What was it all about?

This investment represented the 2015/16 and 2016/17 component of the Australian banana industry’s benchmarking program. It was tasked with collecting data and reporting on productivity, quality, profitability and other information from Australian banana businesses. For the first time, the program also produced information on farm biosecurity and environmental management, and any impacts on on-farm processes, practices and costs.

The investment’s data was brought together with information from previous benchmarking investments to provide a comprehensive six-year picture of the industry’s performance, available within the final report (download it above).

Participating businesses also received a series of confidential personal reports highlighting how their business was performing compared to others.

The program’s information is intended to allow growers and other industry stakeholders to identify the most relevant factors currently affecting industry performance, and factors that are driving individual business performance – ultimately highlighting opportunities for improving their own businesses.

From the most recent reporting, the researchers noted that the top 10 most profitable businesses amongst participants continued to demonstrate consistent differences in their production economics and management practices compared to the remainder of the participants. These top 10 businesses demonstrated higher yields, marginally higher gross prices, lower operating costs and higher cash profits. Their labour productivity was also significantly higher. The researchers noted that more of these businesses irrigate more frequently, use irrigation monitoring technologies, utilise nurse suckering/crop scheduling, and use more phosphorous, more potassium and less nitrogen in their plant nutrition programs.