Greenlife Industry Australia (GIA) is Australia’s national peak industry body for production and retail nursery businesses. GIA owns and administers the Australian Plant Production Standard (APPS) and the operating guidelines for the 3 programs within it (NIASA, EcoHort and BioSecure HACCP). GIA works in partnership with state/territory Nursery & Garden Industry (NGI’s) bodies to deliver services to industry. This includes the facilitating and support of businesses to attain formal accreditation and certification of production nurseries, greenlife markets and growing media manufacturers.

The Australian nursery industry invests approximately $2 million annually into research and development projects and programs via the Nursery Products Levy administered by Hort Innovation Ltd.  A major aim of this investment is to provide industry with the most up to date technical information across key production areas including irrigation, growing media,  plant protection/biosecurity (pests, diseases & weeds), pesticides, environment, energy and cropping system design and development.  This investment has delivered world class results and identified many areas that growers can improve their cropping system, adopt new technology and techniques and implement change at a business level.  GIA has collated all the relevant information which businesses can now easily access via this website under the tabs ‘TECHNICAL INFORMATION’ and ‘RESEARCH REPORTS’ on the ‘HOME’ page.

GIA is building a portfolio of on-line eLearning courses. They are subject specific, tailored for easy access and provide flexible learning to suit the needs of industry whether they be business owners, managers, supervisors or staff.  The courses cover areas including best management practices, plant protection procedures through to BioSecure HACCP compliance training, which is essential to utilising the program for intra and interstate market access. This website offers the entry into the eLearning portal for industry via the ‘ELEARNING’ tab on the ‘HOME’ page.

Australian Plant Production Standard 

The Australian Plant Production Standard (APPS) – formerly the Nursery Production Farm Management System (NPFMS) is the overarching framework for the Australian nursery industry’s Best Management Practice (BMP) programs.  It binds the industry developed on-farm systems for production nurseries, growing media manufacturers and greenlife markets which encourage Best Management Practice, Plant Protection, Biosecurity, Environmental and Natural Resource Management.  Each program offers an audited formal accreditation and/or certification process that evaluates a participating business against documented compliance criteria.

There are three programs that form the APPS. They include NIASA (Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme, Australia) Best Management Practice, the environmental and natural resource management system EcoHort and the on-farm plant protection and biosecurity program BioSecure HACCP.  The resources for each program can be accessed via the relevant tab on the ‘HOME’ page.

NIASA has a suite of horticulture specific sub-programs that bolt onto the main NIASA criteria. These sub-programs guide business compliance to meet specifications required by cropping sectors including:

1. Avocado Nursery Stock Specification
2. Banana Nursery Stock Specification
3. Landscape Tree Stock Specification
4. Macadamia Nursery Stock Specification
5. Equivalence: Australian Strawberry Runner Accreditation Scheme (Container grown) 

Detailed information regarding these specifications can be accessed by purchasing a copy of the NIASA Best Management Practice Guidelines via the ‘NIASA’ tab on the ‘HOME’ page.

Any Australian production nursery, greenlife market or growing media manufacturer may purchase a copy of any one or all three program guidelines and implement the specific criteria within each program to improve their business and apply to GIA for formal accreditation/certification if required.

 A number of state NGI’s have technical support that may be accessed, either as a fee for service or as a member benefit, to assist growers in the implementation of the programs (NIASA & EcoHort) within the APPS.  Contact details for the various NGI’s can be found under the ‘TECHNICAL PROVIDERS’ tab on the ‘HOME’ page.

 NOTE:  Please contact GIA for all queries and assistance relevant to BioSecure HACCP.

 For further information on the APPS please use this website to access the guidelines and manuals for each relevant program or contact GIA via [email protected]