Rubus Industry – barriers to best practice across diverse communities (RB23003)

This project is identifying key barriers preventing the adoption of best practices in the raspberry and blackberry industries and recommending next steps to overcome these barriers, ensuring that the industry continues to grow efficiently and sustainably.   

Challenge   

Over the past decade, the Rubus industry has experienced significant growth in both volume and quality. What started as a collection of small growers concentrated in a few areas has evolved into larger enterprises spread across the country, primarily in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.   

Despite this growth, several practices in the raspberry and blackberry industry affect its performance in areas such as production, work health and safety, supply chain, market research, and risk and business management. As a result, Australian growers often experience inconsistent productivity compared to international competitors.    

External pressures, such as increasing consumer demands for product integrity and sustainability assurances, climate change, and variable growing conditions, also challenge the industry.   

Response   

This project is utilising targeted social, extension and behavioural research to identify barriers preventing the adoption of best practices in the Rubus industry, taking into consideration the culturally and linguistically diverse communities within the berry sector.   

Key Activities include:   

• Online surveys to collect insights from the broader Rubus and berry-growing community about the obstacles they face and the potential benefits of overcoming them.
• Three online focus groups with growers and stakeholders to identify specific barriers to best practice adoption.
• Eight semi-structured interviews with key industry stakeholders to delve deeper into issues identified in focus groups.   

Benefit   

By identifying barriers, raspberry and blackberry growers will gain a clear understanding of what is holding the industry back from adopting best practices. Addressing these barriers will lead to better production efficiency, increasing local and international competitiveness, and overall industry sustainability.