Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme, Australia (NIASA) is the national nursery industry Best Management Practice (BMP) program for production nurseries, growing media manufacturers and greenlife markets and underpins the Australian Plant Production Standard (APPS) – a holistic system designed to ensure a sustainable future for the Australian nursery industry

The NIASA program provides guidelines that describe industry ‘Best Management Practices’ for production nurseries, growing media suppliers and greenlife markets.

The guidelines have been divided into 5 major sections with 16 appendices that guide businesses through best management practices. Preview Here

• Crop hygiene (root disease prevention, and disease, pest and weed control)
• Crop management practices (nutrition and environment control)
• General site management
• Water management and
• Appendices.
  • Suppliers of Growing Media and Media Ingredients
  • Sampling for Major Plant Pathogens
  • Disinfestation Procedures for Nursery Growing Media
  • Sample Record Sheets
  • NIASA Production Nursery Checklist
  • In-ground Plant Production
  • Nursery Industry Water Management Best Practice Guidelines
  • Greenlife Markets
  • NIASA Greenlife Market Checklist
  • NIASA Growing Media Supplier Checklist
  • Freight and Logistics

There is a suite of horticulture specific sub-programs that bolt onto the main NIASA criteria (and are included as appendices). These sub-programs guide business compliance to meet specifications required by cropping sectors including:

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

The guidelines can be used as a reference for the professional operation of production nurseries, growing media suppliers and greenlife markets.  They are also used as the mechanism for independent assessment to gain and maintain the formal NIASA Accreditation status. Assessments are carried out annually by highly skilled authorised and qualified, Lead Auditors using the appropriate NIASA BMP Checklist.

Businesses that attain the formal NIASA BMP Accreditation are provided with their own business portal within the web based Audit Management System (AMS) allowing the business to access electronic record keeping functions, via handheld devices such as mobile phones, tablets, etc., for infield data management.  

Greenlife Industry Australia (GIA) has developed the Audit management system portal. The AMS is a secure web- based system that member businesses can easily use in their daily management of on-farm activities.

The system allows the digital collection and interrogation of a range of reports important to plant protection.

• Crop monitoring
• Site surveillance
• Sticky trap use
• Biological Organism release
• Material Import/dispatch
• Vehicle inspection
• Weed monitoring
• Chemical applications
• Disinfestation – Sanitations
• Equipment calibration

The allocation of staff roles and responsibilities within the AMS allows businesses to streamline the recording, collection, and evaluation of these reports using phones, iPad, and any other digital device. For more information regarding the AMS please contact GIA:  [email protected]

Accredited Businesses proudly display the relevant NIASA sign.

The NIASA logo represents:

• Consistent product quality and performance
• A professional workplace open to continuous improvement
• Improved profitability and efficiency within the workplace
• Compliance to a standard through independent auditing and evaluation.

For more information on creating a sustainable future for your business by implementing NIASA, please contact GIA:  [email protected]