Show me the data
In the last week I’ve read three important draft reports on the state of labour and accommodation shortages in Australia in particular, Queensland. The amount of information which has been, and is continuing to be, collated around these vital components of the horticultural sector over the past two years is unprecedented. One would think the fact that three reports are being compiled is a good thing, and don’t get me wrong, it absolutely is, if there wasn’t one huge issue. Bad data.
To demonstrate the case in point, it seemed from these reports that one very prominent growing region in Queensland didn’t exist at all (wasn’t mentioned in the report) and that numbers in horticulture workers Australia wide topped 6000 full time equivalent employees for the 2021-22 financial year. Now even for a newbie advocate in all thing’s horticulture, I not only know the missing region exists, but I also know it has huge labour and accommodation issues due to its proximity to tourism. Not only do they compete with tourists for accommodation, but they also compete for available workers, both things the report was focused on. And as for the 6000 FTEs in Australian horticulture, I don’t even know where to start in my response.
If there’s one thing I’d like you to take away from this week’s column it is the need to make time to answer surveys and census questions. And the second ask, is to answer them as accurately as possible. From someone who has worked in government, take it from me, information collected in these ways forms the basis of many, very important decisions.
One localised report noted the response to mail out surveys to vegetable producers is generally around or under 20%. We all know vegetable growers are not alone with their poor response to requests for information. You’re exceptionally busy, we get it. It’s the last thing you feel like doing, absolutely understand but reliable and timely information is the only way to make good decisions and persuade others to do so too.
We know horticulture is a foundational pillar of our state and national economy. We know horticulture is massively undervalued as most data is collected at farm gate and not within the supply chain. We know that horticulture has unique labour and accommodation requirements. The trick is to gather data, so that others can value horticulture accurately also.
