A SURGE in global demand for Australian bush foods poses a challenge to a fledgling industry, estimated to be worth $10-$16 million.
The Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre says demand for foods from Australian deserts, such as wattle seed and bush tomatoes is currently outstripping supply. The bush tomato at present contributes to over half the industry's value.
CRC Bush Products program leader Jenny Cleary said if supply cannot meet demand there will not be the investment into the industry required to help it grow.
"This is an industry founded primarily on traditional Aboriginal knowledge about the collection, preparation and uses of desert plants and other foods – but so far there are not many Aboriginal commercial ventures operating successfully in the area," Ms Cleary said.
"Our research aims to find out how to help them to participate."
But the CRC said the bush foods industry needs to overcome a number of challenges to achieve its potential including its fragmentation, the small scale of many producers, a lack of capital and the fact that produce came from a highly variable wild harvest.
"Another issue is that desert foods are still regarded officially as 'novel foods'– reflecting consumers' lack of familiarity with them," the CRC said.
However, Ms Cleary said this was changing fast.
"Bush foods are rapidly moving from 'niche iconic' to simply 'iconic' foods that people associate with health, naturalness and sustainability," she said.
"The fact that they have secure and stable lines on the shelves of two leading supermarket chains shows how they are entering the mainstream of food."
Bush foods also make increasing sense in a world in which deserts are growing larger under climate change, and water, crop land and nutrients becoming increasingly scarce, Ms Cleary said.
She said the emerging bush foods industry is likely to gradually develop two supply streams – commercial horticultural harvesting of bush produce on a regular basis in areas where water supplies are reliable, and the low volume wild harvesting of high-value produce sought by very discerning consumers.
http://www.desertknowledgecrc.com.au/research/bushproducts.html
