An Australian garlic grower urged consumers to buy locally grown garlic instead of imported garlic, as most local garlic was eventually discarded, even if they were of better quality.
Six years ago Russell Zach (Russell Zahnow) planted an acre of garlic near Mundubbera in the Bay-Burnett area of Queensland. He has grown 20 acres this year, but said importing cheap garlic was his biggest obstacle and had to consider an export market.
Australian Garlic Producers Group said 95 percent of Australian garlic is imported from China and is often sprayed with banned Australian chemicals.
Imports are often bleached and must be treated to prevent potential bacteria from entering Australia, Zach said.
He said: "Australian garlic does not do these treatments, so the taste will be stronger, and the aroma will be better."
Lydia-Val, president of the Australian garlic Industry Association, said Australia has very strict commercial cleaner production standards, but imports of garlic are not as high.
Most countries that import garlic have different chemical control standards and inspection standards.
"there are many countries around the world that use chemicals, herbicides, fungicides, which are restricted or banned in Australia, so imports have different levels of pollution," she said.
'it 's really sad to see local quality products discarded, 'Mr. Zach said.
"the grower can't sell the product, just throw it away. Believe it or not, a lot of people have left the business."
"the local market is so hard to do, that's why we look at the foreign market and try to develop the Japanese market."
Challenges of garlic Industry in Australia
For growers, a still widespread challenge comes from the collapse of industry in the 1990s, when Chinese garlic poured into Australia at lower prices than local growers.
Val says the industry is hard to recover and growers have to start from scratch.
"at that time, we lost not only experienced growers, but also government support and investment in R & D," she said.
At present, Australia's industry is unable to supply garlic throughout the year and cannot meet the demand of the Australian market, she said.
