Horticulture Farming in Victoria

Horticulture farming in Victoria review

The Australian horticulture industry is the nation's second largest rural production industry after wheat, with fruit and nuts comprising 52%, vegetables 31% and nursery/ornamental crops 17% of the gross value of production (GVP). Horticulture farming in Victoria is one of the strongest industries within Australia, and the country is considered a producer of high-quality horticulture produce.

Horticulture Farming in Victoria

The major horticulture areas in Victoria are the Goulburn Valley and the Sunraysia.

Goulburn Valley

The Goulburn Valley, known as the "food bowl of Victoria", has very fertile soils consisting of Fine Sandy Loams which dominate the fruit growing areas and are highly suited to irrigated and perennial horticultural crops. Examples of these crops include:

Fruit - Pears, apples, oranges and peaches
Nuts - Walnuts and Pistachios
Wine Grapes - Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Marsanne, Riesling, Shiraz

With regard to water, the Goulburn Valley has an irrigation system that allows growers to order water online from a high quality supply distributed through the automated channel network.

Sunraysia District

The Sunraysia district got its name from a public competition in which locals were asked to come up with a name describing the dried fruits grown in the Mildura area. The name that was chosen was Sun-Raysed, which was later changed to Sunraysia to describe the district.

The Greater Sunraysia district forms part of the Fruit Fly Free Exclusion Zone, a Pest Free Area (PFA) located between north-west Victoria and south-west New South Wales. It is renowned for the production of high value horticultural crops including citrus, table grapes and stone fruit. It supplies 80% of Victoria's grapes. The local area produces more than 70% of Australia's dried vine fruits.