Your Levy at Work
Chestnut LEVY
Chestnuts 2017/18 (July – March)
R&D program investment – $ 51,758.00
Marketing program investment – $ 23,672.00
What is the chestnut levy?
The statutory chestnut levy is money gathered from growers across Australia to fund
- research and development (R&D) projects with the objective to improve growers’ productivity and profitability and ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry
- marketing activities to promote chestnuts to the consumer
- biosecurity activities through the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed
The chestnut levy has an
- R&D component of $0.05 cents with $0.0.5 cents of the R&D levy used to pay for the Plant Health Australia membership, and
- $0.05 cents for Marketing, and
- An Emergency Plant Pest Response levy set at $0.01 cent
During 2017/18 your levy helped fund an investment of almost $80,000 in chestnut industry R&D and Marketing projects. In addition, the 1 cent Emergency Plant Pest Response levy was used to pay the chestnut industry’s 20% share of the chestnut blight eradication program.
Who manages the chestnut levy?
The levy is collected by the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, and investment of these R&D and Marketing funds are managed by Horticulture Innovation Australia (Hort Innovation), a not-for-profit, grower-owned Research and Development Corporation (RDC) for Australia’s $9 billion horticulture industry.
The Emergency Plant Pest Response Levy is managed by Plant Health Australia.
Chestnuts Australia Inc. works with industry to determine the split between Marketing and R&D. The R&D allocation attracts dollar for dollar matching contributions from the Federal Government.
Where is the levy invested?
To help ensure R&D and Marketing investment decisions are prioritised by the needs of the chestnut industry, Hort Innovation has established Strategic Investment Advisory Panels (SIAP’s).