Call for comment on organic export rules
IF THE Federal Government was interested in supporting the country’s organic exporters, the first place to look would be equivalence for certification.
That’s the message from Kialla Pure Foods managing director Quentin Kennedy.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources appointed Deloitte to prepare an independent review of the export orders for organic products, aimed at improving access for Australian organic products into premium markets and increasing competitiveness.
After running the business since 2006, Mr Kennedy found the single biggest hurdle in exporting products to places such as China, Korea and America was having to achieve separate accreditation with the governments of each country.
He said working out how to achieve a single accreditation process would save processors, growers and exporters a significant amount of time and money.
Until recently Kialla Pure Foods had to pay for a representative from China to come to the Greenmount plant for accreditation.
“Not only that but all of our suppliers have to be certified to Chinese, US and Korean standards and what that means is we either had to subsidise for our growers to be certified or they had to wear that cost,” he said.
“So I think equivalency is one of the biggest things the government needs to focus on.”
Consultation on the review is open until February 23 via www.agriculture.gov.au/export /controlled-goods/organic-bio -dynamic/accessing-premium -markets-organic-products