Australian Ecoganic bananas are in significant demand in niche Asian markets. Pacific Coast Eco Bananas, a cooperative of five growers in north Queensland, has been exporting ecoganic and organic ‘Cavendish’ bananas to Asian markets by airfreight since 2009. An estimated 10% of their consignments are downgraded because the fruit arrives with chilling injury and other quality issues, representing $1.75 million in lost revenue. Ecoganic is a certified sustainable production system that provides its own ecosystem services to reduce or eliminate the use of products that have a negative impact on the farm and off-farm ecosystems. Economic losses due to lack of supply chain knowledge and system development significantly undermine the environmental achievements made in the production system as well as the significant waste of inputs and energy that have gone into growing and transporting the fruit to market.
There is currently no monitoring of export shipment temperatures which limits the capacity of the Pacific Coast Produce chains to identify opportunities to improve handling practice and fruit quality.
Less fruit arriving in export markets with compromised quality will help enhance the reputation of the Pacific Coast Produce chains to deliver consistently high-quality fruit. An increase in customer satisfaction, a decrease in the cost of exports through improved cold chain management, and enhanced fruit arrival quality will support export growth of up to $2 million over the next ten years for Australian ecoganic and organic bananas.
This project will reduce fruit waste from 10% to 2%, saving an estimated $1.4 million in annual losses, and support a shift from unrefrigerated airfreight to higher volume, controlled temperature sea freight.
The project has three elements:
As this project progresses and achieves its milestones, we will share the good news on this page by adding information, links, images, interviews and more.
March 2020 – February 2024
Dr Andrew Macnish, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries