Conference puts Fair Farms in the spotlight

Events

Conference puts Fair Farms in the spotlight

The inaugural Fair Farms National Conference and Awards were held in Coffs Harbour in October, with almost 100 stakeholders from across the fresh produce supply chain in attendance. Fair Farms is an industry-owned program delivered by Growcom and designed to help growers improve their compliance with workplace laws, whilst also demonstrating their commitment to treating workers in a fair, ethical and responsible manner. It is the only Australia-wide training and certification program for fair and ethical employment practices on farm. The conference featured an impressive roster of speakers presenting on various horticulture workplace relations topics, including David Littleproud MP, Dr James Cockayne (NSW Anti-Slavery Commissioner), Catherina Velisha (Velisha Farms), Rachel Mackenzie (Berries Australia), and Steve Ronson (Fair Work Ombudsman). But the highlight of the event was the inspirational story of Australia’s first Winter Olympics gold medalist, Steven Bradbury. Fair Farms National Program Manager, Sachin Ayachit, expressed his joy at the great success of the conference. “From the moment our wonderful MC Richard Shannon started off the conference, the room was abuzz with excitement at what was to be an informative and fun event,” Mr Ayachit said. “Special thanks to our incomparable keynote speaker Steven Bradbury for bringing energy and enthusiasm to a room full of delegates who were simultaneously amused by his humour and inspired by his story.” Fair Farms Certified Growers, Sunripe, took out the Fair Farmer of the Year Award, while Shane Stirling from Aus-Qual and Rachel Mackenzie from Berries Australia both received a Fair Farms Recognition Award. According to Growcom CEO, Rachel Chambers, given the current labour market, there has never been a better time to come together to discuss the state of workplace relations in Australian horticulture. “Growers, retailers, auditors, politicians and peak bodies came together to try to work through various sticking points,” Ms Chambers said. “As topics such as audit fees, red tape, consumer demands, global pressures, lack of labour and compounded compliance were discussed, it was important to acknowledge that although we may have come from various viewpoints on the topic, fundamentally there were two things we could all agree on: that Australia’s horticultural industry must have a reliable workforce and the reputation of the horticultural industry must be improved. “As one grower at the conference said, it is a shame that growers who do everything right have to prove their behaviour with a certificate of audit. It’s an added burden and cost that we could all do without. “But it’s an even greater shame that the few growers who don’t do things right, spoil the reputation of all those who do. These growers detract from our workforce and unfairly price their produce, it’s not a level playing field. These growers forced us into this space, and they need to be forced out. We need to reboot the reputation of horticulture.”

Fair Farmer of the Year, Samara and Luke De Paoli from Sunripe.

Golden boy Steven Bradbury (on right) with Sachin Ayachit (Fair Farms National Program Manager) and Rachel Chambers (Growcom CEO).

Federal National Party Leader and Shadow Minister for Agriculture, David Littleproud MP, addresses the crowd at the Fair Farms Conference.

Vision for horticulture’s future

The 10-year roadmap for the Queensland fresh produce sector, Future Fields, has now been released. This collaborative project was led by Growcom on behalf of the Queensland fresh produce sector and supply chain and was proudly supported and funded by the Queensland Government. Click or scan the QR Code to download the final report.

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