Supporting the growth and sustainability of Australia's protected horticulture
Our Purpose
Protected horticulture or cropping (PC) contributed approximately $2 billion to Australia’s $16 billion annual horticultural industry in 2021-2022.
Protected cropping involves the production under shelter of valuable horticultural crops such as leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum and berries.
Protected cropping enables producers to optimise growth conditions, to monitor, control or avoid environmental stresses such as drought and flooding, and to control diseases where the use of pesticides is undesirable, impractical or risks ruining the industry’s clean reputation.
The central aim of our Training Centre is to underpin the inevitable expansion of the protected cropping sector in the face of changing and more erratic climatic conditions, as well as the increasing global and urban population.
It will provide high level training of growers and both current and future industry leaders, and simultaneously integrate emerging technologies to increase crop yields and quality.
Our Vision
To enable long-term expansion and resilience of the Australian horticulture industry, particularly the protected cropping (PC) sector.
Our Mission
To build new capabilities for horticulture and food security by training the next generation of horticulture researchers, professionals and industry leaders to increase the automation, efficiency and environmental sustainability of protected cropping.
The Centre will empower the PC industry to respond to four key challenges: narrow variety base, shortage of skilled labour, establishment and energy costs, and slow technology adoption.
It will do this across four complementary, integrated and cross-disciplinary research training programs. Each program has multiple projects to address a particular industry challenge.
Our Centre is an international collaboration of universities, Australian horticulture industry leaders and key stakeholders.
Western Sydney University (WSU) is leading this Training Centre in collaboration with the Australian National University (ANU), University of Western Australia (UWA) and 8 industry, government, and academic partners.
