The Australian Banana Growers' Council
OUR MISSION
The ABGC leads and represents banana growers to ensure a profitable and resilient industry future.
OUR VISION
The ABGC is the recognized and respected authority that enables banana growers to maximise innovation and opportunity. Our 2030 vision is a banana industry that has grasped opportunities with courage and confidence.
What we do
The Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC) is the national industry development organisation for the banana industry.
ABGC runs several industry development projects, and as the industry advocate, it manages strategic industry issues for the industry. These include strategies and representations to governments to address Panama TR4, imports and other biosecurity matters, worker access, best management practice, industry regulations, cyclone impacts; supply chain issues and other industry development issues.
The ABGC also makes representations on behalf of banana growers to Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd (HIA) on issues relating to the investment of levy-based and matched Australian Government funding on research and development and the investment of levy funds into industry marketing programs.
Who we are
The ABGC, founded in 1961, has an eight-member Board who are all banana growers from our major banana growing regions – six are from Queensland, one from New South Wales and one from Western Australia/Northern Territory.
The ABGC’s head office is located at the Brisbane Markets’ South Gate East Commercial Centre in the suburb of Rocklea. Our Communications Manager, Industry Transition Leader (TR4), Best Management Practice team and Plant Health Officer are based in Far North Queensland. ABGC also employs a farm manager to look after the first property infected with Panama TR4, to ensure biosecurity practices are maintained at this now non-operational farm. The ABGC runs a Bunchy Top project with staff in northern NSW and southern Qld. Read more about our team here.
The ABGC is a member of the NFF Horticulture Council, representing most horticultural peak industry bodies and the interests of growers in the horticulture sector.
Banana industry levy
In 2008, a national levy was introduced for banana growers after ABGC ran a successful national ballot. Most of those levy funds are provided by the Australian Government to Hort Innovation to manage federally-matched banana research and development (R&D) and (non-matched) marketing levies. The ABGC makes representations to HIA on industry issues relating to the funding of R&D projects and banana marketing, particularly through representatives on the Strategic Industry Advisory Panels for R&D and Marketing. The other part of the national levy is provided to Plant Health Australia to fund strategic biosecurity activities – for example, to co-fund the TR4 Program in Queensland.
ABGC Strategic Plan 2021-2026
ABGC operates on a five-year strategic plan which will guide ABGC’s activities between 2021 and 2026. This plan targets priority areas to advance the interests of Australia’s commercial banana growers through effective leadership, advocacy, and representation to ensure a strong industry future.
Priority themes were determined through extensive consultation with levy payers and other key stakeholders. During the consultation process, ABGC considered and sought feedback on the banana industry’s strengths, challenges, threats, and opportunities, which allowed the development of four strategic themes:
- Sustainability and resilience through innovation and preparedness.
- Enhanced profitability.
- Develop industry capability
- Enhanced membership.
The strategic plan outlines each theme’s chief areas of focus, key performance indicators, activities required to deliver the strategic and the industry situational analysis on which the strategic plan was based. Annual operating plans will outline the actions ABGC will take each year to achieve the outcomes for each priority theme.
ABGC’s performance will be measured against Key performance indicators and the plan will be reviewed annually to ensure its relevance to industry needs.
To view the strategies for each of the objectives, please download the full Strategic Plan below