Can protected cropping save Australia’s salad and fruit bowls from harsh weather?

Key points:

• Protected cropping has experienced significant growth in Australia over the past 10 years
• Two Lockyer Valley farmers say protected cropping mitigated flood damage on their properties
• Experts say farming under protection is inevitable with more extreme and variable weather events

What is protected cropping?

Protected cropping is the production of horticultural crops under or within structures.

It’s more than just greenhouses, according to Paul Gauthier, who is a professor of protected cropping with the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation.

He says there are three different types of protective cropping.

“It can be a high tunnel that protects the crop from the weather, it can be inside a greenhouse, or it can be in a structure where it is fully indoors and the plants never see the sunshine,” he said.