BUSINESS benchmarking

How the Level Up Hort Program is helping growers navigate tougher seasons

As vegetable growers across Australia grapple with rising costs, shrinking margins, and increasing uncertainty, the Level Up Hort Benchmarking Program is giving them something invaluable: clarity.

Words Chi Nguyen, Regional Development Officer, vegetablesWA

BY turning farm data into practical business insight, the program helps vegetable and onion growers understand what drives profitability and where they can make measurable improvements.

I spoke with Steff Carstairs, Level Up Hort Program Manager, about why benchmarking matters more than ever, what the 2024 results reveal, and how growers can use this knowledge to strengthen their businesses. I also caught up with David Ellement from Ellement Produce, who shared how benchmarking has transformed the way he manages his business.

Born from necessity

Steff: The program really came out of necessity. The latest AUSVEG Sentiment Survey found that around 40 per cent of vegetable growers are considering exiting the industry within the next 12 months and that figure has been climbing for the past five years.

Growers’ margins have been eroded considerably. Many can’t see a clear way forward, and quite a few feel unsupported in their decision-making.

Above: Chi Nguyen with Steff Carstairs, Level Up Hort Program Manager, and right David Ellement from Ellement Produce.

That’s why the benchmarking program is more than a spreadsheet of numbers. It’s a business development tool, knowledge and insight about how the vegetable and onion industries are performing, how costs behave, what drives income, and how to use inputs, including labour, more efficiently to maximise output and income.

From numbers to knowledge

Chi: Some growers tell me the data looks too technical. How can the messages be simplified so they can easily apply them?

Steff: That’s a great question. Numbers alone don’t mean much until you understand them in the context of your own business That’s exactly the role of the farm business consultants in the program.

We help individual businesses interpret their figures and use them to guide decisions. The goal is to promote simple, actionable messages about what to measure, how to measure it, and what to do with the information.

I love a quote I heard recently: ‘If you measure it, it will move’. In fact, I’d take it further, ‘if you measure it, it will improve’. As soon as you start measuring something, you become conscious of it. The key is to collect data with purpose, not just for data’s sake.

Once you’ve started collecting data and you can see areas that need improvement, focus your energy on what you can control. The benchmark results show where costs are high; then we look deeper into why they’re high. It’s not about slashing costs. It’s about directing resources more effectively to improve outcomes.

Directing costs where they count

Chi: So instead of cutting costs, it’s about targeting them?

Steff: Exactly. Look at what’s behind the number. If a cost line in your business is double the benchmark, ask why. If that extra cost is producing more income or higher yields, it may well be justified.

What benchmarking does is highlight the areas where greater efficiency can be achieved, not necessarily through reduction, but through smarter allocation.

Season 2024: Key findings

Chi: The 2024 benchmark results were released recently. What are the standout messages growers should take note of?

Steff: First, the average performance across the industry isn’t great. Margins are tight and profitability is under real pressure. That reflects what we’re hearing on the ground and what AUSVEG’s sentiment survey shows.

But there are still businesses that are performing well, and it’s important to understand why.

Profitability isn’t simply about spending less. In fact, the most profitable businesses were spending more per hectare, but in targeted ways that directly contributed to income.

They invested more in the areas that drive returns, and that spending paid off. It’s not “spend more to make more” for the sake of it. It’s spending smarter.

Another key finding is that crop type doesn’t determine profitability. The top 25 per cent of performing businesses in the benchmark weren’t all growing the same crops or in the same regions. Success was linked to management strategy, culture, and business discipline rather than the crop itself.

Profitability spanned all types of farms, large and small, low-value and high-value crops, and mechanised and labour-intensive operations. There was no single “model” that guaranteed profit. Benchmarking includes large-scale, medium and small farms, the principles apply to all. Whether you manage ten hectares or a thousand, comparing performance and identifying improvements works the same way.

What really stood out was labour productivity. The most profitable growers spent more dollars per hectare on labour, but they used that labour far more efficiently. Often, that’s because they’ve invested in skilled staff and built a strong workplace culture that multiplies returns rather than adds to costs. Culture and leadership underpin performance.

Seeking advice from others, like accountants, agronomists, consultants, and even your bank, brings in that outside perspective. One grower called it “paying for brains.” Sometimes you’re too close to the day-to-day to see the bigger picture. As consultants, we often describe our role as offering the “bird’s-eye view.” From above, you can see what’s coming down the track that might be invisible when you’re on the ground.

Chi: What changes or trends did you observe between the 2023 and 2024 seasons?

Steff: We compared the same growers across both years and saw a general decline: lower returns on assets managed and reduced profitability. Margins fell on average from 2023 to 2024.

Some businesses improved, but overall, the downward trend is worrying. It’s still early to draw hard conclusions, but it does ring alarm bells. If that trajectory continues, it won’t be sustainable.

As an industry, we need to be proactive and flexible, ahead of the curve rather than chasing it. The same applies to individual businesses.

How to apply benchmarking insights

Chi: What’s the best way for growers to apply these benchmarks to improve decision-making?

Steff: First and foremost, join the program. That gives you access to analysis tailored to your business.

But even outside the program, you can use the published benchmark figures. Start by calculating your per-hectare costs for key inputs and compare them with the benchmark averages.

If any cost line looks high or low, that’s your signal to dig deeper. For example, if fertiliser costs are double the average, ask: Why? Is it delivering a yield or quality advantage? If not, maybe that’s where efficiencies can be gained.

The idea isn’t to shave costs, but to redirect them where they’re most effective. Tackling the large cost lines first helps you see the quickest returns.

If income is low, ask: Why? Is it yield, nutrition, timing, harvest quality, or perhaps training in the packhouse? Benchmarking helps you peel back the layers of your business to understand what’s really happening.

A higher cost line isn’t automatically bad as long as it’s generating higher income. But if it isn’t, that’s where you need to focus attention.

At the consultancy level, we can often look at four or five metrics and get a clear snapshot of a business. But what the numbers don’t show is the story behind the farm gate, and that’s what benchmarking encourages growers to uncover.

Ultimately, it’s maximising the saleable yield per hectare that sets successful growers apart. If it costs the same to grow a hectare of cauliflower, but you harvest 80 per cent of the crop instead of 60 per cent, that’s a huge difference to your bottom line.

Even a 1 per cent improvement each year adds up, and those small, consistent gains are what keep a business healthy. The danger is the opposite trend: small 1 per cent declines that accumulate until the bank loses confidence.

So, it’s about continuous, incremental improvement; do not wait for that one ‘perfect’ season that might never come.

Getting involved

Chi: For growers who haven’t joined Level Up Hort yet, how can they get started?

Steff: It’s easy. Visit https://leveluphort.com.au/ or contact your VegNET Regional Development Officer, they’ll put you in touch with us.

We’re always happy to talk through your business needs and how the program can help. You just need to be a levy grower of vegetable or onion crops to be eligible.

The more the merrier! We’re not turning anyone away!

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