Vietnamese growers comprise approximately a quarter (225/1033)1 of the WA vegetable industry. These growers have a very low English literacy rate and approximately 30% are also illiterate in Vietnamese. Thus, there is a significant lag amongst Vietnamese growers in adopting R&D recommendations. Poor growing practices amongst this farmer group may have implications for the broader vegetable industry in terms of market position and social license to farm. This project employed a bilingual Vietnamese Field Extension Officer to provide extension and communication of research and development outputs and other information to Vietnamese vegetable growers, with a view to increase knowledge and adoption of good agricultural practices. Different qualitative methods were employed during the selection of a suitable candidate, the management of the Field Extension Officer’s performance, and implementation of field extension tasks of the officer to shape the project activities toward achieving the desired outcomes. Vietnamese native, Mr. Vo The Truyen was selected for the role due to a strong background in horticulture and community development, extensive experience in agricultural extension services, and fluent English and Vietnamese. Over the three years of this project the Vietnamese Field Extension Officer has maintained regular contact with a large number of growers in WA and engaged in several R&D projects targeted at the Vietnamese vegetable growing community. Key activities of the Vietnamese Field Extension Officer during the project were: (i) Maintaining Vietnamese growers contacts, (ii) Engaging in R&D programs; (iii) Building industry partnerships and connecting people; (iv) Contributing translated articles to vegetablesWA magazine; (v) Providing language assistance; (vi) Promoting adoption of good on–farm practices; (vii) Feedback and representation, and (viii) Reporting and communication with vegetablesWA. Given that there was almost no awareness in the grower group (only 2 Vietnamese growers were aware of industry services prior to the project), the outcomes of increased knowledge and improved growing and business practices were achieved. At least 90 of the 225 growers adopted new innovations (40%) and through the Vietnamese Field Extension Officer’s 700 face to face discussions alone (not including collaborative projects and magazine translations) awareness of the national R&D system has increased by around 90%. Additionally, within the Vietnamese grower group of 225, a total 133 innovation adoptions were recorded during the 3-year project, in which 22 growers improved irrigation efficiency; 54 applied safer and more efficient chemical application; 16 applied innovations in consumers and markets; 34 biosecurity, hygiene and virus minimisation; and 8 biting stable fly management. More details of how this was achieved are under the Outputs section on page 8. The understanding of the characteristics of the Vietnamese vegetable grower community has been greatly increased, which helped the Vietnamese Field Extension Officer and other industry stakeholders to be able to better tailor R&D services with the needs and learning capability of this group. The innovation system of the Vietnamese vegetable growing community and its characteristics was identified. As a result, supportive measures could be applied to maintain the effective linkages among all key stakeholders (e.g. growers, researchers, Government agencies). This enabled an increased rate of innovation adoption by the Vietnamese growers.