HORTICULTURE

A fair return for growers.

A dedicated team helping growers win better outcomes with retailers and market agents — and use the two codes that protect them.

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The power imbalance is real. We help growers close it.

Growers sit in a position almost nobody else in food and grocery occupies. You negotiate with major retailers and with market agents, you carry the risk on a product that will not wait, and you do it under two separate codes of conduct that most people have never had to read. Our horticulture team works with growers and their industry bodies to level that ground.

WHERE GROWERS CODES ARE DIFFERENT

Two codes, not one.

Most FMCG suppliers deal with a single code. Growers can be covered by both, and they do different jobs. Knowing which one applies to a given conversation is often the whole negotiation.

Your agreement with the trader or agent

The Horticulture Code governs dealings between growers and traders, and sits behind every Horticulture Produce Agreement. It sets out what has to be in writing, who sets the price, when produce can be rejected and what happens next, and how you raise a complaint.

HORTICULTURE CODE OF CONDUCT

FOOD AND GROCERY CODE OF CONDUCT

Your dealings with the major retailers

Mandatory since April 2025, with penalties behind it. Where you supply a major retailer directly, the Grocery Code shapes what good faith requires of them, what can and cannot change mid-agreement, and what you are entitled to ask for.

TRAINING

Programs built for growers.

Delivered in partnership with the industry bodies, or privately for a single business. Every program is written for horticulture rather than adapted from a general FMCG course.

Negotiating with buyers and agents

The core program. How the other side is measured, where the power actually sits, and how to hold a position under pressure.

What makes buyers tick — how they are measured and what their KPIs are
What is your proposition, and why should anyone pay more for your produce
Where the power sits, and whether it can be influenced
The principles of negotiating and the rules of the road
Identifying and using negotiation tactics

WHAT IT COVERS

Understanding the Horticulture Code

The code that governs your agreement with traders and agents, and what it actually entitles you to.

What the Horticulture Code is and who it applies to
Understanding your Horticulture Produce Agreement (HPA)
What can be negotiated, and how
Who sets the price
When produce can be rejected, and what happens next
How to make a complaint

WHAT IT COVERS

Leveraging the Grocery Code

Not just what the Code says, but how to use it in a live negotiation with a major retailer.

What the Grocery Code is, and what changed when it became mandatory
How the Code is relevant to growers specifically
What good faith and reasonable actually mean in practice
Understanding your contracts
Who sets the price, and how
What happens if your produce is rejected
How to use the Code in your negotiations with buyers

WHAT IT COVERS

Competition and consumer law

Where the line sits when you talk to competitors, and what you can safely claim about your produce.

How competition law applies to horticulture
What role you play in the market, and whether the ACCC cares
What collusion and price fixing look like in practice
Talking price — what you can say and what you cannot
Working with your competitors, lawfully
Claiming your product is the best — where the limits are

WHAT IT COVERS

Leadership and coaching

For growers running teams. Building the capability of the people around you, not just your own.

What good leadership looks like
Understanding your team — your profile and theirs, using DISC assessment
Who to coach, when, where and why
Creating a coaching plan that works for the person and the team
Principles of coaching, and creating real behaviour change
Having difficult conversations
Recognising and rewarding success

WHAT IT COVERS

HOW TO BOOK

Through your industry body, or direct.

Many of these programs run as funded or subsidised sessions through the grower representative bodies. Check there first — it is often the cheapest way in.

KYGC - KNOW YOUR GROCERY CODE

AUSVEG is delivering the Know your Grocery Code program, proudly supported by the Australian Government. The training will be delivered across Australia from July 2026 through to March 2028.