Your Levy at Work

Webinar: Benchmarking towards better business

A new tool for Australian growers to benchmark their business performance against other production nurseries, will be unveiled at an interactive webinar on Tuesday, 28 May 2019.

The tool aims to improve productivity by assessing core aspects of production businesses, such as turnover, wages and input costs, against those operating in similar segments across the industry.

It forms part of the Nursery Industry Statistics 2017-18 survey, which gathered data and insights from 292 greenlife producers and validated by an inaugural greenlife purchasers survey.

Free for levy payers, the tool enables growers to compare how their business is performing against the current national average, determine the market it primarily operates in through types of plants sold, and compares views on the future of our industry against peers.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) workshops building capacity for plant protection

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Growers and production staff are invited to attend the latest series of upcoming biosecurity workshops,aimed at providing practical tips for improving plant protection from pest insects and mites.

Commencing in June, the workshops will be delivered by Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) as part of the nursery levy funded project Building the resilience and on-farm biosecurity capacity of the Australian production nursery industry (NY15002).

DAF entomologists and pathologists will travel right across the country to provide informative workshops to nursery production staff on preventing pest damage using Integrated Pest Management (IPM). A range of topics will be covered, including: More

GREEN INDUSTRY GROWING LEADERS PROGRAM (2)

The Green Leaders program is underway!

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

The Green Industry Growing Leaders program kicked off in Sydney last week, with a two-day introductory leadership forum.

Led by management consultancy firm, The Right Mind, the program is funded by Hort Innovation using nursery and turf industry levies, and funds from the Australian Government.

This four-month professional development course, is designed to empower motivated representatives from the nursery workforce and support industry growth, by equipping participants with the tools to progress their career and business via explaining and the development of leadership skills.

For the 2019 program, 20 scholarships were awarded to turf or nursery industry levy payers, or workers at these businesses – 15 stemming from the nursery industry.

May Pest of the Month: Potato spindle tuber viroid

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Monday, 6 May 2019

Name: Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd)

Symptoms:

Symptoms are highly variable depending on host, viroid strain and environmental conditions.

Many ornamental species are asymptomatically infected, such as Brugmansia suaveolens, Dahlia sp., Solanum laxum and Streptosolen jamesonii ‘Yellow’.

Potato

Mild strains cause few if any symptoms on the foliage, especially in the earlier generations. More severe strains can cause plant stunting, upright growth habit and, when viewed from above, clockwise phyllotaxy. Leaves are often a darker green than normal, rugose and distorted. Tubers are elongated (or spindle-shaped) and may have surface cracks and very prominent eyes.

Tomato

Mild strains may not cause any symptoms, while severe strains cause plants to appear stunted and bunched due to shortened internodes. Leaves are small with yellowing and purpling, down curling and twisted. Flowers may abort. Fruit size is reduced and ripen erratically. More

Global review of incentive schemes aims to support the establishment & retention of trees in local communities

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Friday, 3 May 2019

A new project is looking at ways to support local communities in retaining existing trees, replacing removed trees and encouraging new trees on commercial and residential land.

Led by the University of Melbourne and RMIT, the nursery levy funded project will run for nine months and include a comprehensive literature review, conversations with leaders in the field, and a series of international workshops.

The main aim is to clarify which mechanisms may be suitable and effective for Australian councils to consider when it comes to retaining and planting more trees in workplaces and homes.

Plant Life Balance: A marketing update

by Levy Communications • NGI Updates

Monday, 29 April 2019

Plant Life Balance has released two updated looks to inspire more greenlife in the workplace and announced their newest ambassador, Jason Chongue from The Plant Society.

Jason co-founded The Plant Society three years ago and has created a greenlife community that seeks to preserve rare and interesting plant species for the next generation.

His mission is to unearth plant knowledge from around the world and pass it on to new and emerging gardeners.

Jason is developing a three-part content series for Plant Life Balance, to provide expert advice and guidance to gardeners, covering propagation right through to design. More