HORTICULTURE group, Growcom, is doing its best ensure Queensland growers are up to speed with the new Horticulture Code of Conduct by hosting a series of workshops across the state in August.
The free workshops present the rights and obligations under the new Hort Code which came into effect on April 1 this year.
Growcom, with support from Queensland’s regional horticulture organisations, will run the workshops through sponsorship from HiveXchange and with support from the VegNET program.
A guest speaker from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will give an overview of the Code and take questions.
There will also be a presentation from national online marketplace HiveXchange entitled, Managing your compliance - an online consignment tool making Code Compliance easy’.
Horticulture produce agreements (HPAs) developed by Growcom will also be distributed and discussed at the workshops.
While the ACCC will continue working with industry associations like Growcom to educate growers and traders, the next stage of its work will take the form of compliance checks.
Growcom chief advocate, Rachel Mackenzie, said the workshops would provide valuable information to growers.
“The Code workshops will help you understand types of trading arrangements and additional protections under the new Code,” Ms Mackenzie said.
“They will also help you get the most out of the Code without being overwhelmed by paperwork and will describe the process for raising concerns and issues.”
HiveXchange CEO, Tony Palanca, said the company was proud to sponsor the Code workshops to inform growers of important industry changes.
“As Australia’s first online horticultural marketplace for produce, HiveXchange, is committed to servicing growers’ needs and making trading and marketing of produce easier and fully transparent,” he said.
“The new code of conduct is a tremendous opportunity for growers to take risk out of their business. It just needs to be properly implemented by producers.
“We will be sharing a new feature that we have built for Australian growers that simplifies and automates all of the new compliance obligations.”
Workshop Dates:
- Mareeba: 17 August, 4.30pm to 6.30pm
- Gayndah: 22 August, 4.30pm to 6.30pm
- Bundaberg: 23 August, 2pm to 4pm
- Gatton: 24 August, 4pm to 6pm
- Stanthorpe: 31 August, 4.30pm to 6.30pm
To RSVP for catering purposes, visit www.growcom.com.au/hort-code-of-conduct/
The ACCC has prepared sample horticulture produce agreements for growers and packhouses to use online and more information about the new Code is available on the ACCC's website.