THE Horticulture Australia Council is dealing with an $80,000 shortfall in membership fees.
This is the result of the collapse of managed investment scheme operators Timbercorp and Great Southern and non-payment by other member organisations.
HAC chief executive Kris Newton said donations were also still being sought for the Award Modernisation Fighting Fund which aimed to raise $1 million when it was launched earlier this year.
The lobby group, which lists 17 horticulture peak bodies on its website as members, finished 2008-09 more than $97,000 in the red.
This was partly due to a bad debt expense of $61,600 which was written off.
Ms Newton said the MIS umbrella group, Agricultural Investment Managers Australia, which joined HAC in late 2006, had not paid its fees this year and appeared to have "dissolved". However, she declined to state the amount owing.
Fees are calculated on a sliding scale, based on the gross value of the production of each industry and range from $5000 to $22,000.
"In combination with some other industries, our shortfall this year was at least $80,000," Ms Newton said.
"We believe we now have a way (to make up the shortfall) but that's in the lap of the gods."
Ms Newton said the Award Modernisation Fighting Fund was separate to HAC's operational funding and was set up to cover the cost of lobbying for changes to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission's draft new Horticulture Award released in April.
Just $15,260 had been received by the original June 30 deadline for donations to the fighting fund.
Ms Newton said the original figure of $1 million was set in the hope that "we'd get at least half of that because that seemed to be what we needed at the time".
Ms Newton said the new award was due to be handed down by December 25 and Federal Industrial Relations Minister Julia Gillard last week said the AIRC should offer affected parties the opportunity to put in submissions to vary transitional arrangements
Ms Newton said the only growers to be affected by the first phase of the new award from January 1 would be incorporated organisations and respondents to a federal award.
"Most of horticulture is unincorporated - they're sole traders, partnerships and so forth," she said.
"The next rollout on July 1 is when wages will kick in, and for everybody else, that will be the first impact they're going to feel, apart from everyone being obliged to follow the new Fair Work Australia legislation which has just been passed."
