Completed project
Investigating the costs associated with the production, sale and distribution of vegetables (VG12086)
Publication date: December 14, 2018
Delivery Partner: RM Consulting Group
The Australian Vegetable Industry Strategic Investment Plan 2012 – 2017 identified increasing input costs as one of the key challenges facing the industry. Input costs along the value chain impact the competitiveness of Australian produced vegetables in both domestic and export markets, and have direct impact on grower profitability.
This project investigated the costs associated with the production, sale and distribution of vegetables with a view to developing an improved strategic approach.
The researchers began by analysing data from ABARES surveys of Australian vegetable growers that were conducted from 2005/06 to 2010/11. They examined the data on a per unit basis and compared the cost of production by business financial performance, scale of business, commodity and state.
Key findings included:
In a second body of work, the research team developed case studies of 19 vegetable businesses that have successfully increased the scale of their business to improve competitiveness. They found eleven factors that the best growers had in common:
These characteristics were used to inform the development of three strategic programs that researchers propose will assist growers to lower production costs:
This project was a strategic levy investment in the Hort Innovation Vegetable Fund
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