Berries Australia has submitted a proposal to amend the Nursery Products Levy to ensure that fruit growers using pots or bags for hydroponic production are not inadvertently captured under a levy originally designed for the nursery and propagation sector.

The proposal highlights that current levy definitions, established more than 30 years ago, no longer reflect modern horticultural production systems, where containers are now widely used for growing food crops such as blueberries and Rubus (raspberries and blackberries). This has led to some growers paying multiple levies on the same product, despite receiving no benefit from the nursery levy’s research and marketing programs.

Berries Australia, with support from Greenlife Industry Australia, Hort Innovation and Plant Health Australia, is calling for the definition of “nursery products” to be updated to apply only to plants grown for propagation, not for fruit production.