The nursery products levy (better known as the pot levy) is a government-mandated industry contribution that funds research and development (R&D), biosecurity, and marketing to support Australia’s nursery industry. In the 2023/24 financial year, Australia’s nursery industry collected approximately $2.79 million in levy funds from growers.
The Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF) collects the funds, but it does not decide how the money is spent. Where the levy money goes is up to Hort Innovation, the main body responsible for managing research and development in Australia’s horticulture sector. A Research & Development Committee, comprising levy payers, advises Hort Innovation on which projects to fund.
a small percentage of the levy goes towards levy collection costs and program administration
The nursery levy is a critical funding mechanism for supporting the nursery industry. However, there is significant room for improvement in how the levy is managed.
We believe Hort Innovation and GIA can do a better job of engaging growers in decision making about how nursery levy funds are spent, and which specific projects are funded. Greenlife Industry Qld is keen to lead a more effective, more consistent, levy-payer friendly consultation process which better engages both large and small production nurseries.
We call for a balanced levy-funded project distribution across grower segments. We believe the investment committee should demonstrate that projects are balanced across small, medium, and large businesses, retail vs production nurseries, and regional vs metro areas. This prevents over-concentration of funds and promotes equity in benefit distribution.
We believe the levy Investment Committee should be restructured to give state industry bodies more say in nursery levy investments. The national body, GIA, currently manages the nursery levy investment process which allocated more than $3M in project funding in 2023/24. Most of that funding went to GIA and Hort Innovation, with other funds going to the Federal Department of Agriculture. We call for a more decentralised system of appointing investment committee members, in which each state industry association nominates one levy payer from their state or territory. Another three expert committee members, to be drawn from research and academia, would be nominated by GIA. State associations are closer to levy payers “on the ground”, so an investment committee nominated by state industry bodies would increase the chances that funds are invested in projects which growers deem relevant, practical and valuable.
Many Queensland growers feel they do not have enough visibility on how levy funds are being spent. We call on Hort Innovation to publish a funded project summary annually, with details of project funding, project owners and partners, project expenditure and interim/final results.
We believe Hort Innovation should introduce a policy requiring independent audits or reviews of levy-funded projects over $250,000 to assess value for money, measurable industry impact, and adoption by growers or other end users. Findings should be made public to ensure accountability and continuous improvement.
We call upon Hort Innovation to introduce a transparent, forward-looking Levy Investment Plan. We believe levy payers should be provided with a 3-year rolling investment roadmap that outlines strategic priorities for levy funding, anticipated budget allocations by category (R&D, marketing, biosecurity), key performance indicators (KPIs) and expected industry outcomes. This will give growers a clearer sense of direction and allow them to assess whether investments align with real industry needs.
We call on Hort Innovation to benchmark and continually measure levy-payer satisfaction with consultation about levy management, the levy rate and the industry value of each funded project. While nursery growers are unlikely to ever be satisfied with paying any kind of levy, there should be a process by which to gauge levy-payers’ overall perception of value delivered as a result of their contributions.
