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National Agriculture Day
Friday 18th November

National Agriculture Day is your chance to celebrate and learn about Australia’s incredible farm sector. Held on the third Friday of November each year, it’s one day to celebrate an industry that’s part of our lives every single day.

Ways to get involved:

• (i) Assesses the importance of the diseases, insects and weeds (plant pests) that can affect a horticultural industry;
• (ii) Evaluates the availability and effectiveness of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides (pesticides) to control the plant pests;
• (iii) Determines any gaps in the pest control strategy and
• (iv) Identifies suitable new or alternatives pesticides to address the gaps.

Hear from guest speakers and industry experts on topics ranging from:

• The importance of HSR's to business.
• How organisational culture impacts workplace mental health.
• What are your rights as a young worker?
• Construction sessions.
• Plus many more!

The events will be delivered as a series of webinars and face to face sessions throughout regional Victoria, so it’s never been easier to participate. Most events are free to attend.

Find a webinar or event to attend here

Need help drafting an employment contract? Use the Business.gov.au – Employment Contract Tool to build employment contracts that are tailored to your business needs and comply with workplace laws. The tool includes easy-to-understand information on the legal requirements you need to include in a contract. There’s more info about employment contracts on our website.

Coronavirus tools and resources
Visit our coronavirus subsite for resources to help you manage the ongoing impacts of coronavirus in your workplace. Stay informed about:

• Updates to unpaid pandemic leave provisions for some awards
• Pandemic leave disaster payment extended
• COVID-19 vaccinations, testing and the workplace
• Quarantine and self-isolation: pay and leave
• Health and safety in the workplace
• government information and assistance.

Who does the Code apply to?
The Horticulture Code applies to any person or business that grows and sells unprocessed horticulture produce to a trader. If you sell horticulture produce, you need to have a valid Horticulture Produce Agreement (HPA) in place with each trader that buys your produce or sells it on your behalf. The code doesn’t apply to growers who sell their horticulture produce to a business that sells directly to consumers, such as a supermarket or greengrocer, or to an exporter.  

What is the Code?
The Horticulture Code is a mandatory industry code covering the sale of unprocessed horticultural produce, such as fruit, vegetables, edible fungi and nuts. The aim of the Code is to ensure transparency and clarity of trading arrangements in the horticultural industry and provide a fair and equitable dispute resolution procedure.

What is the guidance material?
To assist growers and traders of horticultural produce better understand their rights and responsibilities, the ACCC has updated its Code guidance: www.accc.gov.au/horticulturecode. This refresh of the ACCC’s guidance has improved readability and the level of detail to make it more relevant and practical.

What do the updates say?
Traders who are merchants and whose HPA states that the price will be determined by a method or formula are required to report the price they paid growers and the price paid by the third-party buyer. This means a grower who sells to a merchant can see what buyers pay for their fruit or vegetables. The ACCC believes this information is important to provide greater price transparency for growers and enhance competition.

The updated guidance also describes the Code’s requirement for traders to make terms of trade, the standard terms and conditions under which a trader is prepared to do business with growers, publicly available.

The ACCC expects traders to do more than just make terms of trade available upon request, or available at their business premises. The terms of trade provide growers with transparency on the trading conditions proposed, which allows growers to compare traders’ terms quickly and easily.

The ACCC intends to conduct ongoing compliance checks in the horticulture industry and will strongly consider enforcement action where it identifies non-compliance. These checks are important in assessing the effectiveness of, and level of compliance with, the Code.
 

Why has the ACCC updated its guidance?

Following recent compliance checks, the ACCC identified some issues that required clarification. We took the opportunity to update our guidance to assist growers and traders understand their rights and responsibilities.

The update is timely given the ACCC’s guidance was last revised in 2017 with the introduction of the current version of the code. The years since have provided the opportunity for multiple rounds of compliance checks, as well as the opportunity for helpful industry feedback.

We are searching for the best farmers from across Australia, those leading the way, who constantly strive to improve their business and are finding success in their efforts.

So, if you know someone who deserves to be recognised as an outstanding farmer, let us know by nominating them. Visit the Weekly Times website to nominate.