HORTICULTURE Innovation Australia's constitution makes it clear that productivity is a key area of focus while profitability and global competitiveness are also important drivers.
But are growers getting bang for their levy buck?
Unlike other Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs), Hort Innovation has not been around long enough to provide a definite return on investment (ROI) figure.
The grower-owned company was established in November 2015 which it says is "too early to provide cost benefit figures for the current portfolio".
However, a monitoring and evaluation framework was developed in line with statutory funding agreement requirements, and this was recently used to develop a cost benefit analysis as part of each sector’s strategic invesment plan (SIP).
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Each commodity group then has a "potential impact of the plan" figure based on an estimated investment amount over the next five years.
For some of the major crops, there are substantial dollar forecasts.
The avocado SIP says there is a $212 million potential impact from an estimated investment of $31.48m, while the banana SIP says there is a $172.37m potential impact from an estimated $42.93m investment.
Citrus's SIP expects $140.1m worth of impacts from a $22.7m investment, and the apples and pears SIP predicts a $163m potential impact from an estimated $32.23m investment.
The strategic investment plan for vegetables, the largest levy contributor, is yet to be completed.
The cost benefit calculations were conducted independently by Consulting and Implementation Services (CIS) using economic equilibrium modelling.