How we consult with industry
We work closely with growers and industry to keep levy investment focused on what matters most. Strategic Investment Advisory Panels advise on proposed investments, weighing industry need, expected impact and available funding.
Their advice shapes each industry’s Investment Roadmap, which sets the objectives and priority initiatives guiding investment over the next five years. The panels review each Roadmap annually so priorities can evolve as industry needs change.
The Horticulture Investment Roadmap Dashboard provides a clear, connected view of levy investment. It brings agreed priorities, current and future investments, contracted projects and financial information together in one place—making it easier to see where funds are being invested, what is underway and what opportunities are coming next.
Each Investment Roadmap is structured around objectives and initiatives. Objectives describe what Hort Innovation is working towards, while initiatives identify the priority areas where investment can help achieve those objectives.
Objective | Initiative |
| Build capability: Empower and invest in growers, leaders and innovators across the supply chain. | Extension and adoption: Facilitate and demonstrate change in a complex environment, identify key challenges, and equip people with knowledge and confidence, tools and solutions to make decisions that enable impactful change. |
| Industry communications: Ensure growers and industry stakeholders receive trusted, timely and relevant information on research and development and marketing investments to inform decision making. | |
| Training and leadership: Implement targeted training and leadership initiatives through coordinated programs that build and maintain a skilled and diverse workforce to meet future labour needs. | |
| Drive export growth: Expand market access, increase export volumes and value, and build resilience against trade risks while maintaining sustainability and product integrity. | Export market development: Build the capability, understanding and relationships required to enter and grow participation in export markets, strengthening trade confidence and demand. |
| Export market expansion: Reinforce established export markets by increasing market penetration, optimising channels and strengthening long-term export performance. | |
| Export market readiness: Prepare industries to be successful in export markets through strategic planning, technical market access research, and regulatory and supply chain preparedness. | |
| Enable data-led decisions: Provide trusted, secure and high-quality data and insights that guide decision making across the supply chain and underpin demand. | Data and insights for domestic demand: Generate evidence and insights to underpin decision-making, supporting strategy and/or activity development. |
| Data and insights for international demand: Generate evidence and insights to underpin decision-making, supporting strategy and/or activity development. | |
| Industry, supply and production data and insights: Generate and analyse industry, supply and production data to provide insights that assist enterprise and industry decision-making. | |
| Measurement and impact: Measure and evaluate activity and program impact to track performance, support evidence-based decisions and inform continuous improvement. | |
| Enhance farm productivity: Maintain or enhance crop quality and volume with fewer or smarter inputs, supporting the long-term viability of production systems. | Climate resilient production systems: Develop and adopt production systems to better cope with changing climate patterns. |
| Crop management: Develop and implement systems and processes to maximise yield, quality and value while minimising waste and costs. | |
| Emerging technology: Identify and develop new mechanical and digital technologies to enhance on-farm productivity and efficiency. | |
| Land resource management: Develop innovative, regionally adaptable resource management approaches that support compliance and mitigate risk, ensuring productive and responsible resource use. | |
| Pollination security: Improve and protect pollination systems against pests, diseases and climate variability. | |
| Generate domestic demand: Generate domestic demand for Australian-grown horticultural produce. | Consumer purchase intent: Increase education and awareness, desirability and purchase intent/future demand among consumers and/or intermediate purchasers. |
| Foodservice demand: Generate demand in the foodservice sector via increased visibility, use and accessibility. | |
| Purchase at retail: Generate demand in the retail sector through increased visibility, use and accessibility. | |
| Generate international demand: Generate international demand for Australian-grown horticultural produce. | Consumer purchase intent: Increase awareness, desirability and purchase intent/future demand among consumers and/or intermediate purchasers. |
| Foodservice demand: Generate demand in the foodservice sector via increased visibility, use and accessibility. | |
| Purchase at retail: Generate demand in the retail sector via increased visibility, use and accessibility. | |
| Improve biosecurity resilience and crop protection solutions: Improve practices, technologies and strategies to safeguard crops from pests, diseases and weeds to protect grower profit margins. | Biosecurity preparedness: Ensure proactive risk assessments, surveillance systems, diagnostic capacity, rapid response capabilities and industry training to prepare for exotic and endemic pests' incursions. |
| Integrated pest, disease and weed management: Develop and optimise fit-for-purpose pest, disease and weed management strategies that focus on an integrated, sustainable approach. | |
| New and emerging solutions: Identify opportunities to increase access to new and emerging crop protection technologies and applications for the Australian horticulture sector. | |
| Regulation support: Deliver access to safe and effective crop protectant products. | |
| Improve variety performance: Select and test new varieties to improve yield, quality, stability and efficiency across variable growing conditions, accelerating the use of superior genetic material by industry. | Breeding genetics: Breed new varieties with industry-prioritised, regionally adapted traits to meet market needs. |
| Varieties evaluation: Select and evaluate varietals based on performance, stability and market requirements. | |
| Increase post farm gate productivity: Improve the quality, consistency and value of horticultural produce by reducing post-harvest losses and meeting market requirements. | Food traceability: Improve traceability, transparency, safety and market trust from paddock to consumer. |
| Quality standards: Develop and implement clear, measurable and fit-for-purpose streamlined quality standards that guide on-farm practices, support consistent production outcomes, reduce variability and waste, and enable growers to meet downstream market, regulatory and supply chain requirements. | |
| Supply chain systems: Optimise and integrate post-harvest handling through the supply chain to reduce loss and waste, extend produce shelf life, and consistently deliver quality produce that meets market requirements. | |
| Value-added products: Develop advanced technologies, post-harvest innovation and product transformation pathways that enable the creation of high-value, differentiated and market-ready products. | |
| Support healthier consumer choices and wellbeing: Enhance consumer health, wellbeing and living environments through evidence-based research and products. | Greenspaces: Identify and develop opportunities to produce greenlife products that meet market expectations and improve living environments. |
| Nutritious food: Produce evidence and create awareness of high-quality food that is nutrient rich and supports consumer health and wellbeing. |
