40 years of supporting Australian growers: Agrichem marks four decades of partnership and practical solutions

Reaching a 40-year milestone is a significant achievement in Australian horticulture. Over the past four decades, the avocado industry has evolved rapidly, expanding production, adopting new technologies, and navigating changing pest, disease, and market pressures.
Along the way, industry partners working behind the scenes have played an important role in supporting growers with practical solutions and trusted relationships. Agrichem’s 40th anniversary offers a timely opportunity to reflect on that shared journey.

Local manufacturing and field-grounded expertise

A central pillar of the Agrichem story is its manufacturing facility in Yatala, south-east Queensland. Local production of its product range – from Agri-fos® 600 to a broad range of specialty liquid fertilisers and spray adjuvants/buffering agents – has allowed the Agrichem team a close oversight of quality and consistency. It has also ensured its solutions are tailored specifically to Australian conditions. In an agricultural environment where supply certainty is a major priority for commercial production systems, local manufacturing gives growers essential reliability.

The technology inside the bottle is only half the story. The company’s longevity is deeply rooted in its team, from technical field representatives to production and logistics staff who work alongside growers season after season. They serve as a critical bridge between commercial orchards and product development, and they also bring real-world feedback back to the manufacturing plant to ensure solutions remain grounded in practical realities rather than theory alone.

The evolution of Agri-fos

Agrichem was one of the early pioneers, both in Australia and globally, in developing potassium phosphite technology. Today, Agri-fos® 600 is a preferred choice for avocado growers to control phytophthora root rot. The technology’s development maps Agrichem’s steady commitment to improving efficacy, user safety and cost efficiency

By keeping the formulation anchored purely around a high-quality potassium phosphite base, the solution enabled high standards of crop protection and safety to be maintained.

While disease protection is critical, Agrichem’s long-term collaboration with the Australian avocado industry highlights a broader commitment to supporting growers and the industry. Over the past 40 years, the product range has expanded into a broader crop nutrition program, designed around the physiological needs of the avocado tree.

Q&A with Agrichem’s Chief Technical Officer, Erin Conza

Over the past four decades, what has been the most significant shift in how Australian avocado growers manage their crop nutrition and health?
EC: The biggest shift has been the move away from reactive farming towards highly precise, integrated management systems. 40 years ago, inputs were often applied on a broad calendar schedule or only when visual deficiencies appeared. Today, growers operate on tight margins and face high-quality expectations from supermarkets. Everything is data driven. Orchard management now focuses on matching nutritional inputs to the specific growth stages of the tree, ensuring that every dollar spent directly influences fruit size, pack-out quality and post-harvest shelf life.

With 40 years of manufacturing experience under its belt, what is the company’s proudest achievement in the avocado industry?
EC: Our proudest achievement is the collective trust we’ve built with Australian growers and researchers. Being one of the pioneers in phosphite chemistry allowed the business to help support growers from heavy phytophthora pressure decades ago. Bringing products like Agri-fos® 600 to market and working to secure critical labels, such as the higher foliar rate, showed growers that the business is genuinely invested in solving operational bottlenecks, such as labour costs and application efficacy.

Agriculture is an industry defined by constant change. What has managed to stay the same at Agrichem since 1986?
EC: The core philosophy has not changed at all: relationships still matter most. No matter how advanced manufacturing technology becomes at our Yatala facility, the best ideas still come directly from turning up and listening to growers during orchard conversations. Staying grounded in the practical, daily realities of commercial farming is what kept the business steady for the last 40 years, and it is what will drive the innovations for the next forty.

This article appears as part of the Winter 2026 issue of Talking Avocados, our quarterly magazine.