National Vegetable R&D Summit

8:30am (for a 9:00am start) - 5:00pm, Tuesday 27 October

Deakin Downtown, 727 Collins St, Docklands VIC 3008

AUSVEG and Hort Innovation invite Australia’s leading nutrition and behavioural scientists, health and food system experts, industry stakeholders and settings-based organisations to participate in the inaugural National Vegetable R&D Summit for the Plus One Serve of Vegetables by 2030 Program.

Australia’s alarmingly low vegetable consumption is a complex, system-wide challenge that requires coordinated action across research, health, government, industry and community.

While the Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend around five serves of vegetables each day, Australians consume an average of just 1.8 serves per person per day. The consequences are far-reaching. Low vegetable consumption contributes to poorer health and wellbeing and a growing burden of preventable chronic disease. This challenge is further compounded by cost-of-living pressures and more pronounced for priority populations and communities in regional and rural Australia. At the same time, declining demand is placing increasing pressure on Australian vegetable growers, with implications for farm viability, regional economies and the long-term resilience of our domestic food system.

What people eat is influenced by the environments and systems around them: affordability and accessibility, convenience, food environments, knowledge and skills, social and cultural norms, and behavioural drivers all shape everyday choices.

Increasing vegetable consumption therefore requires us to meet consumers where they are - across the Settings where they live, learn, work, connect and play - and build the evidence for interventions that address these barriers, influence the environments around them, and can be scaled to achieve meaningful and sustained behaviour change.

Shaping the National Vegetable Research Agenda

The Plus One Serve program has a strong foundational understanding of the key gaps and opportunities that can shape future research. This has been developed through the collaborative co-design of the National Strategy, Settings-based work undertaken, and Community Listening insights. The National Vegetable R&D Summit is designed to work forwards from this – with a focus on identifying the research needed to address those gaps and accelerate progress.

On the day, we will build on what we know - stepping through each priority Setting, drawing on the latest evidence and emerging insights, and inviting research submissions and expert input to help advance the national research agenda.

Objectives:

·       Showcase and share global best practice evidence, latest research and key initiatives influencing vegetable consumption.

·       Align on priority research themes that address known gaps and opportunities across each Plus One Serve Setting.

·       Strengthen collaboration between researchers, settings-based organisations, industry, health and government.

·       Inform a coordinated national research agenda supporting increased vegetable consumption, better health and wellbeing and a sustainable Australian vegetable industry.

How the day will work

The Summit will involve progressively working through the five priority Settings: Home, Retail, Early Childhood Education and Care, Primary Education and Outside School Hours Care, and Secondary and Tertiary Education. Rather than revisiting the problem definition, each discussion will focus on what the latest evidence and expert perspectives tell us about the research required to close known gaps, test promising interventions and support action at scale.

What do we know? Explore the environmental, social and behavioural drivers of consumption, the barriers and enablers to change, and what evidence tells us works to increase intake.

What are we learning? Share latest research and initiatives that are generating new evidence.

What research is required to address known gaps and opportunities? Build from the foundational understanding already established to identify priority questions, evidence needs and opportunities for collaboration.

What do we need to investigate next? Identify research submissions, expert input and future R&D opportunities that can advance the agenda and support practical, scalable solutions.

From Evidence to Action

The desired outcome of the Summit is a nationally aligned, evidence-informed set of priority research themes across each Plus One Serve Setting. These priorities will form the foundation of a coordinated research roadmap, guiding future R&D investment, collaboration and project development to build the evidence needed to increase vegetable consumption at scale.

Registrations

We invite you to bring your expertise, evidence and ideas to the table to help identify the research required to advance the agenda to achieve one more serve of vegetables per person per day by 2030.

Registrations are open until 12 October 2026. Please register your attendance here.

There is no fee for attendance of the summit.

Places are limited. Please confirm attendance as soon as possible.

Call for Abstract Submissions

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words via email to info@plusoneserve.com.au by 1 October 2026. Submissions should focus on evidence, emerging insights and research across the Plus One Serve Settings. The abstract should include references in brief format* and cite them in the text. You will receive notification of the submission outcome by 7 October 2026.

Once notified, presenters are encouraged to develop a research poster and handouts for display on the day. The poster submission deadline is 21 October 2026 to ensure time for printing.

There are no fees associated with abstracts for this summit.

*e.g. 1 Healy B, et al. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 2010; 7: 339–50.

Plus One Serve of Vegetables by 2030 

Led by AUSVEG, powered by Hort Innovation

The Plus One Serve program (VG23016) is funded by Hort Innovation, using the Vegetable research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture.