Growing global: Horticulture exports
CASE STUDY: Outback Plants
When Mark Lunghusen began his horticulture career he thought he would be involved in Australia’s standard nursery production industry. Instead Lunghusen, managing director of Outback Plants and World Select Plants based at Cranbourne in Victoria, has become a significant player in the international scene.
For two decades his plant breeding companies, which breed new garden and ornamental plants, have steadily increased their export operations. They derive 99 percent of their income from export earnings and export to about 25 countries including much of Europe, as well as Brazil, Canada, Japan, Korea, South Africa and the USA.
“We take out plant breeding rights on [the plants] around the world,” Lunghusen says.
“We actually export the intellectual property; we’re not physically exporting the plants.”
His dealings are predominantly with large propagation companies, who buy the rights to breed his stock. “We would license to a propagation company, for example in Europe, and they basically start the plant from a cutting.”
As with any export business, growing the export market has not been without its challenges. It is a competitive industry and Lunghusen’s business, which has a handful of staff, is a small player compared to the big international corporations overseas.
He says vigilance is essential as there is always someone looking to reproduce what you are doing. It is necessary to be seen to enforce Plant Breeders Rights overseas and to know the competition. Understanding the market and how it varies from nation to nation, even within Europe, has helped his business thrive.
His companies have about 800 varieties in trials around the world, of which about 75 are commercial.
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