American Dream: Should we start taking the Western powerhouses approach to vegetable growth?

Although some of us wouldn’t like to admit it, Australia and America have striking similarities as countries.

We are both powerhouses in our own rights, predominantly English-speaking, look after huge land masses, work under a democracy and our most popular vegetable is potato (go figure).

But something that occurred to me only last week, while I was attending the International Fresh Produce Association’s conference in Orlando, was just how similar we are when it comes to food producing but how we must learn from each other as a result.

Australia has six different climate zones across the huge continent we cover. From bone-dry heat to snowy and sleety areas – the amount and diversity of produce we can and do grow is incredible.

An article published on Lonely Planet a few years ago showed an analogue map of Australia sliced up into zones and listed with the comparative city elsewhere in the world with the most similar climate. The map showed overwhelmingly the stark similarities between our climates and both North and South America – with parts of California and the Northern American desert Sonora being two major contributors.

Obviously the food we grow in these areas are also virtually the same – here in Victoria and over in Western California, our climate match means we grow an abundance of cauliflower, broccoli and carrots while Texas and Queensland are top harvesters of summer vegetables, such as cucumber.

I’m no meteorologist but it could also be safe to guess from various climate modelling and extreme weather events that climate change will affect our two countries in similar ways. We’ve seen the devastating impacts of both floods, drought and bushfires ravage each of us at different times.

The Indian Ocean Dipole, which has been subject to close studies off the back of weather events seen on our shores recently, has been linked to creating a bit of a see-saw effect for Australia and some of our American counterparts.

Keeping all this in mind, there has never been a more important time for collaboration and learning between American and Australian horticulture business owners.

To put it lightly, America’s vegetable production line is a well-oiled machine. Compared to us here in Australia, the country feeds 12 times more people so having a sophisticated system is critical.

One observation from an Australian Soybean Cohort visiting the USA found they produced 124 million tonnes of soybeans in 2018, compared to Australia's annual average of 60,000 to 100,000 tonnes.

They compared the American crop mass to planting soybeans and corn from Darwin all the way to Adelaide and across the East Coast, all with decent rainfall and yields.

From sophisticated crop rotation, exponential planting mass, strip tilling, fertilizers and strong water diversion – keeping ahead of the game is key in America. Continuous innovation with technology for things such as harvest are also something America strives at and where Australia must keep an ear to the pulse of the country to keep up.

Australia’s population grew one per cent in the last year, which equates to around 250,000 people, and over time our food production will need innovation similar to America.

We have the landmass and the smarts in working in a range of areas that we may not have typically been able to plant in centuries prior, but now is the time to take a closer look at these whilst getting advice from our American counterparts that have faced this before.

As the owner of a horticulture business, I am eager to collaborate more with American producers to teach them our style and ways we can integrate and work together.

As a team, we also need to be more mindful of the ‘plant first and sell later’ mindset in the current economic climate as we both have tendencies to flip the supply model then worry about the deflation impact on prices at time of selling.

We face many of the same issues and as I will explore further in my next piece, American producers are very keen to take a slice of some of our own innovation right here in Australia, especially when it comes to nutritional education and ongoing workforce woes.

Although I still wholeheartedly believe Australia is the best place in the world – it never hurts to take a bit of learning from a bigger cousin across the ocean!