Adoption of intensive pear production (AP04009)

The Australian macadamia industry has conducted considerable research on the

effects of on-farm practices on macadamia nut in shell (NIS) and kernel quality.

These include studies of nut drying, storage, handling and harvesting and agronomic

practices. The adoption of these findings provides quality benefits for processors,

marketers and consumers, but not necessarily for growers. The adoption of the

practices may involve significant additional investment in on-farm infrastructure and

major changes in production practices. Without sound economic information relating

to the costs and benefits of these changes, growers have found it difficult to justify the

investment of money and time. As a result, the adoption of these research findings has

been limited and extremely slow.

This project aimed to examine the entire production chain but due to

difficulties in accessing processing information, the surveying and examination of the

benefits ended at the farm gate. There were still considerable potential economic

benefits.