Leading ag universities team up to offer 'horticultural masterclass' in Australia - FreshFruitPortal.com

Leading ag universities team up to offer 'horticultural masterclass' in Australia

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Leading ag universities team up to offer 'horticultural masterclass' in Australia

Three of the world’s leading agriculture universities have combined their expertise to offer a specialist masterclass aimed at enhancing capacity within Australia’s horticulture industry.

Attendees of the signing ceremony in Australia

Attendees of the signing ceremony in Australia

The Masterclass in Horticulture Business will provide access to research from the Wageningen University in the Netherlands, New Zealand’s specialist land-based Lincoln University, and the University of Tasmania.

The partnership was formalized yesterday with the signing of a Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between the three universities and funding partner Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA).

Head of the School of Land and Food at the University of Tasmania, Professor Holger Meinke, said the masterclass offered tremendous benefits for the horticulture industry and had potential to become internationally renowned.

"Future growth and prosperity of horticulture depends on a resilient, adaptable and innovative workforce that is equipped to change with industry demands," he said.

"The Masterclass aims to help industry take their businesses to the next level by providing access to the best research and understanding global trends in agriculture and horticulture, international business, innovation, value chains, governance and risk."

This sentiment was echoed by Lincoln University’s professor Hugh Bigsby, who said the partnership with Wageningen Academy was 'a boost'.

"The MoU is the beginning of a partnership that will reap tremendous benefits for our university. This will further strengthen our already strong partnership with the University of Tasmania," he said.

Best described as a mini-MBA, according to a release, the 10-month Masterclass is available to 30 growers and people working in the supply chain looking to take their businesses to the next level. Enrolments will open this year ahead of its introduction in early 2017.

The MoU ceremony took place in the presence of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands at Cockatoo Island, off the coast of Sydney.

Meanwhile, HIA chief executive John Lloyd said the day was a 'significant step forward' for Australian horticulture as it opened up future avenues for collaboration that would benefit the nation’s growers.

“Today’s signing of two historic Memoranda of Understanding with key Netherlands stakeholders is the result of a lot of hard work and effort by industry, and key educational institutions,” he said.

“Increasingly, Australian horticulture is attracting the eye of major industry players around the world, which is in no small part due to our reputation for delivering quality, clean produce, and our drive to continuously develop and innovate.”

Peak vegetable industry body AUSVEG also signed a separate MoU with prominent Dutch seed company Rijk Zwaan at the ceremony, which will see the Australian vegetable industry working more closely with one of the world’s leading producers of vegetable seed.

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

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