Your Levy

What is the turf levy?
A levy is imposed on Australian-produced turf when it is sold or used by the producer. The R&D levy is 1.2 cents per square metre, and the marketing levy is 0.3 cents per square metre. Collected by the Australian Government, the funds are managed by Hort Innovation, which collaborates with the industry to invest in strategic R&D initiatives. Detailed information on levy rates and payment procedures is available on the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources’ website.

Turf levy fund management

Hort Innovation invests the Australian turf levy into research, development, extension and marketing projects that support a profitable and sustainable turf industry. Turf Australia’s role is to represent grower interests, help shape priorities, and communicate the outcomes of these investments back to industry.

Key planning documents

Turf levy investments are guided by a set of formal plans and documents:

· Turf Strategic Investment Plan (SIP) 2022–2026 – sets the long‑term vision, outcomes and priority areas for levy investment in the turf industry.

· Turf Annual Investment Plan (AIP) – outlines how levy funds will be invested each financial year against the SIP, including current and proposed R&D, extension and marketing projects.

· Project agreements and final reports – detail what each project will deliver, its budget, milestones and outcomes.

· Research reports, fact sheets and tools – grower‑ready outputs (e.g. guides, case studies, calculators) produced from levy‑funded projects.

Turf Australia helps make these documents easier to find and understand, and promotes relevant outputs through TurfConnect, QuickCuts and grower resources as part of the levy-funded Communications Project (TU22000)

Funding categories

Within the SIP and AIP, turf levy investments are grouped under four broad outcome areas:

· Demand creation – activities that build awareness, understanding and preference for natural turf.

· Industry supply, productivity and sustainability – R&D that improves production efficiency, product quality, resource use and environmental performance.

· Extension and capability – extension, training and communications that help growers adopt new practices and build skills.

· Business insights – data, benchmarking and analysis that provide better market and business information for growers and the wider industry.

How investment ideas are generated

Ideas for new turf levy investments can come from growers, Turf Australia, researchers, consultants and other industry participants. All ideas are considered against the turf SIP to ensure they align with agreed industry priorities before they progress.

Growers – submit ideas anytime.

Growers are invited to submit their ideas at any time at Hort Innovation’s investment idea form or by contacting staff directly:

· Submit an idea online: Hort Innovation investment idea form – edms.horticulture.com.au/forms/ideas

· Talk to someone: contact a Hort Innovation employee – horticulture.com.au/hort-innovation/contact-us

Industry participants and delivery partners

Industry participants and delivery partners can contact a Hort Innovation employee directly if they have an idea outside of the SIP consultation process or want to discuss a potential concept or collaboration.

From idea to funded project

Once ideas are received and checked against the SIP:

· Hort Innovation and industry refine good ideas into investment concepts.

· A turf advisory group – made up mainly of levy‑paying growers plus industry and research representatives – reviews concepts and provides advice on which should be prioritised based on impact, feasibility and available funds.

· Hort Innovation then procures delivery partners and manages projects to agreed milestones, budgets and reporting requirements.
Current and completed projects, along with associated resources, can be viewed on the Hort Innovation turf fund pages and are shared with growers through Turf Australia communications.

Turf Australia’s role

Turf Australia:

· Engages with growers to understand needs and gather ideas.

· Contributes to SIP and AIP discussions on behalf of levy payers.

· Helps promote levy‑funded projects and encourage participation.

· Translates project results into practical information and tools that growers can apply on the farm.

This partnership between growers, Turf Australia and Hort Innovation helps ensure the turf levy is invested transparently and delivers tangible value back to the industry.