Grants designed to support small exporters in the dairy, fish, eggs, grain and plant products, horticulture, meat and animal product industries
The Australian Government is investing AU$4.95 million in the new round of Package Assisting Small Exporters (PASE) grants to provide novel tools and resources to small agricultural exporters to explore export market opportunities.
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Murray Watt said “the grants were designed to support small exporters in the dairy, fish, eggs, grain and plant products, horticulture, meat and animal product industries to overcome barriers to their participation in the export sector. Government is helping our small and medium sized producers become more competitive and access markets they could not access before”.
The initiative will expand access to premium overseas markets is fundamental to driving profits back through the farmgate and supporting the agriculture industry to reach its goal of $100 billion in farmgate value by 2030. A range of sectors are already benefiting from previous grant rounds, with successful recipients including universities and industry bodies.
As part of the program, six projects are now wrapping up, working on a range of leading-edge initiatives to grow Australia’s small agriculture exporters’ global market share. They include exploring innovative new agricultural marketing channels, including agritourism in farm income, targeted training and resources for small organics and dairy exporters, and melon supply chain monitoring. Grantees have undertaken in-depth market research to support specific commodities supply chain monitoring, and education and outreach to international trading partners.
Projects concluding in 2023 include:
- The University of Adelaide – evaluation of two Innovative agricultural marketing channels (agriculture product gift giving and agritourism).
- Murdoch University – building capacity for small grain and horticulture industry exporters to exploit new grain breeding technologies.
- Dairy Australia Ltd. – developed training, resources and support needed by small to medium exporters (SME) and dairy manufacturers to overcome barriers to exporting in four distinct areas – knowledge, skills, risk, and support.
- Australian Organics Ltd. – to overcome trade barriers, the project shared trading partner knowledge, in-depth market industry research, technical expertise, and other information on ways to export organic products to target markets.
- Australian Melon Association Inc. – the project implemented supply chain monitoring practices in several existing melon export chains and used these as case studies to demonstrate to the broader melon industry the commercial benefits of regular monitoring.
- Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia Inc. – the project delivered activities that communicated the sustainability and welfare credentials of the Australian kangaroo industry in the European Union and United States, which are key markets for the industry.
