Australian vegetable growers produced 3.59 million tonnes of vegetables in 2022-23 with a production value of $5.83 billion, newly-released data in the Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook reveals.

Coinciding with a period marked by severe weather events and major increases in farm input costs, the Handbook shows production volume was down only 3 percent compared to the previous year.

While the $5.83 billion overall production value – an increase of 5.4 percent compared to the previous year – represents a record high in dollar terms, this was offset by a 6 percent increase in CPI over the same period. As a further indication of the financial pressures confronting many vegetable growing businesses, the 4 percent increase in fresh supply wholesale value from $5.91 billion to $6.17 billion represents a decline in real terms.

The Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook, released by Hort Innovation, quantifies the value and volume of all major vegetable and fruit crops produced in Australia, including exports, and also includes imports.

“This handbook is an important data source that helps growers and other supply chain stakeholders make informed business decisions and better understand the bigger picture in the Australian horticulture sector,” said AUSVEG CEO Michael Coote.

“Australian vegetable growers continue to supply more than 98 percent of the fresh vegetables sold domestically and employ tens of thousands of people. This data again demonstrates the critical role the nation’s vegetable growers play, not only in providing the nation with produce, but also in terms of its major contributions to the national economy.”

“These contributions have occurred despite the severe weather events, labour shortages and supply chain issues that have affected production volumes of many vegetables. These challenges have also impacted growers’ profitability, with both the overall and fresh wholesale production values of many common commodities down on the previous year, both in year-on-year and actual terms.”

“The vegetable sector is also very diverse, and within this data there are crops which have experienced significant production drops, such as tomatoes, asparagus and fresh peas, contrasted against big growth such as cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and beetroot.”

“Despite the difficult operating environment, the fact the vegetable industry has managed to achieve another year of record overall production value in dollar terms is testament to the vital contributions vegetable growers continue to make to Australia.”

“Hort Innovation’s aim in producing the Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook each year is to ensure the entire Australian horticulture industry has access to the data and insights they need to inform their decision-making,” said Hort Innovation CEO Brett Fifield.

“This year’s data shows total production value increasing by 2.8 per cent to $16.3 billion, reflecting some of the challenges that industry has faced over the last few years impacting profitability.”

“For vegetables, record values were recorded for another year, with overall value reaching an all-time high of $5.83 billion, an increase of 5.4 per cent on 2021/22.”

About AUSVEG

AUSVEG is the peak industry body for the Australian vegetable, potato & onion sectors, representing over 3,600 growing businesses that employ tens of thousands of workers and produce over 3.5 million tonnes of produce, with a farmgate value of over $5.8 billion.

About Hort Innovation

Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australia’s horticulture industry. Its role is to advance Australia’s $16 billion horticulture industry by investing in research and development, marketing and trade to build a prosperous and sustainable future for growers.

About the Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using multi-industry research and development levies and funds from the Australian Government under project code MT21006. More information is available here.

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew MacDonald, National Communications Manager, AUSVEG
Phone: 03 9882 0277, Mobile: 0406 836 330, Email: andrew.macdonald@ausveg.com.au