Meet the people behind the projects that elevate horticulture

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a large team effort to bring to life new Hort Innovation investments in research and development, trade and marketing.

Before any new project is created and activated, a concerted and collaborative undertaking occurs behind the scenes, involving numerous subject matter experts at Hort Innovation.

These are the people responsible for providing expertise in areas such as industry data and analysis, consumer insights and fund management.

Three of the Hort Innovation team members who have regular input into informing and shaping new investments are Lucy Noble, David Conyers and Wendy Hubbard.

Industry insights manager Lucy Noble

Lucy is a member of the Industry Insights Team whose role is to identify patterns, trends and correlations that can guide and inform targeted R&D investments.

“We do this through a portfolio of projects that provide benchmarking, forecasting, industry data services and reports to horticulture growers and industries,” Lucy said.

“Through all of these programs, the horticulture industry and growers are supported to make more informed decisions, as well as contributing valuable insights into the industry’s current performance, future trends and national level production data.

“On top of this, the Industry Insights Team is also responsible for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness and impact of current investments.”

Lucy and her team underpin industry knowledge through tasks such as:

Overseeing R&D projects to ensure growers and industries have access to current, relevant and reliable data to support data-driven decisions.

Working on initiatives to ensure levy-payers are equipped with data-driven insights to make informed decisions and strategically steer the industry.

Cultivating relationships with partners (service delivery partners, industry partners, government partners) to enhance access to industry and national level data and insights.

Lucy oversees projects with 11 industries. Some of these projects are multi-industry and across-sector, such as generation of the popular Hort Stats Handbook. The Community Trust in Rural Industries investment in which she is involved is across multiple agricultural industries, not just horticulture.

When asked what a typical working day looks like for her, Lucy said every day was different but often involved a combination of: speaking to service delivery partners who lead Hort Innovation-funded projects; collaborating with industry around their needs and developing investment ideas; looking at industry and project data; working with other members of the Hort Innovation team on various initiatives; and exploring ways of increasing the reach of insights by talking to those outside the industry.

Lucy has enthusiastically embraced her role at Hort Innovation and her place in horticulture: “It’s an industry full of opportunity and people who are going to make it happen. That’s something to be excited about.

“We’re supporting Australian horticulture growers and industries to sustainably produce the world’s best fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and greenlife.”

Investment manager David Conyers

The primary focus of David Conyers in his role as investment manager is the execution of each industry’s Strategic Investment Plan (SIP).

David and his two investment manager colleagues provide cohesive support between multiple internal and external stakeholders to ensure sufficient funds are available for approved R&D and marketing levy-funded projects.

“The core functions of our team include: maintenance of reliable, accurate forecasts; delivery of financial updates to industry; ensuring governance is followed for investments and due diligence; and reporting for the business (Board, Investment Committee etc),” David said.

“The portfolio of industries that I manage are the tropicals, nursery, turf, potatoes (fresh and processed), pyrethrum and sweetpotatoes. In total, this equates to 15 Industries and 27 Individual funds (both R&D and Marketing).”

David said his typical working day, while quite varied, often involved tasks such as investment/project approvals in line with industry panel advice, and reconciliation of industry forecasts against commitments and project expenditure.

“Other tasks include providing financial updates to industry and daily communication with Hort Innovation’s industry service delivery managers regarding their industry portfolios.”

David said working for Hort Innovation had given him a “new lease of life”.

“Having been a career banker for 33 years where everything was based on profit, to now working for Hort Innovation where the importance is based on outcomes for growers to reach their industry goals, is truly rewarding.”

Consumer insights manager Wendy Hubbard

The work of consumer insights manager Wendy Hubbard and her colleagues not only contributes to building bespoke marketing strategies, but it helps to enhance understanding of end users by growers and their industries.

“Consumer insights empowers growers by equipping them with knowledge about the end user of the produce they grow,” said Wendy, who works across all horticulture industries.

“Knowing what the consumer likes and wants is important to growers; that knowledge is fundamental if you want to have a successful business.”

Consumer tracking data is closely scrutinised by Wendy who will call for further investigation of data if something unusual or of particular interest is identified.

“For instance, we want to know what influences ‘light’ buying or even lapsed buyers among consumers so we can articulate the cause and build strategies in response.”

In 2023, Wendy and her team facilitated a well-attended insights webinar on sustainability which informed growers and those involved in the horticulture supply chain about consumer attitudes, behaviours and motivations around sustainability.

“As part of this exercise, we identified that most consumers would expect a discount of around 20 per cent for ‘imperfects’. I was in my local supermarket recently and spotted a sign promoting the Odd Bunch produce and calling out savings of at least 20 per cent – co-incidence or was it our research that informed this?”

A typical working day for Wendy could involve preparing analysis for a strategy workshop, collating facts to support a media release, preparing facts for Senate Estimates briefs, managing delivery partner outputs, responding to requests for information and planning upcoming webinars.

When asked what excites her about working in horticulture, Wendy answers that it is knowing she is contributing to advancing an entire sector and making a difference to the lives of generations of Australians.

“Being able to provide food for people is a wonderful thing, especially when you know that food is healthy, so I am grateful to be working in an industry that plays such a pivotal role in nutritious food supply,” Wendy said.

“Helping growers, suppliers, marketers and sellers of fruit and vegetables drive demand for good quality food is incredibly rewarding.

“I also love to meet growers and see the amazing technological developments that are shaping the future of this innovative and forward-thinking sector.”