The Australian Pome Fruit Improvement Program Ltd (APFIP*) was established in February 1997 by the Australian Apple and Pear Growers Association Inc (AAPGA) for the benefit of the Australian pome fruit (apple and pear) industry. In late 2002 AAPGA became Apple & Pear Australia Limited (APAL).
APFIP is a not-for-profit company with a board of directors who work in the pome fruit or nursery industries. A levy is paid by apple growers to fund APFIP's activities this administered by Horticulture Australia Limited an industry owned company; it provides the matching funding to the grower levy for APFIP’s ongoing operations.
Over the past 10 or more years APAL has developed considerable expertise and knowledge in the area of product management specifically through its global Pink Lady® business. Also during this time APFIP has developed complementary skills in variety evaluation, certification, quarantine and intellectual property protection through plant breeder’s rights and plant patents. To get the best out of this resource and knowledge for the industry the Board’s of APFIP and APAL initiated discussions in 2007. These discussions culminated in the completion of an agency agreement between APFIP and APAL on the 31st of July 2008. This agreement details the management of APFIP in the period up to the end of the current APFIP R&D project with HAL that will end in May 2010. All of APFIP’s operations and services are being delivered as per usual. The most significant change during this process was that Garry Langford moved from General Manger of APFIP to Manager of Major Projects with APAL’s new IP division ‘Coregeo’ whilst retaining responsibility for the overall management of APFIP.
This process resulted in changes to the members and numbers on the APFIP Board along with the creation of a Technical Advisory Committee. There are now three [3] Directors on the APFIP Board these are Phil Turnbull (Chair), Darral Ashton and Jos Driessen. The Technical Committee is made up of Michael Stafford (Chair), Ian Bolitho, Andrew Hall, Robert Green and Kym Green. The Board is responsible for the governance of APFIP including finance, policy and regulatory reporting. The Technical Committee has responsibility for providing recommendations to the Board regarding operational issues.
To assist APFIP's establishment, the Horticultural Research and Development Corporation (HRDC a government statutory organisation with the aim of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Australian horticulture), APFIP works cooperatively with all pome fruit industry sectors in Australia and has the following objectives;
- To facilitate an efficient entry in Australia of pome fruit propagation material with characteristics that will benefit the commercial potential for pome fruit production in Australia;
- To develop and promote independent evaluation of pome fruit propagation material for the pome fruit industry in Australia;
- To develop and promote standards for pome fruit material that will assist the international competitiveness of the Australian pome fruit industry.
*APFIP is a registered trademark of the Australian Pome Fruit Improvement Program Ltd. |
