The peak body representing the interests of the national horticulture industry has today called on all levels of government and supply chain partners to commit to an urgent review of the burden of compliance being carried by business.
Jolyon Burnett, chair of the National Farmers’ Federation Horticulture Council, said many smaller businesses are anecdotally reporting the burden of red tape as being a key factor in forming a decision to leave the industry.
“This is why we are today launching the National Horticulture Compliance Survey 2025, to take an accurate snapshot particularly of the benefits and burdens associated with market-driven compliance, often mandated by trading partners down the supply chain as a condition of doing business,” said Mr Burnett.
“Businesses in horticulture are being regulated not just to an inch of their lives, but to death. Which would be tragic if it weren’t actually a product of deliberate choices being made by elected officials and the boards of big corporates.
“There exists a regulation industrial complex, where bureaucrats, and the consultants who advise them, seek to create ever more complex and costly red tape, which in turn requires more and more bureaucrats and consultants to administer, enforce and review it.
“We need look no further for evidence of this complex than the deliberately duplicative and disjointed implementation of new primary production and processing standards by state and territory jurisdictions.
“And the market power imbalance between suppliers and large retailers that means growers get poor prices and trading terms, also allows retailers to push nearly all the risk and associated costs around food safety and quality assurance onto growers.
“While each piece of red tape in isolation could be reasonable, when considered together it is unsustainable and must be captured and critically reviewed as part of Feeding Australia, the new national food security strategy being developed by the Federal Government.
“Our food security is underpinned by thousands of small, medium and large businesses growing our fruit, vegetables, nuts and nursery products every day.
“It would be an oversight if the Feeding Australia strategy failed to consider the effects of compliance, including as a driver of increasing concentration of both production and control over critical inputs, like seasonal labour,” Mr Burnett said.
The National Horticulture Compliance Survey 2025 is open for responses from horticultural businesses until Friday 8 August 2025 and can be found here or via the URL: https://forms.office.com/r/W7KaFRJnfH
About the Horticulture Council
The Council is the recognised peak body for forming policy and advocating on behalf of the national horticulture industry. Established in 2017, it now comprises 19 national commodity and state-based horticulture bodies.
It is a member of the National Farmers’ Federation, free to establish and advance its own policy positions and responses issues impacting the horticulture industry.
For more information about the Council click here.
Stacey Davidson
Ashleigh Whittaker