I had the privilege of being elected to the position of President at the 2009 Annual General Meeting. This was held in conjunction with the Annual Conference on October 31 and November 1 at Lake Hume, near Albury.

I have been involved in the industry for six years having established “Hazelwood”, Yackandandah, in north-east Victoria in 2004. HGA was instrumental in my decision to plant hazelnuts, providing both information and advice that proved invaluable.

My basic philosophy is that as a member of any organisation, one must be prepared make a contribution. I look forward to working with the newly elected committee to realise the association’s ambitions.

In that context, I would like to thank immediate Past President, Stewart Deans, for his very significant contribution to HGA over an extended period of time. I also thank the 2009 HGA Conference Committee, particularly Barry McIntosh, Conference Convenor, for a very successful event that fulfilled the goal of catering for the needs of both established growers together with new and potential people in the industry.

With regard to future directions of both the HGA and the hazelnut industry, I wish to build upon the sound work undertaken to date. I am very mindful of the association’s aims and objectives:–

• To promote the development of hazelnut production in Australia
• To provide a facility for the pooling of resources for activities such as research and education
• To provide a legal entity to facilitate the interaction with government and other organisations
• To provide a forum to meet like-minded growers, exchange ideas and improve their productivity and skills

I intend to revisit the matter of the Strategic Plan for the Australian hazelnut industry. I believe that a document such as Strategic Directions 2010-2015 (or even 2020) is warranted and should be readily available to potential growers, members, industry bodies, such as the Australian Nut Industry Council (ANIC) and Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL), and government agencies and institutions.

The document would contain such things as:-

• our vision for the industry,
• values,
• key goals and strategic initiatives to promote the realisation of the vision.

Actions required to implement the strategy would translate into a revised Activity Plan and possibly a revised Committee Remit both of which could be amended on a shorter term basis.

November 2009 brought welcome rain to the Border region of Victoria and NSW. There is optimism in the air for the 2010 harvest, with nut clusters in good numbers.

Hugh Cameron
Yackandandah, Victoria
December 2009