Horticulture Fresh Australia® Pty Ltd

The aim of Horticulture Fresh Australia® (HFA) Pty Ltd is:

“To coordinate the production and marketing of ANFIC managed ‘exceptional’ fruit varieties through committed growers and market agents to consumers and strive to provide the best outcomes and sustainable returns for all participants.”

Horticulture Fresh Australia® (HFA) Pty Ltd was formed to:

• Coordinate growers in what they do best!

• Coordinate marketers in what they do best!

• Coordinate other specialists in what they do best!

Mark Dann - New Horticulture Marketing Coordinator.

(Horticulture Fresh Australia® Pty Ltd trading as PlantNet®)

Mark was born in Glasshouse Mountains on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland in 1967. He attended Primary School at Glasshouse Mountains State School and from there to Caboolture State High School and on to a year at Baldhills Technical College.

Mark comes from a farming background (third generation on the land).
After leaving school in 1985 he started work on his family’s property, the same year the family started to diversify from pineapples into tree crops, firstly avocados and a couple of years later lowchill stonefruit, custard apples & persimmons. Mark worked in the Orchard full time as trees became established. From this beginning he looked after all the orchard & staff management. His prime objective in these early years was the establishment of a new crop for this area (low chill stone fruit).

Low chill stone fruit was just being planted commercially with all varieties coming from the University of Florida. These were large uncontrolled plantings of early varieties. These varieties were a challenge to grow because no one had any experience in low chill stonefruit. Mark developed a nutritional schedule to suit stonefruit in Southeast Queenslands warmer winter climate and he learnt how to manipulate trees to control vigour, fruit quality and fruit timing.

In the late 1990’s non- melting flesh varieties were becoming available for assessment and he could see they were going to decrease the cost of production and reduce fruit softness issues. Mark and Jayne began their first plantings in 2003 and changed their whole farm over during the next 2 years. The non- melting flesh varieties brought with them a whole new set of challenges, predominately changes to nutritional management and fruit marketing.

Mark married his wife Jayne in 1999 and Jayne also worked within the family business until such time of his fathers pending retirement in 2002, so they decided to start their own business away from the original family farm. Their primary crop has been lowchill stonefruit.

Fruit variety evaluation has always been a big part of Mark’s horticultural experience over past 15 years, where at one stage he was assessing 45 varieties at any one time.

Nutritional work, Canopy Management and Growth Control have been a major focus in Mark’s farming life.

In more recent years, Mark has been more proactive in Growers Clubs and Select Marketing setups.

Mark has been fortunate enough to work with people in Industry like Plant Breeders, Nurserymen, ANFIC, Industry leaders, Grower clubs, Marketing Groups and also many people in the Qld Department of Primary Industries.

Mark will also be extending his role with fruit growers to include the management and promotion of PlantNet products to home gardeners.

Mark will be based in Queensland and can be contacted on

Office: (07) 5493 0049 or Mobile: 0439 165 909