National Vegetable Industry Communication Strategy: Management and Implementation
The National Vegetable Industry Communication Strategy: Management and Implementation project commenced in February of 2010 under the management of AUSVEG, and was undertaken to ensure that the National Vegetable Levy payers and other key industry stakeholders were provided with information regarding the outcomes of all relevant research and development projects and other relevant industry news, issues and data. Throughout the projects’ lifespan of almost three years, AUSVEG has utilised an extensive range of both traditional and contemporary communication tools to ensure that the communication strategy was implemented effectively and that information reached the widest possible audience. Communication activities have included the following media: – Publication of weekly newsletter Weekly Update; – Production of bi-monthly publication Vegenotes; – Publication of bi-monthly magazine Vegetables Australia; – The AUSVEG website www.ausveg.com.au; – Subject specific seminars i.e. Alternatives to Dimethoate and Fenthion Road show; – Australia wide levy payer forums and seminars; and – Annual Levy Payer Meetings. It must be noted that Vegetables Australia and Vegenotes are their own projects and are not in any way funded by the National Vegetable Industry Communication Strategy: Management and Implementation Project, however, due to the collaborative nature of AUSVEG and the AUSVEG Communication Strategy and the teams charged with overseeing these projects, links are created and communication activities appear across these publications. As this project incorporates over 130 commodities it was imperative that all communications activities undertaken throughout the life of the project accounted for the shared, as well as unique and individual issues affecting each of these commodities. Key outcomes of the National Vegetable Industry Communication Strategy: Management and Implementation project include: – The establishment of a strong media presence in both metropolitan and regional/rural Australia, which has resulted in the ability for widespread penetration and awareness of key issues and outcomes relating to the Australian vegetable industry which has been essential to ensuring cost effective penetration of R&D related news. – High level of grower participation in vegetable industry workshops, seminars and forums. – Positive feedback and increased readership of the bi-monthly Vegetables Australia magazine, which has been independently certified as the most widely distributed horticulture magazine in Australia. – Increasingly positive feedback and readership of the weekly e-newsletter, the Weekly Update, which regularly features important news and information for members of the vegetable industry and is now distributed to more than 3,000 growers and relevant stakeholders alike. – Strong results from the independent review of the communications program undertaken by C-LAB in 2011. These outcomes demonstrate that the National Vegetable Industry Communication Strategy project has fulfilled its aim of consistently and effectively providing payers of the National Vegetable Levy with a broad range of information in a manner accessible for all.