A QUEST to reduce waste on her family's Manjimup orchard got Thea Walker thinking about product development using avocados.
For many years she has seen perfect, ripe, fresh avocados left to rot under the trees of the family's Pemberton orchard due to an over-abundance of supply, them not meeting consumer preferences or rejection for being below market standards - among other factors.
The 21-year-old was looking through recipe books when she struck on the idea of an avocado-based ice cream that would be dairy-free and appeal to today's health conscious consumers and those with allergies.
She said blemished, misshaped or over supplied avocados would be the base product and then other fruits and vegetables could be added as the flavouring.
This would further reduce waste by using produce from her family's truffle and passionfruit enterprises and from other local growers.
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OzHarvest estimates one third of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted, including almost half of all fruit and vegetables.
This equates to about 1.3 billion tonnes of food and costs the global economy almost $940 billion a year.
OzHarvest said up to 10 per cent of global greenhouse gasses came from food that was produced but not eaten.
It said this was worse than the total emissions from flying (1.9pc), plastic production (3.8pc) and oil extraction (3.8pc).
And food rotting in landfill releases methane that is 28 times stronger than carbon dioxide.
OzHarvest said eliminating global food waste would save 4.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year - or the equivalent of taking one in four cars off the road.
These statistics have been playing on Ms Walker's mind and she hopes to take her concept of avocado ice cream through the development phase and into a commercial product.
"I am passionate about reducing food waste and have been experimenting with the avocado ice cream for several years just using a small ice cream maker at home," Ms Walker said.
To help progress her idea to commercialisation, she recently received an AgriFutures Rural Women's Acceleration Grant - she was the only Western Australian recipient.
This grant is designed to foster growth and development in women involved in Australia's rural and emerging industries, businesses and communities.
Ms Walker said she would use it to expand her business knowledge, marketing and networking skills.
"Eventually I want to create a product that encourages collaboration with other farmers, provides an opportunity to reduce food waste at the farmgate level and educates consumers about the agricultural industry and where their food comes from," she said.
Ms Walker grew up on the Manjimup orchard owned by her parents Jim and Steff.
Originally it produced apples, before the family diversified into avocados, passionfruit and truffles.
Ms Walker has now returned from university, where she studied a Bachelor of Agribusiness degree at Curtin University and said she loved being out in the field.
She is helping to manage the 4000 avocado trees, one hectare of passionfruit and two trufferies on the family property.
From the truffle areas she has been experimenting with left-over hazelnuts in her avocado ice cream and she is also trialling the addition of passionfruit.
"I intend on collaborating with other growers too and using produce that doesn't have a market and would otherwise go to waste," she said.
"It would be marketed as plant-based, sustainable ice cream.
"And I would be able to set it up at home."
Ms Walker said there were many orchards in the district that could supply her with in-season produce to add to her ice cream base and it would give them a value-added alternative market and avoid wasting the inputs to their crops.
"It is exciting," she said.
"There is a lot going on in Manjimup and I could have many flavour variations - from local macadamias to honey to strawberries."
Next summer will be a big test for a potential business when there is an abundance of avocados to further experiment with.
"At this stage I am aiming to supply the local and domestic markets," Ms Walker said.
"I think I would start off at farmers' markets and grow slowly from there."
