Handbook of Vanilla Science and Technology

Vanilla has a somewhat checkered association with Australia. Attempts to establish viable vanilla cultivation have occurred periodically over the past 130 years, yet commercial success has remained elusive. Today, a focus on premium quality and vertical integration from farm to market is providing hope that a niche industry may be successfully established.

5.2 HISTORY

It is hard to say when vanilla was first introduced to Australia. It is recorded as “growing in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens and at Bowen Park in 1866” and was distributed to northern localities in 1866,1872,1874, and 1885 (Bailey 1910). The origin of these first introductions was not recorded.

These first introductions seemed to have little results. It was not until 1901, when Howard Newport imported a crate of cuttings from Fiji, that any serious attempt to establish the commercial cultivation of vanilla was made (Newport 1916). It seemed that Northern Queensland was ideally suited to vanilla. At that time the demonstration and research plots at Kamerunga State Park, Cairns, clearly verified “that North Queensland possesses conditions that not only are eminently suitable, but in which this orchid will, and does, when properly treated, thrive and grow in a manner found in but few other parts of the world” (Newport 1916). In this connection, Ridley (1912) also pointed out that Queensland evidently has special advantages in the nature of its scrub lands for vanilla:

In the ordinary tropical forest the trees are of all sizes and so irregular in growth that it would be very troublesome to clear the undergrowth so that the trees could be connected by trellises or poles in a convenient way. So readily adapted woodland as the Australian bush appears is rarely found” (Ridley 1912).

Sadly even Howard Newport’s attempts to encourage commercial cultivation seemingly amounted to little and vanilla as a commercial crop in Australia fell into obscurity once again.

For many years it remained forgotten until Northern Territory Government/Department of Primary Industry officers in the 1980s decided to informally conduct some field trials with vanilla. Unfortunately no records are available of the work on these trials, which were carried out at the Government’s Coastal Plains Research Station. Again, although the anecdotal evidence suggested vanilla could be successfully grown and had considerable commercial merit, no real progress towards establishing a commercial industry was made. The failure of vanilla to capture the imagination of local farmers and horticulturists may be explained by the prevailing attitude of most Australian farmers and growers to vanilla, that it is a crop with a high labor requirement, requiring low cost labor, making it only suitable for the third world. This attitude is still widely prevalent today.

Little happened for another 20 years until around 2003, when vanilla again was explored as a niche crop with research taking place in Darwin (Northern Territory) and Cairns (far north Queensland). All of these new developments were focused on the production of premium products in a vertically integrated operation - growing, curing, packaging, and branding for retail/end user as an essential pre-requisite to capture the full product value in northern Australia. Capturing the full value of premium products is necessary to make vanilla cultivation and processing a viable, attractive, and sustainable industry in Australia. At least two small family operations and a larger commercial plantation currently exist around Cairns in far north Queensland. These plantations presently produce very limited quantities, marketed directly to local end users. The larger commercial operation is also an importer and distributor of quality vanilla beans from around the world and a wholesale nursery supplying Vanilla planifolia plant stock to the horticultural industry, nursery trade, and the public. No doubt there are others exploring the potential of vanilla in both Queensland and the Top End of the Northern Territory. In Darwin, work continues on the research, development, and refinement of a vanilla plantation system for the production and processing of premium vanilla beans, suited to Darwin’s tropical climate.

5.3 SPECIES

The species grown exclusively in the emerging commercial vanilla industry in Australia is V. planifolia, although some V. tahitensis was also grown in trials at the Northern Territory Coastal Plains Research Station. Both species are grown by hobbyists and orchid and tropical plant enthusiasts throughout northern Australia.

5.4 CLIMATIC REGIONS OF AUSTRALIA SUITABLE FOR VANILLA

Vanilla is only commercially grown 20 degrees north or south of the equator within the hot humid tropics. Much of Australia south of 20 degrees is arid or semi-arid savannah, making it unsuitable for the cultivation of vanilla.