R&D update: Where are costs and emissions really coming from in your nursery?
24 July 2026
24 July 2026
Energy bills climbing. Packaging costs eating into margins. Customers asking questions about environmental performance that you’re not quite sure how to answer.
These are the kinds of pressures many growers are already dealing with, and new findings from a national nursery benchmarking project are starting to show where they are most concentrated. Built from operational data collected from nurseries across Australia, the project examined the main inputs driving greenhouse gas emissions across nursery production and identified four key areas that influence emissions: packaging, electricity, growing media and fuel.
Why it matters on the ground
One of the strongest findings is packaging. The project identified polypropylene pots and polystyrene plug trays as some of the largest contributors to overall emissions across the production system, making packaging one of the clearest areas for growers to review.
Electricity is another major pressure point. When irrigation, climate control, lighting and processing are considered together, energy use becomes a much bigger part of the picture than many growers expect - for both emissions and operating costs.
Growing media also deserves closer attention. Inputs like potting mix and peat carry embedded impacts before they even arrive on site, which means part of your footprint is already built in before production begins.
Fuel use remains a significant cost, too. Diesel, LPG, petrol and natural gas used in vehicles, machinery and heating are often hard to track clearly, which can make it harder to see where savings opportunities sit.
A benchmark growers can use
The project identified an Australian nursery benchmark of 0.42 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e) per litre of container size. In practical terms, that means a typical 10 L plant carries around 4.2 kg CO2-e before it leaves the nursery gate. The paper compares that to the emissions produced by driving a passenger vehicle approximately 22 km, giving growers a more practical way to picture the benchmark.
That figure is not about passing or failing. It gives growers a reference point for understanding where their nursery may sit relative to the wider industry. If your operation is above that level, there may be areas worth investigating. If it is below it, you may be better placed to respond when customers ask for that information.
What growers can do now
You do not need to wait for the benchmarking calculator to start acting on this. Start by reviewing packaging inputs, looking at electricity use across the whole business, tracking fuel more closely and paying more attention to growing media inputs.
A benchmarking calculator and full report are expected to be available through the GIA website in late 2026. For more information, contact the thinkstep-anz team at meet@thinkstep-anz.com or +61 2 8007 3330.
