A draft new constitution was put to the Ausveg board - principally representatives of state-based lobby groups - which would have allowed individual growers to become members of Ausveg and stand for board positions.

The proposed new constitution failed to secure the required 75pc of the vote in favour of the change, going down by just one vote.

But members will be called upon to vote again in a minimum of 90 days time.

"We are prepared to make amendments to the proposed constitution to ensure an effective outcome is achieved for our existing members, and look forward to the implementation of a new constitution to represent a united vegetable industry," Ausveg vice chairman Jeff McSpedden said.

But according to former Ausveg chairman, Mike Badcock, it was a group of executives from the Queensland, NSW, and South Australia grower bodies which scuttled the plan.

"This move was defeated by one vote by some State bodies with a very low membership; for example Growcom (Qld) only represents about 8pc of the vegetable growers in Queensland," Mr Badcock said.

"This goes against all of the strategies of the Vegevision 2020 initiative and the findings of the conclusion of the AVIDG Project that the vegetable industry must have an all-inclusive united membership base.

"I believe that the Federal Government should urgently look at Ausveg's eligibility to be the proscribed body overseeing the expenditure of over $14 million a year in R&D projects, when in fact they do not truly represent all the vegetable growers in Australia.

"It is time for the vegetable growers in Australia to take a stand on national representation for I can't see how Ausveg can proceed while under the control of individual state bodies."

* A full report on the issue will appear in the August issue of Good Fruit and Vegetables magazine.