Commercial pineapple growers have voted in favour of an industry levy to support a range of activities including research and development and promotion. The industry ballot, which was conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission and closed on Tuesday, was well supported with 75 per cent of eligible businesses taking the opportunity to vote.
Growers were asked if they supported the introduction of a number of levy components and in each case the majority voted in favour of the application. Following is breakdown of percentage votes for each of the levy components:
- R&D for processing fruit levy - 76 per cent in favour
- R&D for fresh market fruit levy - 72 per cent in favour
- Promotion and marketing for fresh market fruit - 60 per cent in favour
- Emergency Plant Pest Response levy and Plant Health Australia membership levy - 73 per cent in favour.
Growcom, as the peak industry body for the Australian pineapple industry, and the Pineapple Growers’ Advancement Group (PGAG) will now provide a formal submission to the Australian Government through Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL), seeking implementation of the levy.
If this application is successful then pineapple growers will pay a total of $2 per tonne levy on processing fruit and $5 per tonne on fresh market fruit to fund research and development, promotion of fresh fruit and Plant Health Australia membership, once the levy has been implemented. .
PGAG Chairman Chris Fullerton said that it was pleasing to see that a significant majority of pineapple growers had taken the time to vote and the positive outcome was a good result for industry. “Growers have recognised that it is only by working cooperatively as an industry that we can move forward,” Mr Fullerton said.
However he councilled that the levy ballot was the first step in an involved process in getting the levy implemented. “Although there are still a number of steps in the process, we hope to see the industry levy in place as soon as possible, so that we can continue to fund essential industry development activities.”
This project was facilitated by Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) in partnership with the pineapple industry. It was funded by voluntary contributions from Growcom. The Australian Government provides matched funding for all HAL’s R&D activities. |
