The Australian Green Tea Growers Association is launching its long awaited Australian Growers Guide for Japanese green tea.

The Australian Green Tea Growers Association have gathered much practical information over the last seven years but until now this has not been compiled and packaged for use by others. Rod Cavill, president of the Association said there have been many people interested in investigating the feasibility of growing Japanese green tea for their property in North East Victoria and in other states of Australia but until now we could only offer them bits and pieces of information.

The Growers Guide provides an outline of the principles of growing Japanese green tea in Australia. It covers subjects such as site selection, tea field establishment and management, canopy management, pests and diseases and harvesting.

The section on economics provides examples of the costs to establish and operate a Japanese green tea enterprise and allows the reader to make an initial assessment as to its financial feasibility. The reader will also be able to discover the types and degree of risks associated with such an enterprise.

The Australian Alpine Valleys Agribusiness Forum accessed the funding for the project and has managed the project through to completion. Funding for the project has come from the Victorian Department of Primary Industry and the Victorian Agribusiness Network. The Alpine Shire and the Rural City of Wangaratta are also supporting the project through their Economic Development programs.

The Japanese green tea industry in North East Victoria began with the first commercial planting in 2001 and is in its second year of harvesting this year. At present harvested tea leaf is processed locally for export to Japan for final processing.

Green tea is made into many different products including hot and cold beverages. World consumption of green tea is growing, particularly in Western countries traditionally aligned to black tea and coffee consumption. There is increasing interest among health authorities in the benefits of green tea.

The Growers Guide will be available to people interested in knowing more about Japanese green tea production in Australia and its suitability to their situation. The Growers Guide will be launched at a forum to be held on the 31^st May 2006 at the Milawa Cheese Factory (Milawa) 10.30 – 1pm.

Further enquiries about this forum should be directed to Lachlan Campbell, Australian Alpine Valley Agribusiness Forum (03) 5721 6088, (0419) 243 225