The scope of the benchmarking study is specifically concerned with the regulatory regime and the effectiveness of enforcement in the following areas:  Primary production  The use of chemicals  Heavy-metal contamination  Packaging  Storage and transportation  Food processing  Labelling  Infrastructure support  Information access  Buying-local initiatives  Export subsidies and incentives And in the following countries:  The United States  Canada  New Zealand  China  Thailand  Peru  Mexico The results of the project suggest Australia’s regulatory support towards its vegetable industry is strong overall in the areas of food safety and agricultural marketing. However, regulation and enforcement in New Zealand, US and Canada are equally strong, which leaves Australia marginal competitive advantage. Indeed, in certain areas, the regulatory regime in competitor countries is much stronger than that in Australia. For example, the US has more advanced regulatory support for local-grown products and safety standards for primary vegetable production. China, Thailand, Peru and Mexico in general have weaker regulatory support in the areas of food safety and agricultural marketing, but there is a clear trend towards improvement. Thailand in particular, has more rigorous regulation of food packaging than Australia. The low cost of production and a growing safety and marketing support