DR. CHRIS SEARLE

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MacAvo’s Dr. Chris Searle is one of Australia's leading avocado and macadamia consultants. He has been providing advice to avocado and macadamia growers, nursery operators, investors, peak industry bodies, government agencies, national and international corporations all over Australia and Asia for two decades. 

Chris has an extensive background in tree crop research and has worked in key roles at Australia’s premier research institutions (including CSIRO, University of Queensland and Department of Agriculture & Fisheries QLD) as well as some of the world’s largest macadamia processing businesses (MPC, Suncoast Gold Macadamias and Stahmann Farms) where he provided practical, on-farm assistance to more than half of Australia’s macadamia growers in all major production regions from Mackay in QLD’s north to the NSW Northern Rivers. 

At MacAvo Consulting, he provides agronomic, economic and general management advice to some of Australia’s largest macadamia and avocado producers and has a special interest in nursery and orchard establishment and optimisation. Chris is passionate about helping growers and investors increase their productivity and profitability using the latest on-farm innovation and technology.

He regularly tours the top-producing macadamia regions of Australia, South Africa and China and has extensive knowledge of Australia’s new and evolving macadamia growing regions including Mackay, Emerald and Rockhampton in QLD. He specialises in advising growers and investors on the conversion of cane to macadamias.

Chris has also led large scale feasibility studies into avocado production in Vietnam and Indonesia and completed due diligence for the purchase of thousands of hectares of macadamias across Australia.

He is based in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia’s largest producer of macadamias and home to the world’s largest macadamia business & processing facility.  Read Chris' in-depth bio below...

• Chris has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science (Hons), and a Masters in Agricultural Studies.
• He has worked in key roles at Australia’s premier research institutions and played an integral part in more than 20 key tree crop industry research projects (for macadamias, avocados, bananas and mangoes) covering research topics like: improving water use efficiency, mineral nutrition, optimising irrigation scheduling, root & soil health, micro grafting, abnormal vertical growth and nursery standards.
• Chris has a continuing interest in science and the application of cutting research to everyday management issues and is actively involved in a number of ongoing projects including the University of Queensland’s ‘Multi-scale Monitoring Tools for Managing Australian Tree Crops’ project. He is lead researcher in the international pest & disease app for macadamias project and in 2019 was appointed as the first Chair of the International Macadamia Research & Development (R&D) Committee.
• Chris is passionate about constructing ‘orchards for the future’, where automation, precision agriculture and ‘real data’ can give growers the edge by improving farm efficiency and maximising profits.

• In 2003, Chris moved out of the lab and into the orchard, where he managed more than 350,000 macadamia trees for Macadamia Farm Management (MFM) in Bundaberg, then the largest group of privately managed orchards in the macadamia industry. He established and managed a 230,000-tree macadamia orchard for MFM.
• Over the next 15 years, he worked in a wide range of business development and agronomic advisory roles in some of the world’s largest macadamia processing companies as well as Maccacorp, then the only managed investment scheme in the macadamia industry. He provided daily agronomic and management advice to growers in every growing region of Australia.
• Chris started MacAvo Consulting in 2017, bringing to the role an unrivalled and in-depth understanding of the global avocado and macadamia industries.
• He has played an integral role in the establishment of the avocado industry in Vietnam and Indonesia.
• Chris also owns/manages his own macadamia, high-density lychee and custard apple farms in Bundaberg, Queensland.

• Chris consults regularly to the macadamia industry’s peak industry body, the Australian Macadamia Society, and is one of 11 representatives appointed by Hort Innovation (the peak research and development corporation for Australia's horticulture industry) to the macadamia industry’s national Strategic Investment Advisory Panel. 
• He was on the national investigative committee researching high performance macadamia orchards and is a Senior Consultant on the International Macadamia Symposium (IMS) Committee for the IMS in Kenya in 2021.  In 2019, he was appointed as the first Chair of the International Macadamia Research & Development (R&D) Committee, a sub-committee of the International Macadamia Symposium Committee. The committee is responsible for driving international R&D collaboration across all macadamia origins.
• In addition, he has held numerous positions on national avocado and macadamia industry committees including research & development and reference groups.

•  Chris regularly shares his incredible wealth of scientific knowledge and practical experience at avocado and macadamia industry workshops, field trips, tours and conferences across the globe, and is a media spokesperson for both industries.
• He has presented to international audiences on a wide cross-section of topics including pest & disease management, new orchard establishment, nursery management & standards, water use and irrigation management.