What was it all about?

This project was a component of overarching Hort Innovation Vegetable Fund investment The EnviroVeg Program 2017-2022 (VG16063). It ran between 2017 and 2018, with the project team facilitating the pilot of an ‘Innovation Coach’ program – a commercial grower service to help businesses implement a planning process to assess their risks and opportunities, establish clear business objectives and vision, and work through options to pursue innovation and growth.

The Innovation Coach program provided training and assistance in areas including finance, process mapping, marketing, supply chain, risk analysis, food safety, research and development, sustainable natural resource management, export, and digital marketing.

Working one-on-one, growers were taken through the Hort 360 programs to establish risks and recommended standards. Businesses were evaluated, energy use audited, and workforce and export plans developed.

Over a 12-month period, the Innovation Coach program was tested with six vegetable farm businesses in Queensland, through to the second phase, which was enough to demonstrate considerable benefits.

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Download a fact sheet about the Innovation Coach program.