BY STEPHANIE CARSTAIRS,
PLANFARM

Level Up Hort, a business improvement and benchmarking program funded by Hort Innovation, released its 2024 season benchmarks in June, offers growers a powerful tool to understand their business performance, identify cost pressures, and make informed decisions.

Whether you’re a small-scale operator or managing a large enterprise, this article shows how data-driven insights can help you tweak your management practices today, and build a more resilient, profitable business for tomorrow.

Why benchmarking matters

Benchmarking is more than just comparing numbers— it’s a business improvement tool. It’s about understanding the financial health of your business and identifying the levers that influence productivity and profit. The Level Up Hort program provides growers with:

• A clear picture of their business performance relative to peers.
• Annual one-on-one consulting with confidential and personalised financial reports.
• Industry-wide benchmarks to track trends and an industry snapshot.
• Confidential, de-identified data analysis to protect intellectual property.

The process has proved to be valuable for growers, and builds on a previous project in Western Australia.

“The analysis and one-to-one consultation pinpointed the financial strengths and weaknesses of our business and supported us to successfully negotiate better prices. It’s now central to ensuring our business remains profitable,” said Maureen Dobra of Loose Leaf Lettuce Company, who took part in the previous project.

Key insights from the 2024 benchmarks

The table below outlines the key financial metrics from the 2024 season benchmarks for vegetable and onion producers across Australia.

2024 SEASON KEY VEGETABLE AND ONION PERFORMANCE MEASURES

*Return on assets managed, net of liquid assets.

The 2024 season vegetable and onion benchmarks revealed several compelling trends:

• Profitability isn’t necessarily about spending less – the most profitable businesses often spent more per hectare but achieved significantly higher returns. Their cost allocation was more targeted, especially in areas that directly contributed to income.
• Crop type doesn’t determine profitability – the better performing businesses were not all one crop type or one location; performance varied within different crop types. This indicated that success was more about management strategy than what was grown.
• Profitability spans all types of businesses – high-performing businesses were found across all states, including both low-value and high-value crops, and varied widely in size, scale and intensity. Some were highly mechanised, while others relied more heavily on labour-intensive practices.
• Labour productivity impacts the bottom line – businesses that utilised labour more effectively had greater returns. The most profitable businesses spent more per hectare on labour (as a $/ha figure) but their use of labour was more efficient which resulted in more profit per labour unit.
• Seasonal comparison showed a decline – a comparison of benchmarks for the group of vegetable and onion businesses who participated in both the 2023 and 2024 season indicated a decline in performance. Margins, on average, fell year-on-year. Although the dataset was relatively small and should be interpreted with caution, the results align with anecdotal feedback from growers, in which a number of businesses reported difficulty turning a profit and expressed concerns about their long-term viability in the industry.

These findings underscore the importance of data-driven decision-making and using year-on-year analysis to guide internal cost management and strategic investment. They also highlight that profitability is achievable across a wide range of business models – what matters most is how well each grower understands and manages their unique cost structure.

What can underperforming businesses do to improve their position?

While it can be difficult to generalise on why some businesses performed better or worse than others, and there will always be exceptions and each business should be assessed on a case-by-case basis, there are some themes that emerge from the benchmarks around the importance of data in vegetable businesses and understanding your individual cost structure, which parts of your business erode profit, and what parts contribute to profit.

A good first step is to know your numbers, start some level of business analysis and identify where to focus your efforts, and what to investigate further. Elements to consider include:

• Knowing and understanding your numbers.
• Focusing on what you can control within your business.
• Focus on where you can make productivity gains to increase profitability – be that production or labour use.

The more profitable growers:

• Maximise efficiencies within high-cost items – they optimise targeted inputs, maximise saleable yield and packout/quality, and optimise land utilisation.
• Assess, monitor and increase labour use efficiency – labour is by far the largest cost for horticultural producers so effective utilisation of every labour unit in the business counts, including management units. Knowing and understanding your labour cost structure and improving output per labour unit will contribute to profitability.

These findings underscore the importance of data-driven decision-making and using year-on-year analysis to guide internal cost management and strategic investment.

Common themes across growers

Three Ryans use benchmarking to Level Up their business.

From across Australia, growers shared several recurring benefits of being involved in Level Up Hort through published case studies printed in recent editions of Australian Grower magazine. They described how the program helped them to better understand their business and guide strategic decision-making.

Strategic clarity: benchmarking helped identify profit drivers and areas that needed attention.

“It sharpened us. We could see where we were making money, where we were breaking even, and patterns emerged. It gave us a 3D view of our business,” said West Australian grower David Ellement, who has taken part in the project.

Operational efficiency: comparing practices with top performers lead to smarter resource use.

“Benchmarking gave me a clearer understanding of where my business stood. I could identify areas for improvement and make better decisions,” said South Australia grower Kingsley Songer.

Financial performance: better input management and improved productivity per hectare.

“There are some elements that we are doing well in and others that maybe we need to take a sharper look at… There’s always places to improve, so it was very valuable,” said Victorian grower Chris Schreurs.

Goal setting: annual reviews helped set realistic, measurable objectives.

David Ellement noted that the program helped them analyse every crop in detail, prioritise investments, and set clear goals.

Confidentiality: data is securely handled, ensuring trust and transparency.

Growers consistently valued the confidential, de-identified nature of the data, which allowed them to engage openly and honestly.

Commitment pays off: active engagement yielded deeper insights and better outcomes.

“If you do get involved, you need to be involved. Don’t sit on the sideline. The more you put in, the more you get out,” David said.

Long-term success: the year-on-year analysis helped create long-term goal setting and targets.

Growers consistently noted that the benefits of participating in Level Up Hort extended well beyond a single season. By tracking performance over time, they were able to make more informed decisions, adapt to changing market conditions, and build businesses that were not only more profitable, but also more resilient and future-ready. “It’s not just about surviving the season— it’s about building a business that can thrive year after year,” said Queensland grower and project participant Jessica Volker.

“You’ve got to be prepared for bad news as well as good news, and be open to change.” CHRIS SCHREURS.

Final thoughts: turning data into profit

Benchmarking isn’t just for large corporations—it’s a powerful tool for any grower who wants to understand their business better and make evidence based decisions. Through the Level Up Hort program, vegetable and onion businesses have a unique opportunity to access expert guidance, industry data, and business insights – aimed at helping businesses become more profitable, resilient, and future-ready.

Benchmarking might seem daunting at first, especially for growers who’ve never tried it before, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right mindset, it can be a game-changer for your business. Industry benchmarking with an additional consulting service, such as this program, is an opportunity to gain clarity, improve decision-making, and take control of your business performance. Level Up Hort makes it easy to get started, all it takes is making that first call to shift your business trajectory toward greater profitability and long-term success.

Hear how WA grower Jake Ryan uses benchmarking to understand and manage costs in his vegetable business and take the guess work out of production costs of and price setting.

How to get involved

Participation in Level Up Hort is open to vegetable and onion growers across Australia. The program is fully funded through Hort Innovation until 2028. To join, growers can complete an expression of interest form at leveluphort.com.au or call project manager Steff Carstairs 0428 712 852