The Centre for International Economics has released its Factors Driving Horticulture Productivity report, commissioned by Hort Innovation, speculating that high adoption of productivity enhancing innovation would benefit the Australian industry by about $1 billion annually in additional value added, reaching $22 billion in 2040.
The Australian horticulture sector, currently at $8 billion value added, is at a critical juncture, and productivity increases will be the key to ongoing profitability for more than 12,000 businesses that make up the industry.
The cost-of-production crisis, margin squeeze, labour shortages, and rising compliance burden continues to affect vegetable producers across Australia, with the latest AUSVEG survey showing almost 1 in 3 growers were considering leaving the industry within 12 months, and another third said they’d leave for the right offer.
The Factors Driving Horticulture Productivity report stated: “while short-term profitability can sometimes be achieved by using more resources (labour, capital, materials and the natural environment); enduring competitiveness relies on making more efficient and effective use of available resources to maintain resilience and responsiveness to changes in the external environment.”
The investigation revealed targeted action across four key areas will accelerate productivity growth for the industry:
- building capability in production cost analysis,
- automating data collection,
- harnessing AI-insights, and
- embracing mechanisation and automation at scale.
However, it should be noted that the AUSVEG survey also showed many growers were forced to delay or reduce critical infrastructure investment over the past year due to financial instability.
Hort Innovation CEO, Brett Fifield, said the report spells out opportunities for the organisation and growers to focus on.
“The focus on doing more for less is not just an issue being faced by Australian growers. It is something that all businesses are seeking to prioritise. We have modelled future productivity and enhancements to modern farming systems,” said Fifield.
“From improved data collection, to bringing more automation on farms, there is opportunity for every grower, no matter the size of their business.”
“Many of our R&D projects already in the field have started exploring these themes. But we know there is more work to do. We intend on making more future shaping investments based on grower needs,” he said.
The report is accompanied by an excel spreadsheet tool that growers and stakeholders across the industry can use to help model their own scenarios and adoption rates.
To read the full Factors Driving Horticulture Productivity report head to horticulture.com.au.
