The Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC) is proud to welcome Jane Siebum, CEO of Freshcare, to Far North Queensland as part of a regional tour to meet banana growers and visit farms across the region. This important visit offers a chance for grower members and Freshcare leadership to connect directly and openly – to talk about what’s working, what’s not, and how we can collectively improve the value and practicality of on-farm compliance.

Jane is visiting to gain a genuine, first-hand understanding of how the Freshcare program affects day-to-day farming operations. She’s interested in hearing directly from you — the growers — about what value the program brings to your business, what challenges you face during audits and certification, and what support or changes might help make Freshcare more useful, less burdensome, and better integrated into your overall farm management.

Audit booking and delivery is a key area of focus. Jane wants to understand where the bottlenecks are, what’s frustrating or inefficient, and how the system could be improved to better serve growers without compromising integrity. She’s also keen to explore how audit activity itself could be more meaningful — helping to strengthen your business rather than simply tick boxes.

From ABGC’s perspective, this visit is part of our ongoing work to ensure banana growers are heard and supported at every level. We see this as a valuable opportunity to build a stronger, more direct relationship with Freshcare leadership, to ensure the strategic direction of the standard aligns with on-ground realities, and to advocate for more genuine industry involvement in shaping the future of the program.

We’ll be sharing real grower experiences – informed by recent farm visits and ABGC’s own review – and working towards practical, grower-friendly solutions that still meet the needs of food safety, sustainability, and market access. At the same time, we’ll be identifying opportunities for better collaboration moving forward, including stronger support resources and streamlined processes that benefit your business.

To support these conversations, ABGC is holding two grower roundtable sessions where members will have the opportunity to speak directly with Jane and ABGC CEO Leanne Erakovic:

• Mareeba Leagues Club – Tuesday 8 July, 3:00–5:00pm
• Centre for Wet Tropics Agriculture, South Johnstone DPI – Wednesday 9 July, 10:00am–12:00pm

Grower members are encouraged to attend and be part of a robust and productive discussion. Please RSVP by Sunday 6 July via this link: https://forms.office.com/r/K8UFyT17z2

If you’d like more information or want to share your experience ahead of the visit, please get in touch with ABGC’s Advocacy team via [email protected] or 0455 553 596. Your input is essential to shaping a better, fairer compliance future for the banana industry.