The national vegetable and onion industry extension program
AUSVEG is delivering the third phase of VegNET, the vegetable and onion industry extension program that is run by growers, for growers. The new VegNET project will run for five years and is led and coordinated by AUSVEG, with on-the-ground extension undertaken by trained and experienced regional development officers in organisations with strong grower networks in vegetable-producing regions.
The program is overseen by a National Coordinator, who works with each regional group to ensure a consistent, efficient, and effective extension program that supports vegetable growers in growing healthy crops and developing successful, profitable businesses. These regional development officers, with strong grassroots connections to local growers, increase the industry’s awareness of and engagement with best practices in high-priority areas. VegNet helps growers adopt practice changes to improve the productivity, profitability, and competitiveness of their businesses.
VegNET project team
Regional Development Officers (RDO)
New South Wales
Sylvia Jelinek
New South Wales Local Land Services
0427 086 724
sylvia.jelinek@lls.nsw.gov.au
Northern Territory
Mariah Maughan
NT Farmers
0417 618 468
ido@ntfarmers.org.au
Queensland – North and Far North
Richelle Kelly
Bowen Gumlu Growers Association
0419 429 808
rdo@bowengumlugrowers.com.au
Queensland – Wide Bay Burnett
Jessy Logan
Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers
0407 366 797
vegnet@bfvg.com.au
Queensland – Southeast
Darren Brown
Lockyer Valley Growers
0456 956 340
ido@lockyervalleygrowers.com.au
South Australia
Peta Coughlin
AUSVEG SA
0409 029 745
peta.coughlin@ausveg.com.au
Tasmania
Tayla Field
RM Consulting Group
0429 391 538
taylaf@rmcg.com.au
Victoria – Gippsland
Amanda Gould
Food and Fibre Gippsland
0474 500 380
amand.gould@foodandfibregippsland.com.au
Victoria – Northern, Southern and Western
Danielle Park
AUSVEG VIC
0432 324 822
rdo@ausvegvic.com.au
Western Australia
Katrina Hill
vegetables WA
0427 373 037
katrina.hill@vegetableswa.com.au
History of VegNET
The first phase of VegNET finished in early 2020, with the regional development officers (RDOs) delivering R&D awareness and extension activities in their geographical regions.
The second phase of VegNET finished in September 2021, and resulted in each region developing regional priority areas for extension. These regional priorities were collated into national priority areas to inform a national extension program that is nationally-consistent and regionally-specific. The most common challenges from the consultations carried out to develop the National Vegetable Extension Strategy were in relation to:
- Water (availability, quality and cost)
- Labour (availability, awards, HR and skills)
- Input costs
- Biosecurity
- Pest management
- Market development (including export)
- Post-harvest and marketing
- Urban encroachment
- Social license (environmental impact and chemical (mis)usage)
- Business management
AUSVEG is delivering the third iteration of the VegNET program, which will run for five years and involves AUSVEG working closely with regional development officers who have strong grassroots connections with local growers to address the regional and national priority areas identified in Phase Two of the program. These officers will increase industry’s awareness of and engagement with best practices in high priority areas, and will help growers adopt practice changes to improve the productivity, profitability and competitiveness of their businesses.
This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the vegetable research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.