Horticulture Compliance Report

Find out how we improved and promoted compliance in the horticulture sector.

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About the horticulture sector

The horticulture sector is important to the Australian economy. It has one of the highest rates of small businesses and employs 260,000 workers. The sector supplies fresh produce domestically and internationally.

We have made the agriculture sector an ongoing priority area due to some high-risk characteristics, including:

  • the manually intensive, often low-skilled and seasonal nature of work
  • the high use of labour hire arrangements and multi-tiered labour supply chains
  • a high proportion of vulnerable workers
  • the location of work, often remote.

Harvest Trail Inquiry Report

In 2018, we published the Harvest Trail Inquiry Report that identified key drivers of non-compliance in the sector.

We also set up a Reference Group of key employers and employees to consider the findings, outcomes and recommendations of the report. Find out more about the Harvest Trail Inquiry.

Horticulture Compliance Report

Building on the Harvest Trail Inquiry Report, we developed the Horticulture Strategy to improve and promote compliance in the horticulture, viticulture and agriculture sectors.

Download the Horticulture Compliance Report

Key findings

From December 2021 through to November 2024, we investigated growers and labour hire providers in 15 key regional hot spots identified as high-risk for non-compliance with workplace laws.

Our Inspectors made 360 site visits and started 512 investigations into compliance levels with the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act).

Our key findings included:

  • 68% of non-compliance was from labour hire providers
  • non-compliance by growers didn’t seem to be deliberate
  • piecework requirements were not met including record keeping and payment of the guaranteed minimum hourly rate
  • poor record-keeping and incorrect pay slips continue to be a major problem in the sector
  • growers had a good understanding of their obligations but arrangements for working with labour hire providers were inconsistent.

Enforcement outcomes

We took the following enforcement actions:

  • 166 infringement notices issued with $760,405 in penalties imposed
  • 95 compliance notices issued with $384,168 recovered for 464 workers
  • one enforceable undertaking with $126,859 recovered for making deductions that weren’t permitted.

We remain committed to changing employer and sector behaviours where there is non-compliance.

Video: Horticulture Compliance Report

Watch our short video of the Fair Work Ombudsman, Anna Booth, talking about the Horticulture Compliance Report.

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