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Regional Development - vegNET 3.0 & APC-VPC Extension Services

vegetablesWA manages two projects delivering extension services to growers in WA.

These services focus on:

  • Water use efficiency and soil nutrition management
  • Farm biosecurity and pest and disease management
  • promoting grower communication with stakeholders
  • Vietnamese language assistance

These projects act as a conduit between industry researchers and growers. Providing them one-on-one assistance, introducing them to new research, technologies, on-farm safety, and practices that help with farm, crop and business management.

For more information, contact our Regional Development Officers.

Michael Bartholomew
vegNET 3.0 Regional Development Officer
0427 373 037
michael.bartholomew@vegetableswa.com.au

Chi Nguyen
Regional Development Officer
0427 457 559
chi.nguyen@vegetableswa.com.au

VegNET 3.0 (National Vegetable Extension Network) is delivered locally in Western Australia by vegetablesWA through VG21000, funded by Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited using the vegetable industry levy and funds from the Australian Government.

Regional Development & APC-VPC extension services are part-funded through the APC-VPC (grower fee for service) and Hort Innovation VegNET (VG21000) project.

Building Horticulture Business Capability Program

The Building Horticulture Business Capability program offers industry members support around key business decisions to boost business resilience and farm management practices.

The program provides:

  • Independent third-party review of business performance
  • Anonymous comparison against industry averages and best performance
  • Expert review and guidance on current business and financial management practice
  • The opportunity to further develop farm management practices

This program focuses on connecting horticulture business owners with farm management consultants. The consultants will undertake business and financial assessments with growers and provide them insights and advice to their practices, which will enable them to drive profitability and shape their business to face the future ahead.

Find more information on the Building WA Horticulture webpage.

Project contact

Bryn Edwards
BUILDING HORTICULTURE BUSINESS CAPABILITY PROGRAM MANAGER
0417 409 821
bryn.edwards@vegetableswa.com.au

Food Safety and Quality Assurance

The Quality Assurance project assists growers with maintaining their high-quality food safety standards. The project provides on-farm consultations and auditing on their chemical handling and food safety standards.

The project enables:

  • Pre-audit/post-audit checks and support for vegetable growers
  • Freshcare training at a reduced rate
  • Communication and information distribution to growers in the event of a food safety crisis

It is paramount Western Australian growers maintain their quality and safety standards, and the Quality Assurance project allows growers to access assistance with these on-farm practices.

Project contact

Joel Dinsdale
QUALITY ASSURANCE COORDINATOR
0417 857 675
joel.dinsdale@vegetableswa.com.au

Policy and Advocacy

vegetablesWA is Western Australia’s peak industry body for vegetable growers. One of our key business areas is policy development and advocacy for local vegetable growers.

Manus started his career at the West Australian Department of Agriculture and Food and has been working at vegetablesWA for almost 4 years

vegetablesWA has successfully undertaken advocacy for growers on a range of topics, including water, labour, biosecurity and government red tape policy.

Value Chain

A major challenge for growers can be understanding how to access new markets and making sure they have the right tools to do so.

Our Value Chain program is a free service designed to help link growers to both domestic and export markets. This service also hosts informative workshops and conferences and can assist growers when dealing with government agencies on market issues.

Some of the other areas this service covers:

Quarantine
  • Rules and regulations
  • Barriers to market entry
  • Market access solutions

More information on quarantine rules around exporting from WA: Quarantine WA

Value-adding
  • Recommendations of new ways to treat existing produce
  • Assistance to diversify products
  • International Market Growth
  • Practical tools to help growers make connections into international markets
  • Determining which markets are right for your product
  • Download the Vegetable Industry Export Strategy 2020 Summary here or contact Ausveg export@ausveg.com.au for the full version

For more information on our Value Chain services, contact the Operations Manager.

Manus Stockdale
Project Lead
0488 111 526
manus.stockdale@vegetableswa.com.au