Who We Are
The VFF Horticulture Group was formed in 1994 to provide a united voice for Victorian growers on horticultural issues to all levels of government.
The Horticulture Group represents food producers growing tree fruit, berries, vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes, grapes and cut flowers. The Group also represents beekeepers who provide an essential pollination service to the horticulture and grains industries.
Victoria’s Horticulture Industry
The Victorian horticulture sector has over 3700 horticultural businesses and a farm gate value of around $2.4billion.
The industry employs 50,000 full time employees which increases significantly during the November to March harvest period. This makes the industry a significant contributor to the Victorian economy particularly in rural and regional areas.
Member Benefits
The VFF Horticulture Groups provides a range of member benefits that extend to all areas of your business.
You must be a VFF member to take advantage of our skilled staff, the power of our united grower network and our extensive range of products, deals and services.
What We Do
Increasingly growers’ rights to practice efficient and effective farming methods are under threat from urban encroachment, access to water pressures, rising energy, rates and insurance costs.
The VFF Horticulture Group policy priorities focus on issues that have a direct impact on farms and works to reduce the compliance burden for producers. These issues include: Labour issues; Biosecurity and Quarantine; Water issues for irrigators and non-irrigators; Exceptional circumstances assistance and more.
The VFF Beekeepers Section
The apicultural industry is an important player in primary industry in Australia. The industry supports over 200 commodities that rely on honey bee pollination to produce crops.
Alongside their important pollination role, beekeepers derive a large portion of their revenue from producing world class Australian varieties of honey. Australian beekeepers also support apiculture businesses abroad, by exporting packaged honey bees and queen bees to many countries and producing beeswax for cosmetics.
The VFF Beekeepers section works in conjunction with other beekeeping associations and aims at achieving lobbying wins by showing government we are the voice of Victorian horticulture farmers.