ANFA’s first Field Day and Presentation Event was held on Saturday, 10 August, at Green Valley Fingerlimes in Peachester. Not only did the day provide attendees with an excellent opportunity to gain new insights, share experiences, and contribute to the growth and sustainability of the finger lime industry, we were also fortunate enough to share the morning with the highly talented professional chef Matt Golinski. Matt has a passion for creating cuisine with fresh and seasonal local ingredients; and he didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed barbequed Spanish mackerel with a simple yet delicious finger lime dressing. Matt’s passion and enthusiasm for finger limes was obvious in his verbal and his culinary presentations. Not only did Matt take away the grateful thanks of the attendees, he also learned about and tasted the frozen pearl product on show from Fingerlimes Fresh – ‘A game changer for the restaurant industry’.

During the day, attendees heard from an impressive array of speakers.

Joseph Nastasi’s presentation, Latest Research and Developments in Fingerlimes updated everyone on the recent work done on the robustness of fingerlime pearls. Joseph is a Research Scientist and the University of Queensland and an avid supporter of the fingerlime industry in Australia.

Penny Measham from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, spoke about Export Pathway Development, the Australian government processes to build the export market for Australia’s finger limes. While the process is long, it is achievable and sustainable. ANFA is committed to establishing, growing and sustaining the export market for finger limes and Penny is a powerful ally and a font of knowledge for us. Penny is also the Director of Fresh and Secure Trade Alliance (FASTA). FASTA works to join key Australian export stakeholders and authorities together to help protect and grow Australia’s horticultural exports.  ANFA will remain linked in with FASTA.

Joel Johnson from the University of Queensland presented his research work entitled Native Australian citrus: the sweet and the sour. While we all know finger limes vary in size, shape, colour, taste and smell, Joel’s work put science behind those differences and provided useful information on market reaction to the finger lime variations.

Changing up the topics from finger limes, Leonie Kojetin showcased the macadamia nut industry in an excellent presentation Developing and Australian led industry Parallels with the Macadamia Story. Leoni, the Macadamia Industry Development Manager, took us through how the macadamia industry started in Australia all the way to where it is today as a world leader. The parallels with our fingerlime story are many and we can certainly learn much from the macadamia nut story.

The final presenter was Chris Findlater. When Chris is not running the hugely successful Ironbark Software, he is a passionate and long-term grower, producer and developer of finger limes. His presentation on the Commercial Development of Fingerlimes provided advice on a wide variety of ideas, concepts, and opportunities. Chris’ 15+ year finger lime journey is truly inspiring and his enthusiasm for the future of our industry is contagious. Chris has kindly offered to host the next ANFA Field Day at his property.

A big thank you goes out to all of the presenters who gave up their time to help move our industry forward. A very big thank you also goes to the ANFA Chair, Jade who not only did the lion’s share of the organising for the day, she also volunteered to host the event on her beautiful farm, Green Valley Fingerlimes, at Peachester. Even more impressively, Jade battled through the day with ‘the worst flu ever’.

You are all invited to the next ANFA Field Day to be held at Fingerlimes Fresh, in Rosebank in Northern NSW on the 9th  of November. If our first field day is anything to go by, you won’t want to miss it.

Blog by Chip Saint – ANFA Board Member