Hort Innovation: Insect Destruction in Leafy Vegetables
Opportunity for
- Innovators, problem solvers, and innovative organisations to join Hort Innovation in addressing insect destruction in leafy vegetables before export.
Opportunity description
Industry challenge
Exporters of Australian vegetables especially leafy green vegetables (eg. lettuce) face problems with the rejection of leafy green vegetables at either pre-export inspection or at import arrival inspections, due to the presence of live insects on the vegetables. Whereas leafy green produce that contains dead insects at these inspections do not face the same produce rejection issues.
Most insects on leafy green vegetables are incidental ‘hitchikers’ rather than insect pest species. Non-pesticide based methods are preferable due to customer concerns over pesticide residues.
The currently only available non-pesticide based method to treat vegetables to kill insects is irradiation but some export customers do not want irradiated produce, irradiation also requires shipping produce to a centralised irradiation plant which creates additional logistics requirements and transport costs.
Microwave and hot air based methods to kill insects in fruit and nuts have been developed that are also suitable for placement in produce packing lines on-farm. But microwave and hot air based methods are not suitable for leafy green vegetables due to the vegetables high moisture content which leads to produce damage during treatment.
Current opportunity
Hort Innovation is searching globally for innovative technologies and ideas that can kill insects in leafy green produce during packing prior to export.
We are particularly interested in solutions that:
- Are not pesticide based
- Do not affect produce quality
- Can be utilised during packing on-farm prior to export
- Do not have high capital investment requirements
Possible areas of innovation include (but are not limited to):
- Microwave or other radio frequency based treatments that are suitable for leafy green vegetables
- Novel methods to kill insects while not affecting produce quality
- Biological or ecological pest control approaches
Solutions may come from industrial sciences, food science, agriculture, robotics, defence, AI, pest management, ecology, environmental monitoring or other industries. We are particularly interested in ideas that challenge existing produce disinfestation treatment approaches and introduce new capabilities to horticulture.
To find out more, visit the challenge on LEO and apply by July 14, 2026.
As part of your Challenge solution response, please include:
- An identification of technical readiness level
- A budget and delivery timeframe
Opportunity background
Hort Innovation is Australia’s grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for the horticulture industry, focused on boosting productivity, profitability, and global competitiveness. We partner with Australian and international co-investors including government, leading science, technology, and consumer strategy experts to anticipate future challenges and opportunities.
This Challenge is part of Hort Innovation’s global search for technologies that can transform productivity and sustainability in horticulture.
Selected innovators may have the opportunity to:
- Engage with Hort Innovation and the Australian vegetable industry
- Explore opportunities for pilot trials and industry demonstrations
- Connect with growers, researchers and industry partners
- Develop solutions to address a significant agricultural pest challenge
Promising concepts may lead to future R&D investment, trials or commercial partnerships, but please also note that funding is not guaranteed.
"RDC"