Horticulture producers across Victoria will receive business insights from a new Agriculture Victoria farm monitor program.
Agriculture Victoria's Horticulture Farm Monitor Pilot program aims to help farmers understand their profitability, improve recovery and drive future growth.
The pilot program is collecting information from farm businesses with crops including apples and pears, cherries, strawberries and summer fruit. It is similar to a monitor program used in the dairy, beef and sheep industries.
Agriculture Victoria's Sze Flett said industry groups had called for real data to help them navigate challenges.
"Collecting data on horticulture businesses has always been a challenge due to the complex and fragmented nature of the sector, with so many different industry types with varying capacity to collect data," Dr Flett said.
"But we know this is the best way to provide businesses with a clear, accurate picture of the state of their industry."
Victorian Strawberry Growers Association Chairperson and AusBerry chief executive Miffy Gilbert said the program was extremely valuable for growers.
"The strawberry industry was really keen to participate in the Horticulture Farm Monitor Pilot," Ms Gilbert said. "We are full of anecdotal evidence on our industry and our businesses, but we don't have the data to back up our claims.
"When the pandemic hit and we were asked how many workers we needed as an industry, we didn't really know. We had anecdotal evidence, but nothing based on defendable facts."
Ms Gilbert is calling for more farmers to be involved in the program in an effort to gain clarity around their industry.
She said some the industry-wide program would provide deeper insights into business profitability while protecting the farmers who provide their business data.
"It's all beautifully done with total anonymity," Ms Gilbert said. "All the data is de-identified so no one knows where it's from, but they do know it is accurate, representative data of their industry and their production type.
"It will help individual business set their base costs and base sale prices, understand where they can make savings and where they are competitive compared to the industry average."