SHOWCASING OUR GREAT INDUSTRY TO AGRICULTURE VICTORIA

By Matt Ross

On 25 June, NGIV President, Simon Gomme, CEO, Craig Taberner and Technical Manager, David Reid, delivered a horticultural tour to a number of senior figures from Agriculture Victoria.

The purpose of the tour was to highlight the breadth of our sector and outline the challenges and opportunities for industry and our member businesses. It was also a chance to visit some of our Dandenongs based members impacted by the storms and understand more about the damage that was inflicted.

NGIV enjoys a close working relationship with Agriculture Victoria and view the Department as the Governmental leader in our space. The tour was another opportunity to further strengthen those ties.

Matt Lowe, CEO of Agriculture Victoria, accompanied Michael Rosier (A/ED-Agriculture Services and Regions), Sze Flett (Director of Horticulture Services), Julie Simons (Executive Director Seasonal Workforce), and Steve Gartlan (A/Director Agriculture Industry & Rural Transition), joined us for a wonderful tour of four of our member sites.

A big thank you to Flemings Nursery Group, Garden City Plastics, Ball Australia, Mansfield’s Propagation Nursery and Tissue Culture Australia, for making yourselves and your sites available, and bringing what you do to life.

The tour provided the perfect opportunity to remind Agriculture Victoria of our work and the importance of our industry.

We emphasised our confidence that with targeted government support and investment, horticulture can improve the health and well-being of all Victorians, drive economic recovery, reignite tourism and create the green infrastructure Victoria needs to remain liveable and resilient.

We drew attention to the impact of COVID-19 on our industry and the unparalleled demand placed on greenlife as Victorians craved that connection to nature and health and wellbeing benefits. All of which resulted in extreme challenges for our supply chain. We outlined the challenges our industry faces around employment, education, biosecurity and the need for support to mitigate external climatic factors.

We spoke passionately about the challenges that we, as a state face, as a result of climate change and the need for more green infrastructure in our landscapes. With increased Government support we can supply the plantlife to help mitigate the impacts of a changing climate.

We finished with a rallying cry imploring Agriculture Victoria to provide support to help Victoria to be recognised as Australia’s Leader in horticulture.

NGIV place significant importance on advocating for our industry and our members, particularly to Government. This year has really highlighted the need to have those strong relationships with Government and for them to understand the significance of our industry.

We were delighted with the tour and we know that those representatives from Agriculture Victoria left with a true understanding of our industry, impressed by the scale of what we do and aware of the challenges and opportunities we face.