The Board of Horticulture Australia (HAL) has appointed Tasmanian fruit grower Tim Reid as the inaugural independent chair of the new Office of Horticultural Market Access (OHMA) established to improve the opportunities to open new markets for Australia's $8.6 billion horticulture industry.

HAL's Acting CEO Vanessa Goss said that Mr Reid's experience and passion in the area of market access, particularly for Tasmanian cherries into markets such as Japan and USA, and his dedication to the horticulture industry has made him an ideal choice to lead the new office.

"The Office of Horticultural Market Access will be setting a new strategic and operational direction to ensure that, by collective effort, individual industries as well as all of Australian horticulture will benefit from improved market access," Ms Goss said.

Ms Goss acknowledged the support and co operation of government agencies including Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and Biosecurity Australia in contributing to the success of OHMA delivering outcomes for industry.  

Mr Reid will lead a skills-based committee with seven industry members from exporting industries, two members of the Australian Horticultural Exporters Association and one HAL representative.

OHMA builds on the work of the Horticultural Market Access Committee (HMAC) which was responsible for prioritising market access applications for Australian Government negotiations with international governments in target markets.

OHMA will drive the delivery of market access outcomes for industry via three pillars:
- raising the profile of Australian horticulture by developing industry relationships in the target market to stimulate commercial market access drivers
- strongly supporting and contributing to official negotiations; and 
- strongly supporting and guiding science inputs (R&D) into market access.

The OHMA committee and Government representatives from Biosecurity Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry will meet together biannually providing a unique cooperation and communication platform between industry and Government. 

The Office of Horticultural Market Access will be funded from the Across Industry Program and multi-industry projects, using levy funds and matched funding from the Australian Government, demonstrating wide support and recognition that this is a key strategic priority for horticultural industries.

Horticulture is the third largest agricultural industry with exports of $925 million. Australia is a small player in the Southern Hemisphere with considerable growth potential to serve both the Asian markets and as a niche player in European and North American markets. It has been estimated that a further $300 million in export revenue could be generated over a period of time by achieving or improving market access through tariff and non - tariff barriers.