursery and we farm off five hectares, many

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Speaker 2: good quality, sort of vegetable growing farms between ten and

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Speaker 2: twenty hectares. So the ability to generate high income off

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Speaker 2: the small areas, what we'd call sort of highest and

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Speaker 2: best use for both the land and water is very

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Speaker 2: strong in that area, and that's what we'd hope to

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Speaker 2: see with a lot of medium sized farms rather than

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Speaker 2: one or two big farms.

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Speaker 1: And Simon you touched on the fact that you know

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Speaker 1: it's not just about the land, but it's about making

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Speaker 1: sure we've got the water for it as well. So

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Speaker 1: how vital is the arrows project when it comes to

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Speaker 1: growing the EG sector.

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Speaker 2: Well, the only reason this is potentially going to stack

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Speaker 2: up is because of irrigated water as part of that,

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Speaker 2: I guess water security for dah and city and regions

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Speaker 2: around it. So high quality water is incredibly important. And

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Speaker 2: there's some of those areas they're talking about there's no

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Speaker 2: groundwater and there's no potential really for surface capture. So yes,

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Speaker 2: it's without arrows that wouldn't stack up.

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Speaker 1: So can we expect to sort of see different trials

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Speaker 1: beforehand or before you know, before this project if it

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Speaker 1: does get underway several years down the track, you know,

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Speaker 1: will we expect to see trials before then?

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Speaker 2: So I think that the trials are really what the

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Speaker 2: commercial growers do in their day to day business. So there,

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Speaker 2: and it goes back to that market's in economics thing

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Speaker 2: bearm a farm can grow the depi's experimental farm up here.

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Speaker 2: We'll trial all sorts of things, but at the end

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Speaker 2: of the day, if farmers can't make money out of them,

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Speaker 2: they're not going to grow them. So in five or

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Speaker 2: ten years there may be crops we can grow up

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Speaker 2: here that are successful and a viable and they're the

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Speaker 2: crops that farmers will look to. There may be export

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Speaker 2: markets potentially, there may be new opportunities, new crops that

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Speaker 2: farmers will look to. There may be some high value

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Speaker 2: tree crops. Jackfruit's been one that suggested. But all these

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Speaker 2: things will be both a combination of research, but very

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Speaker 2: much a combination of private enterprise money and farmers which

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Speaker 2: really we're all small business people at the end of

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Speaker 2: the day deciding where our best investment lies.

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Speaker 1: Now Simon, on a separate topic, I have seen that

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Speaker 1: mangoes from the territory are going for about ninety dollars

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Speaker 1: a tray. How are things going on the mango front.

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Speaker 2: Look, it's great when the growers get the good money

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Speaker 2: for early fruit. Mango growers deserve every sense they can

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Speaker 2: get at the moment, because unfortunately, it doesn't look like

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Speaker 2: it's going to be a great season. There's been some

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Speaker 2: issues with fruit sets and different flowering times and not

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Speaker 2: much fruit setting, so it's not going to be a

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Speaker 2: strong season. We're hopeful that obviously the high prices continue

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Speaker 2: if there's a shortage of fruit, so people will pay

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Speaker 2: a little bit more for their mangoes. At this time

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Speaker 2: of the year, most of them go down south Darha

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Speaker 2: and people often have the advantage of at the markets

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Speaker 2: or elsewhere keeping the prices down. But overall it looks

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Speaker 2: like both Catherine Madawanka and the dar And regions will

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Speaker 2: all struggle a little bit this year with volume, just

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Speaker 2: because of the vagaries of whether. I guess that seems

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Speaker 2: to be what's causing some of the delay in flowering.

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Speaker 2: And late flowering means we're competing with places like Queensland

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Speaker 2: and that tends to force the price to down again.

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Speaker 1: And that makes it hard, doesn't it. I mean, the

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Speaker 1: weather is obviously not in our control in any way,

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Speaker 1: shape or form, so do it makes it difficult.

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Speaker 2: There in lies the vagaries of farming, Katie. Most farmers

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Speaker 2: we'd budget on a couple of good seasons in every

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Speaker 2: five and a couple of average seasons, and one does.

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Speaker 2: And perhaps this year is that dud. And let's hope

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Speaker 2: that the next few years are stronger. But at least

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Speaker 2: if the prices hold up in those growers who've got

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Speaker 2: through to get a decent return for all their efforts,

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Speaker 2: because really they're relying on this one moment in the

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Speaker 2: years to earn their.

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Speaker 1: Money, Simon, have we got plenty of people to pick

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Speaker 1: the fruit this year and this season.

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Speaker 2: It's certainly better than it was through COVID Katie and

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Speaker 2: with the when we don't have a large crop and

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Speaker 2: it's a little easier for the growers. As far as

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Speaker 2: pressure for pickers, it's going to be a challenge for

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Speaker 2: the territory going forward if we again return to a

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Speaker 2: large crop next year, because there's just there's many challenges

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Speaker 2: around having sufficient staff. But there's a good opportunity for

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Speaker 2: what are called palm scheme workers, so workers that are

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Speaker 2: brought in from overseas. Most of your listeners would know

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Speaker 2: of that, but there's an increasing number of backpackers and

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Speaker 2: travelers around which gives growers the option of a few

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Speaker 2: different options I should say, where to source their labor.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Simon, a quick question from one of our listeners

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Speaker 1: who'd asked, are there any issues in terms of exports

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Speaker 1: with the airport upgrades happening and the work on the

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Speaker 1: runways out there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so we've been working closely with the airport and

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Speaker 2: notifying growers of any potential challenges. At this stage, we're

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Speaker 2: not seeing any immediate problems because it's been well planned

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Speaker 2: and growers are aware of where there's likely to be

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Speaker 2: some nights or times that are challenging, but it appears

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Speaker 2: that the exporters are being able to work around that

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Speaker 2: at this stage, So touchwood that continues on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is good to hear. Well, keep us up

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Speaker 1: to date either way, but Simon, we really appreciate you

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Speaker 1: having your chat with us this morning. Of course, NT

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Speaker 1: Farmer's chair