The Association represents an important milestone for mango growers and demonstrates the industry's growing maturity and its willingness to deal with the big issues on a united front. Indeed, I encourage all industry members to support their respective industry associations, and to see them as the most effective way of developing an agreed industry position, particularly for setting research priorities and funding export-marketing initiatives. And more than half of that amount was for fresh produce. Around 60,000 Australians are employed growing fruit, vegetables and nuts, with a further 10,300 jobs in the processing sector. Pleasingly, the contribution being made by Australia's tropical and subtropical fruit industries continues to grow.
Mangoes are an excellent case in point.
Although it has been affected by adverse weather conditions in recent years, mango production grew from around 1,400 tonnes in 1980 to over 36,000 tonnes in 1997-98. Production for the 1999-2000 season was estimated at around 64,000 tonnes. In March 1997, the Australian Horticultural Corporation estimated there were over 1.3 million mango trees in Australia, more than half of which were less than six years old. Many of those trees are only now coming into full production. I know the weather has not always been kind to mango growers, and in some seasons the returns may not have been as good as expected.