What was it all about?

Innovation is essential for Australian horticulture to remain competitive and achieve the productivity improvements necessary to survive and grow.

This project involved a survey of innovation and productivity that currently exists across horticultural industry groups. Results from the survey, obtained from 501 growers across horticultural farms in Australia, were analysed and compared with results from other industry sectors.

The researchers found that:

• The horticulture sector is more likely to innovate than other typical Australian businesses, with nearly 80 per cent of growers reporting innovation that was new to the farm or new to the industry
• Most other managerial practices showed strong similarities to findings from the broader Australian population of farms
• Horticultural businesses were much more likely than other industries to engage with peak bodies and industry publications as sources of these innovations
• The relationship between innovation and productivity was complex, but overall high levels of innovation were confirmed to have a positive relationship with productivity performance
• Barriers to achieving business objectives identified by growers included buyer demand, growth in main product market demand and price, followed by marketing, sales and management skills.