Fair Farms: Changing the compliance story in Australian horticulture
Fair Farms was launched in 2019 in direct response to the Harvest Trail Inquiry, which revealed that half of the 638 horticultural businesses investigated had breached workplace laws.
One of the inquiry’s key recommendations was the need for practical support to help both large and small farming operations navigate a complex regulatory environment. The aim: ensure growers can understand and meet their obligations to workers—particularly in areas like labour contracting, record-keeping, pay slips, and piecework arrangements. It also emphasised the importance of co-designing solutions with industry to tackle the root causes of non-compliance and drive meaningful behavioural change.
Queensland Fruit & Vegetable Growers (QFVG) saw a valuable opportunity to take the lead in this space—and so, Fair Farms was born.
But what about audits you may ask – where did they come from? These were not driven by farmers, but by retailers. The inquiry noted that to assure consumers their produce was ethically sourced, retailers required independent auditing and certification. It’s no coincidence this was the same year the Australian Government introduced the Modern Slavery Act, compelling large businesses to report on their supply chain practices.
So Fair Farms became both an education and support initiative for growers, and a market access tool for retailers, placing us squarely in the middle of the social compliance conversation. Social compliance was an emerging industry then (and in fact it still is) so for the last six years we have been on a journey of continuous improvement alongside our growers.
For our growers, it has meant real, measurable change with 452 businesses certified, 890 audits completed, 126,000 questions answered and19,685 workers employed by Fair Farms-registered businesses.
These numbers speak volumes. They point to an industry taking responsibility and improving its image—transforming the old narrative into one of strong, fair employment practices.
For the program, it has meant becoming a robust, industry-led training and certification initiative that’s recognised nationally. It has also meant adapting to meet evolving industry needs. That’s why we’ve recently launched two key initiatives:
The Labour Hire Provider Certification, which targets one of the highest-risk areas in horticultural social compliance
The Non-Audit Pathway (NAP), an entry-level option offering essential training and support for businesses not yet ready or required to undertake a full audit
‘Industry-developed’ and ‘compliance’ aren’t words you often hear together. But at Fair Farms, that’s exactly what we’ve built—and we’re proud to be working with growers, not against them, to help shape a better future for Australian horticulture.
