Horticulture Emissions Traceability Project

“Experience across the sector tells us that the integrity of any future emissions credential depends less on the sophistication of the accounting method and more on the quality of the data feeding it.”

Dr Danielle Gale, Director of Planfarm TerraWise and Carbon Advisor

The Challenge – We already collect loads of data

Horticulture growers are facing increasing demands for traceability, emissions reporting and sustainability credentials, along with greater scrutiny of the data behind those claims.

The challenge is meeting these demands without creating additional data collection, duplication, administration and cost, while ensuring the information is reliable and trusted.

The Opportunity – Share credentials, not data

HETP will first look at what production data is already being collected across horticultural businesses, where it comes from, how it is managed, and how consistent and verifiable it is.

The project starts with five simple questions about the data growers already hold:

• Does it exist?
• Is it digital?
• Can it be shared?
• Does it connect?
• Is it trusted?

It will then demonstrate how trusted information can be securely shared between systems and participants across the supply chain. The project is intentionally designed to work with existing farm software and data systems rather than create new technology requirements.

The intent is not to create a final certification scheme. Instead, it will show how a future industry-wide emissions credential could work in practice, including the data requirements, governance and assurance processes needed to support it. From there, the project will explore how this data can support carbon accounting, emissions-intensity reporting and supply chain traceability.

The Project

Showing how an emissions-intensity credential could work in practice

Get involved – Help shape what gets built

The Horticulture Emissions Traceability Project is building a shared approach so data can be collected once and then reused for upcoming emissions reporting, aligned with the AATP and VEERG.

Growers, packers, buyers, technology providers and industry bodies will all have a chance to have their say.

Take the short industry survey. Your answers will directly shape how the framework is designed, so it works for real businesses and not just on paper.

This project is delivered by Planfarm Pty Ltd, and is supported by grant funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry under the National Agricultural Traceability Grants Program, Round 4 (TGP4-027). The project is delivered in collaboration with Trust Provenance, Agricultural Innovation Australia (AIA) and AgTrace, and acknowledges the commitment and involvement of the participating pilot producers and the broader horticulture supply chain.