20 May 2019
Last week the Hub travelled to Darwin to talk with representatives of the Australian mango industry about climate change. Working closely with the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Resources (NT DPIR), and with the support of the Australian Mango Industry Association (AMIA) and NT Farmers Association, the Hub delivered a workshop – Making cents of climate change – ahead of the national industry conference being held in Darwin.
The aim of the workshop was to inform the industry about climate changes that could impact mango production in northern Australia and show how climate change information could be used to make enterprise and industry-level decisions that impact the bottom line.
Presentations from NT DPIR and AMIA provided talked about why it made sense – and cents – for the industry to understand climate change and think about how it would respond to impacts. Robert Grey, CEO of the AMIA, noted the importance of ‘getting [climate change] embedded into industry strategy’.
The workshop then turned to NT climate, with Hub presentations providing an overview of the major climate influences on northern Australia’s climate and projections for the future.
The Hub is working closely with NT DPIR to assess the impact of climate change on induction of mango flowering. This work is due to be presented in April 2020. In the meantime, the Hub will continue to provide the NT DPIR, Australian Mango Industry Association and NT Farmers Association with information to help the industry to better understand climate change and use climate change information to plan for profitable production into the future.
ABC rural reporter Matt Brann spoke to Hub leader David Karoly and DPIR case study researcher Cameron McConchie for NT Country Hour after the workshop. You can hear the interview here (starts around 16 minutes into the program) and read Matt’s article here.