ABSTRACT
A common feature of major Australian cities is the presence of a substantial number of commercial vegetable growers at their suburban fringes. This is where the urban population meets rural industry. Vegetable growers have chosen such locations for obvious reasons. Like an increasing number of agricultural sectors across Australia, including the beef, cotton and horticulture industries, the vegetable growers of Victoria have determined to develop a strategy for improved environmental performance. As part of this 'reinvention' strategy, Victorian Environmental Protection Authority (VEPA) has been extolling the virtues of cleaner production for many years (again, not unlike many other progressive environmental regulators). Some vegetable growers are ambivalent, or least hesitant, about the involvement of VEPA as a cleaner production partner. The credibility of growers' efforts may be assisted by VEPA involvement as cleaner-production partners. VEPA is attracted to a cleaner production partnership with the vegetable growers because it closely matches its increasing focus on small business and non-point sources of pollution.
