A new Hort Innovation project is set to streamline the way grower feedback is collected across the vegetable industry. The goal of the project is to reduce survey fatigue, boost efficiency, and ultimately enhance the quality of insights used to guide future research and development (R&D) investments that deliver impact for growers.

The project will explore the feasibility of consolidating grower surveys for levy funded research, development and extension (RD&E) projects into a single, annual survey. This will complement and support strengthened monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes.

Should feasibility be determined, this will provide a more coordinated, consistent, and grower-friendly approach to capturing M&E data on projects. It will also help ensure clearer, more accurate tracking of project impact, alignment with strategic goals, and support better-informed decision making for future levy-funded projects.

Brett Fifield, CEO at Hort Innovation, elaborated on how this project hopes to support growers.

“We know growers are time poor. This project is about streamlining how we work – making it easier for growers to share project M&E feedback in a way that saves them time, while still collecting the insights needed to ensure levy investments remain targeted and effective.”

“It reflects our commitment to delivering smarter, more efficient systems that support grower productivity and profitability. It has been created off the back of grower feedback about the current state of survey fatigue in the industry and is part of our goal to reduce this burden, while still ensuring the information we collect adds genuine value for both industry and growers,” concluded Fifield.

The project is being led by research agency Focus Insights, who are expected to make a decision around the feasibility by late 2025, with implementation of the preferred solution to follow if deemed feasible.

Neil Moody, General Manager from Focus Insights, shared his enthusiasm about the possibilities of the project.

“High quality data is the cornerstone of strong decision-making. With improved quality, consistency, and reach of the data collected, this survey has the potential to support stronger project evaluations, more comprehensive M&E outcomes, and ultimately better-informed decision making across the vegetable industry.”

Michael Coote, the CEO of AUSVEG, the peak industry body for vegetable, potato and onion growers, agreed getting highquality grower feedback in an efficient manner was crucial.

“Getting feedback from growers on levyfunded RD&E projects is vital to ensure that the industry is getting impactful, outcome-based, relevant research,” he said.

“However, we know growers are constantly asked for input across multiple channels, so one unified survey on these projects is a great step forward.”

MORE INFORMATION
If growers from vegetable, onion, fresh potato and processed potato industries would like to get involved in the consultation stage of the project, they are encouraged to email an expression of interest to Sean Nonnenmacher, Innovation Evaluation Manager at Hort Innovation at Sean.Nonnenmacher@horticulture.com.au