WA Grower Magazine Autumn 2020

VOL. 55 NO 1. AUTUMN 2020 $25.00 (inc GST)

wa

grower WORKING FOR WA GROWERS SINCE 1948

Understanding soil pH

in commercial vegetable production Irrigation system assessments

Horticulture sector braces for

coronavirus impact This issue of the WA Grower is brought to you by vegetablesWA together with: • APC — Vegetable Producers Committee • Potato Growers Association • Pomewest • WA Citrus • Stonefruit WA

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inside Your vegetablesWA magazine

8 YOUR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS CEO’S Report President’s Report YOUR PRODUCTION How does your system perform?

3

Manjimup soccer tournament

44

4

Coronavirus impact

46

Value Chain Facilitator Update

78

6

evokeAG. goes west in 2021

48

The sweet aftertaste of success

79

Industry-led certification program

50

VegNET IEO Update

52

Pathology test results

80

Stonefruit WA in retail

82

7 8

WA POTATOES

53

LAMP technology

10

Hot opportunity for chilli

12

Executive Officer’s Report

54

Focus on tree fruit microbial

14

Egypt export potential

55

Vegetable leafminer

16

Grower profile — Bronwyn Fox

56

Hand weeding ultimately pays off

18

Grand Lane Fish House

58

Beauty below the blemishes

20

Dispelling myths about potatoes

59

Potato, lamb and date tagine

60

Soil biology and weed management 22 Understanding soil pH

24

Fall armyworm detected in Australia 26 Research hits the snail on the head 28 Foodborne illness in fresh produce

80

46

32

Permits 115 TOOL TIME

35

YOUR INDUSTRY

39

STONEFRUIT WA

77

YOUR BUSINESS

83

The financial health of your business 84 Food defence and fraud in practice

86

Prepare for bushfire seasons to come 88 Meter installation reporting

90

On-farm power generation options

92

Mapping a plan to success

94

61

The lucky country

96

Executive Manager’s Report

62

Workers accommodation

99

A new direction

64

Irrigation system assessments

Workers compensation pilot

66

Superficial scald

68

Growing Season Update

70

POMEWEST

WA CITRUS

73

Battle against European wasp

40

From the industry

74

Growing Leaders

42

Biosecurity

75

Vegetable crop nutrition

43

Markets 76

YOUR MARKET

100 103

Export opportunities for growers

104

Grower case study — Fox Farms

108

Understanding market access

110

VIETNAMESE TRANSLATIONS

112

WHAT'S ON

120

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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VOL. 55 NO 1. AUTUMN 2020

WORKING FOR WA GROWERS SINCE 1948

YOUR CONTACTS

contacts vegetablesWA

Management Committee

702-704 Murray Street, West Perth WA 6005 t: (08) 9486 7515 e: office@vegetableswa.com.au

President Dan Kuzmicich m: 0408 910 761

Chief Executive Officer John Shannon m: 0488 111 526 e: john.shannon@vegetableswa.com.au Editor Amber Atkinson t: (08) 9486 7515 e: amber.atkinson@vegetableswa.com.au COVER IMAGE: Mateus and Mario preparing fruit for export.

Photo © Melissa Denning

Published by vegetablesWA This issue of the WA Grower is brought to you by: • vegetablesWA • APC — Vegetable Producers Committee • Potato Growers Association • Pomewest • WA Citrus • Stonefruit WA

© 2020 All articles and other material published in this magazine is vegetablesWA copyright (unless otherwise stated) and may not be reproduced in part or full without the written permission of the authors and publisher.

DISCLAIMER: vegetablesWA make no representations and expressly disclaims all warranties (to the extent permitted by law) about the accuracy, completeness, or currency of information in WA Grower.

Reliance on any information provided by vegetablesWA is entirely at your own risk. vegetablesWA is not responsible for, and will not be liable for, any loss, damage, claim, expense, cost (including legal costs) or other liability arising in any way, including from any vegetablesWA or other person’s negligence or otherwise from your use or non-use of WA Grower, or from reliance on information contained in the material or that vegetablesWA provide to you by any other means.

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Office Manager Karen Raybould t: (08) 9486 7515 e: karen.raybould@vegetableswa.com.au Vietnamese Industry Extension Officer Truyen Vo m: 0457 457 559 e: truyen.vo@vegetableswa.com.au Industry Extension Officer Sam Grubiša m: 0427 373 037 e: sam.grubisa@vegetableswa.com.au Benchmark Lead Bryn Edwards m: 0417 409 821 e: bryn.edwards@vegetableswa.com.au Quality Assurance Coordinator Joel Dinsdale m: 0417 857 675 e: joel.dinsdale@vegetableswa.com.au Export Development Project Lead Manus Stockdale m: 0448 897 652 e: manus.stockdale@vegetableswa.com.au Labour Scheme Facilitator Melissa Denning m: 0477 477 044 e: melissa.denning@vegetableswa.com.au

Life Members

A.J. Anderson*, D.J. Arbuckle, J. Arbuckle Snr*, J.H. Arbuckle* (M.B.E.J.P), H.R. Ashby*, S. Calameri, M. Dobra, A. Harris*, A. Ingrilli, G. Kiriros*, R.G. Leach*, F. Natoli, S. Sawle*, R.M. Schultz, C.P. Stevens, W.R. Stevens* (M.B.E.J.P) and J. Turley. * Deceased

Carnarvon

Vice President Maurice Grubiša m: 0413 050 182 Metro North Committee Peter Dobra m: 0408 616 515 Gingin Lauren East m: 0419 047 371 Manjimup Paul Glavocich m: 0413 922 287 Gingin Peter Ivankovich m: 0428 919 211 Myalup Anthony Lieu m: 0401 558 886 Metro North Duc Nguyen t: (08) 9941 8376 Carnarvon Paul Shain m: 0419 041 045 Carnarvon

Agricultural Produce Commission APC Manager Ingrid Behr t: (08) 9368 3127 e: APCManager@dpird.wa.gov.au

Advertising For information on WA Grower advertising rates and sizing please go to: www.vegetableswa.com.au/wa-growersmagazine and click on the download media kit link.

YOUR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

your

industry association

Your industry associations

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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YOUR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

vegetablesWA

CEO’s Report T

BY JOHN SHANNON CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA

he year 2020 is shaping up to provide a range of significant challenges as well as significant opportunities for the vegetable industry all over again.

Our staff have had a busy start to the year.

Bryn and the Planfarm guys have been finishing off this year’s data gathering from growers for the benchmarking initiative.

They’ll now be crunching the data and will be producing the individual reports, as well as the industry averages in forthcoming months.

A key priority for vegetablesWA of late has been opposing and advising the Department of Water and Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development about the proposed reductions to water entitlements on the Gnangara Mound.

We have also been tackling the proposed changes to the Commonwealth government export cost recovery model.

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Manus, our Export Development Project Lead has been working with WA businesses to apply for funded position on AUSVEG’s trade show programs.

Due to the rapidly spreading coronvirus the Singapore and Japan trade shows have been postponed.

For the vegetable industry there may be limitations on key inputs such as labour, chemicals and fertiliser; there may also be influences on demand.

The upside is that at this stage it looks anecdotally like the demand for fresh Western Australian vegetables has actually increased as the public seeks to improve their health by increasing their consumption of local produce.

If you’d like to know more about the Seasonal Workers and Pacific Labour Schemes, give Melissa a call at the office.

Three WA business attended the Gulfoods Trade Show in Dubai this month and multiple growers applied to attend FoodEX Japan and Food Hotel Asia which are planned for March.

Whilst the bushfire blocking the Eyre Highway has long since passed, I fear we are only at the beginning of dealing with the threat posed by the coronavirus.

vegetablesWA will always seek to improve the position of our growers, however the scale of this event at a national and international level means that there will be a limit to what we can achieve.

The first group of Timorese workers arranged by the scheme arrived in late January, which is great news.

After months of hard work Melissa Denning, the vegetablesWA Labour Scheme Facilitator, opened the Pan Nation Cup soccer tournament in Manjimup.

The cup was held on Australia Day and saw 190 Timorese, Fijian and Tongan seasonal farm workers arrive in Manjimup for a round robin soccer tournament soccer.

The workers are in Australia as part of the national Seasonal Workers and Pacific Labour Schemes and work across 10 farms in the south west of WA. Since the start of the Labour Scheme Facilitator project in August last year we have assisted five employers to access the schemes to become approved.

We will update growers via our e-news weekly on what trade shows and conferences are being impacted over the next few months.

Manus has also placed a video on how to determine export market access for vegetable growers using the MICoR website onto ‘YouTube’, which is worth watching.

In addition to the usual extension activities undertaken by the team, Truyen was recently in Darwin assisting Nuffield Scholar Bao Nguyen from Geraldton with his presentation at a Protected Cropping R&D Forum.

It’s been another busy quarter at vegetablesWA; if there’s anything we can do to assist you please give us a call.

MORE INFORMATION John Shannon, phone 0488 111 526 or email john.shannon@vegetableswa.com.au

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YOUR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

vegetablesWA

President’s Report

BY DAN KUZMICICH PRESIDENT, VEGETABLESWA

I

t’s a new year and a new decade, let’s hope it’s a good one for all of us!

We have noticed in this region that seedling orders have been down in volume for the start of this season.

This decrease is mainly tomatoes, with a reduction of 1.5m seedling plants from last year. Growers choosing to grow more bulk produce, such as watermelons and pumpkins, all planted earlier in the season.

By now growers should be aware that Fall Armyworm has been detected in the Torres Strait and since moved to North Western Queensland. This exotic pest is known to travel vast distances and quickly. Trapping and monitoring is taking place across major agricultural areas Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia.

In the Gascoyne region growers have started prepping their land and planting for the new season. It’s been a great start to the year up here, with our bonus river flow — which has been four meters in height and we anticipate will supply quality water, which should hold us in good stead for the next three years.

Prior to the flow, growers have been actively involved in drilling new bores in the riverbed to secure supply of water and I was one of those growers. The drilling company I engaged is located in Geraldton and the contractor I met on my site was Bruce Radford.

I was amazed to see the high-tech instrument he used to locate the underground water streams — a piece of wire. With all the latest technology now available, I had to ask “are you any good at this and does this work?”. His response was, “Dan, this is how I make money”. I could see the seriousness in his face. I said “ok let’s find a decent stream”.

True to his word and using his divining expertise with the piece of wire, he found a decent body of water and began drilling and successfully set up my new bore. Bruce and I have a great relationship and he has been very busy of late, drilling other bores for other growers. Whilst not a cheap exercise, securing our water supply for our farm will be very worthwhile investment for the future.

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WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

Local agronomist advice has seen boost in production.

33SLIGHT production changes have seen positive results so far, and in some cases doubling production.

Scot Brain, a local agronomist who we engage for advice, has suggested and recently implemented some slight changes to production practices for tomato growers in this region.

Growers have seen positive results so far, and in some cases doubling production. This will always put a smile on a grower’s face and I’m happy that growers have renewed confidence in their upcoming crops.

Growers in the Perth region have been happy with their growing season so far, with quality crops being marketed and growers receiving a good return for their efforts. This news is great for our industry as we all know that prices fluctuate throughout the season, but it seems to be consistently more positive in the last six months.

vegetablesWA will continue to keep you updated about any progression of the pest through our communication programs.

This period is always a hectic one, getting prepared for our next crop with land prep, mulching and planting. As I am writing this report I have just had my first capsicum seedlings delivered which marks the real start of the season for us — so I better get back to it.

I would like to finish by wishing good luck to all growers for the rest of this year. Let’s hope it is prosperous for us all. Please remember if you have any concerns or require information, we have an excellent team at vegetablesWA who are willing and able to assist you.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Dan Kuzmicich on 0408 910 761 or damir.kuzmicich@bigpond.com

YOUR PRODUCTION

your

production Your production WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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YOUR PRODUCTION

How does your system perform?

BY DAVID ROWE RESEARCH SCIENTIST, DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

K

nowing the performance of your irrigation system is vital for optimising scheduling and improving production efficiency. One of the best indicators of irrigation performance is uniformity, which is how evenly water is applied to the irrigated area.

Systems with high uniformity can produce even-growing crops more efficiently. This is because systems with poor uniformity must operate for longer in order to apply the right amount of water to all parts of the crop. This uses more power and creates ‘wet’ spots where water and nutrients move beyond the root zone and become unavailable to the plants.

Fixed overhead sprinklers Performance data sheets for sprinklers indicate the level of uniformity to expect given a particular spacing, nozzle type and operating pressure. However, these indications do not account for realworld effects such as slope, wind and pressure variations which have a major impact on uniformity.

The best way to assess the performance of overhead sprinkler systems is with a catch-cup test.

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WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

The best way to assess the performance of overhead sprinkler systems is with a catch-cup test. This involves placing measuring cups in a grid pattern within the irrigated area, running the irrigation system for a set amount of time — usually 15 or 20 minutes — and then recording the depth of water captured in each cup.

Distribution uniformity (DU) is calculated by dividing the average of the lowest quarter of depths recorded by the average of all depths recorded.

This is then multiplied by 100 to obtain a percentage value. The industry minimum standard for overhead irrigation systems is a DU of 75%.

YOUR PRODUCTION

two spans as this allows more complete passes to be made over a given amount of time.

Drip systems

33DU testing a centre pivot.

Example: Depth (mm) measurements from a catch-can test arranged from smallest to largest.

7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 11, 11, 12, 12, 12, 13, 13, 14, 14, 15 Average of lowest quarter = 7.8mm

Average of total = 10.5mm

7.8 × 100 = 74.6% DU 10.5 Centre pivots

Tips for doing a catch-cup test

Testing the uniformity of centre pivots uses a similar method to that for fixed overhead sprinklers. The main difference is the cups are arranged in a single line along the pivot radius. It is usually desirable to reverse the pivot once it finishes the first pass of the cups and then again after the second pass. This allows threes passes in quick succession which increases the reliability of the data. Cups are usually not placed along the innermost one or

Testing uniformity of drip systems requires a slightly different approach to that for overhead systems. Using a small measuring cup, water is captured directly from an emitter over a set period of 30–60 seconds. This is replicated in different locations along several drip lines to ensure any pressure/flow variations are accounted for.

About eight measurements is enough to calculate the average application rate (L/hr) and DU as described previously.

The industry minimum standard for uniformity of drip irrigation systems is 85%.

MORE INFORMATION For more information on measuring delivery of irrigation systems contact DPIRD’s Research Scientist David Rowe at: david.rowe@dpird.wa.gov.au

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

• U se at least 24 cups spaced at 2m apart to get a reliable result • S ome cups measure volume (mL) while others measure irrigation depth (mm) and some measure both. Volume can be converted to depth using an equation

The industry minimum standard for uniformity of drip irrigation systems is 85%.

• C hoose a location that is representative such near the middle of the lateral where pressures are closer to the average • D o the test during typical wind conditions for your location to ensure results are representative of real conditions

33MEASURING flow rate of drip emitter.

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LAMP technology: a bright new future for in-field disease detection

33 CGMMV in cucumber.

33DEVELOPMENT Officer, Craig Webster, using the LAMP machine on a zucchini crop.

33ZYMV in zucchini.

BY DR CRAIG WEBSTER DEVELOPMENT OFFICER, DPIRD

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M

y team at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has been working with national partners from the Horticulture Innovation Australia funded project Area wide management of viruses and bacteria (VG16086) to develop rapid tests to detect viruses in the field.

These tests, being trialled on farms from Kununurra down to Albany, use an innovative technology, called Loopmediated-isothermal-amplification, or LAMP for short. These new methods offer several advantages over existing methods: 1. Speed — the test are very quick to run. About 20 minutes is needed to prepare eight samples and another 40 minutes to complete the test on the LAMP machine. This means that samples can be tested and the results returned to the grower in a much shorter time than traditional methods, which could be up to 2–3 days.

YOUR PRODUCTION

Research will include testing insects for early monitoring of diseases moving into crops.

2. Portability — the LAMP machine is battery-powered and can be used in the field to test plants for disease.

The battery will last for 4–5 runs in the field or alternatively can be charged using a 12V port in a vehicle.

This allows testing to be done directly on the farm or in regional research stations or extension offices. The test is also simple to set up, so extensive training is not needed.

3. Cost — the tests do not require expensive reagents, so the cost per sample is very low, and there is no need for large amounts of laboratory-based equipment.

We’re continuing to develop tests, including for bacterial canker in tomato, and will develop tests for bacterial and fungal diseases based on industry needs.

These tests will help provide rapid and accurate identification of the disease, which will help growers to target correct control measures to reduce the spread of disease. Using visual symptoms alone it is not possible to distinguish between similar diseases, and the options for management can be very different depending on the disease.

These tests will also offer a quick return of results, which enables better and timelier management decisions to be made. By removing the lag in results being returned, this may reduce additional disease spread that can typically occur while results are being processed.

We plan to expand on this research through exploring other options including testing weeds and other reservoirs for virus, and also insects caught on yellow sticky traps for early monitoring of diseases moving into crops.

33APHID on a sticky trap.

Sample 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

60000 40000

FLORECENCE

LAMP tests are being developed and validated for several of the most significant viruses which cause disease in Western Australian vegetable crops.

These include Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), Carrot virus Y (CarVY), Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) and Cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV).

20000 0 -20000

00:05:00

00:10:00

00:15:00

00:20:00

00:25:00

00:30:00

TIME (HH:MM:SS) FIGURE 1 TYPICAL RESULT OF LAMP RUN — VIRUS IS DETECTED IN SEVERAL SAMPLES (PINK, GREEN AND YELLOW LINES) WHILE HEALTHY PLANTS DO NOT AMPLIFY (FLAT LINES) MORE INFORMATION For more information contact Craig Webster on 0499 997 563 or email craig.webster@dpird.wa.gov.au This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using vegetable industry levies and contributions from the Australian Government with co-investment from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries; Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources; The Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Resources; the Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and the University of Tasmania. It is supported by a second smaller project led by the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and similarly funded by Hort Innovation using vegetable industry levies and contributions from the Australian Government and NSW DPI.

33PEPPER mild mottle virus (PMMoV) symptoms on capsicum fruit.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

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t o Hopportunity for chilli

BY ANDREW WANG INSIGHT ANALYST, FMCG

Shoppers claimed variety was more important than price.

O

ften packing a punch from the first bite, chilli is consumed on average 10 times a month among Australian households.

This hot and feisty member of the nightshade family is the fourth most frequently consumed vegetable out of the 28 vegetables surveyed by Nielsen.

Encouraging more consumers to eat chilli as well as finding ways to promote more consumption occasions remains a lucrative opportunity for this small yet unique category.

Factors and triggers driving shopper purchase decisions Over the past few years, Robert Pafumi, General Manager of innovation, marketing and sales at Austchilli, has seen consumers shift away from the traditional long red chilli and toward the varietal chillies such as Habanero and Carolina Reapers. The importance of variety is confirmed by the results of a recent survey conducted by Nielsen which showed that two-in-three chilli shoppers claimed variety was much more important than other factors such as price (see Figure 1).

Almost one-third (31%) of shoppers also claimed that they do not purchase any chilli on their store trip if the variety of chilli they want is not available.

The survey also showed that chilli was often bought for a specific dish with eight-in-10 (80%) chilli shoppers saying its use as part of a recipe was the main trigger for purchasing, ranking it third among the 28 vegetables surveyed.

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YOUR PRODUCTION

Q17. For each statement below, which one best describes you when buying chillies (single choice)?

Choose the cheapest option — not on special 4% 17%

45%

Choose the variety on special 7% 20%

43%

Choose a specific variety 25%

18%

42%

Choose organic option if available 6% 11% Always

19%

26%

26%

26%

Most times

Sometimes

15%

12%

6% 1%

31% Rarely

Never

33SURVEY respondents claimed to consume chilli across a variety of cuisines with Thai, Indian and Chinese being the most popular.

FIGURE 1 FACTORS DRIVING CHILLI PURCHASE DECISIONS Source: Attitudinal reports prepared by Nielsen for Hort Innovation, survey sample minimum n=200, fieldwork from 07/11/2019 to 12/11/2019 for the Australian market.

Copyright © 2019 Horticulture Innovation Australia.

Survey respondents also claimed to consume chilli across a variety of cuisines with Thai, Indian and Chinese being the most popular (see Figure 2).

Growers can take the opportunity to focus on a wide range of cuisines when producing recipes.

A recent article published by Nielsen reported that meal kits are estimated to be worth over $300 million in annual sales and are growing at a rate of 40% compared to 2018. Displaying information on popular lunch and dinner meal kits that include chilli would be a great way to reach a broader audience and capitalise on this fast growing trend.

Appealing to Australia’s increasingly diverse cultural mix is another important avenue for chilli growth.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that threein-10 Australians are born overseas and this number will continue to grow.

Ensuring the right chilli varieties are readily available that meet the palate of these multicultural consumers will be important to securing growth from this growing demographic group.

Q24. What types of cuisine do you cook or consume that include chillies (multi-answer)?

Thai Indian Chinese Australian Mexican Italian Singapore/Malaysian Vietnamese Indonesian Middle Eastern

58% 51% 47% 44% 39% 28% 28% 26% 19% 13%

Robert from Austchilli believes that educating consumers on the many uses of chillies from different origins could help to drive category growth further.

He believes food magazines and social media platforms such as online blogs and recipes are a great way to help raise consumer awareness on the lesser known varieties of chilli and their potential uses.

MORE INFORMATION • www.nielsen.com/au/en/insights/ article/2020/feeding-shoppers-appetitefor-meal-kits • www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/ mf/3412.0 These data and insights were produced independently by Nielsen and shared through the Harvest to Home platform, supported through the Hort Innovation Vegetable, Sweetpotato and Onion research and development levies. For more insights visit www.harvesttohome.net.au

FIGURE 2 CUISINE COOKED WHEN USING CHILLI Source: Attitudinal reports prepared by Nielsen for Hort Innovation, survey sample minimum n=200, fieldwork from 07/11/2019 to 12/11/2019 for the Australain market.

Copyright © 2019 Horticulture Innovation Australia.

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Focus on tree fruit microbial

A

ustralian tree fruit growers and packers invest significant time and money in ensuring food safety through the application of good agricultural and good hygienic practices and compliance with the safety standards of quality assurance schemes such as Freshcare.

Improving these food safety practices and understanding the sources of microbial risks and the behaviour of foodborne pathogens across the supply chain are vital, both for the protection of consumers, and if the fresh produce industry is to prevent costly product recalls and devastating reputational damage.

At the recent APAL Post-harvest seminar I outlined how we are developing practical solutions to navigating and understanding increasing risk management requirements and called on industry

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to support the development of one of these solutions by contributing data to improve its accuracy and usefulness to industry.

Do you know how well your food safety management system is performing?

Preventive controls including wash water sanitation, equipment cleaning, personal hygiene and use of protective clothing are among the key factors in maintaining low pathogen contamination presence on fruit.

The survey findings will inform part of a microbial model to assess and quantify risk through the apple supply chain.

33KEY factors to maintain low pathogen contamination includes wash water sanitation, equipment cleaning, personal hygiene and use of protective clothing.

YOUR PRODUCTION

Hygienic design Corrective actions 4 4 4 4 Maintenance program Sampling design environmental 4 Storage facilities 3 Sampling design microbial Sanitation program 3 3 2 Measuring equipment 4 4 Personal hygiene 1 1 Waste control 4

0

Analysis methods for pathogens 4 Standards and tolerances 4

1 3

Risk-analysis

3

Materials control

3

Packaging equipment

The findings will be applicable for all tree fruit and will help producers determine where to target resources for the most effective control and the best food safety outcomes.

The broader the underlying data, the more useful the model to industry and we encourage all growers to take the self-assessment survey.

In addition to providing data to guide the development of a model, the survey is an opportunity to learn about risk areas in your own operation.

4 Supplier control Organic fertiliser program

Partial physical intervention 4

4 Irrigation method

4 Wastewater control program 4 Water control

FIGURE 1 EXAMPLE OF RESULTS OF MEASUREMENT OF A SECTION OF THE FOOD SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM PERFORMANCE Validation of these controls to prove they are appropriate — and ongoing verification to show they are effective — are important components of a robust food safety system.

The optimum application of available controls and the appropriate verification needed to demonstrate their effectiveness will vary depending on the context of the system in place and the level of an individual organisation’s microbial risk awareness and commitment to food safety control i.e. the food safety culture, making it difficult to develop a one-size-fits-all approach to food safety.

Practices in the tree fruit sector are not standardised, so we developed a packhouse diagnostic indicator tool that provides a snapshot of strengths and weaknesses in food safety management.

To underpin the accuracy of the tool, we are gathering data on the effects of different orchard and packhouse practices on microbial risk levels through a short anonymous selfassessment survey (linked below): https://tinyurl.com/wp4u4js

Risk assessment tools for packhouses The survey findings will inform part of a microbial model to assess and quantify risk through the apple supply chain.

By identifying the most important risk factors for contamination of apples with foodborne pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7, the model will allow these risk factors to be flagged and addressed in a working environment.

This helps identify where improvements can be made to strengthen your food safety system.

Now that regulation of high-risk horticulture products is on the agenda of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) it is becoming increasingly important that each sector can demonstrate adequate risk mitigation of foodborne pathogens for overall supply chain integrity.

Using the diagnostic tool quality assurance staff can measure system performance, providing a benchmark against ongoing measurements that highlights the effect of changes and raises risk awareness.

The risk assessment model will determine the relative risks from different practices. It will be easy to use and input of real-life activities from the survey will achieve higher model accuracy.

33ELIZABETH addressing attendees at the APAL postharvest summit in Shepparton.

The survey asks several short questions about your current food safety controls, microbial testing and food safety performance indicators in the context of organisation and supply chain characteristics to capture overall microbial food safety management performance in packhouses and takes only 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

MORE INFORMATION Please complete the survey now to contribute to a safer and sustainable horticulture industry: https://tinyurl.com/wp4u4js If you have any queries contact: elizabeth.frankish@utas.edu.au Funding and in-kind support is being received for this project from Apple and Pear Australia Ltd (APAL), Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (University of Tasmania) and ARC Centre for Food Safety in Fresh Produce (University of Sydney).

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Keep an eye out for the vegetable leafminer T

he Hort Innovationfunded RD&E project for control, eradication and preparedness for vegetable leafminer (VLM; Liriomyza sativae), is a vegetable, nursery, melon and potato industry funded project that brings together cesar, Plant Health Australia, the Department of Agriculture’s Northern Australian Quarantine Strategy, the University of Melbourne, and AUSVEG. Since 2008, VLM has been hopping through the Torres Strait islands, and subsequently in 2015, the pest was detected in Seisia, on the Cape York Peninsula. While there are movement restrictions in place to stop its spread,

33CHARACTERISTIC thick, white trails (called leafmines) caused by the larvae feeding on the green material inside the leaves.

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VLM is native to the Americas but has since spread to a significant portion of the globe.

33THE vegetable leafminer is polyphagous, which means it feeds on a variety of host plants.

1–2mm

VLM could have a significant impact on Australia’s horticulture industries were it to move into production regions.

The pest With small dark bodies of about 1–2mm in length, the most striking feature of an adult VLM is the areas of bright yellow cuticle on the head, upper body, and parts of the abdomen.

The VLM is polyphagous and affects a wide variety of vegetable, nursery and melon crops. Examples include, but are not limited to, beans, capsicum, chilli, cucumber, eggplant, melons, and ornamentals such as petunia and snap dragon.

VLM is native to the Americas but has since spread to a significant portion of the globe including many parts of Europe and Asia, and the Middle East.

Life cycle and damage Eggs are laid just beneath the leaf or stem surface and hatch approximately three days later. Following hatching, larvae begin to feed on green material inside the leaf, forming characteristic thick, white trails called leafmines.

After 1–2 weeks, larvae emerge from the leaf exit hole and form pupae in soil. Pupae hatch into adults in 1–2 weeks. When an adult female feeds and lays eggs, she creates small holes in the leaf surface (called stippling), which may lead to secondary infections in the plant.

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Leafmining can damage photosynthetic tissue, which may disrupt plant growth. When too many mines are created, a crop may drop leaves, fail to fruit, or die. Damage may be less significant when mines are made late in the production cycle of vegetables and melons, or more damaging when heavy infestations affect young crops. However, yield losses can be variable, depending on plant age, environment, pest density and management practices.

Early detection monitoring is crucial.

Industry impact Like any exotic or quarantined pest, the impact of VLM on a production region can be significant. Damage may lead to plant infection, reduced yield, trade disruptions, unhappy retailers/consumers, and costly pest management.

Throughout the duration of the project, we have modelled the potential risk of VLM to Australian regions. It is likely that VLM could establish in many parts of Western Australia, were climatic conditions suitable for its growth at least part of the year.

In Perth, VLM risk is predicted to be highest in spring (from about February to May), and autumn (October to November).

In Geraldton, the risk is predicted to be highest between June and October, with summer conditions being unsuitable for growth of the pest due to heat and aridity. In Carnarvon, risk is predicted to be low year round due to heat and aridity.

We also predicted the potential industry impact based on climate and crop value. In the Perth region, the potential economic impact could reach into the millions annually (based on risk of unmitigated crop losses).

33VEGETABLE leafminer can affect bean, capsicum, chilli, cucumber, eggplant and melon crops.

Early detection monitoring is crucial.

Surveillance should focus on the damage created to the plant (leafmines and stippling) and will be extremely important when a high risk season overlaps with young crops.

MORE INFORMATION For more information, contact Madeleine Quirk at madeleine.quirk@ausveg.com.au or on (03) 9882 0277. Keep an eye out for upcoming workshops in your region.

Suspect plant pests should be reported to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.

INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDING/FUMIGATION/SUPPLY CHAIN Phone : +61 8 9479 0300

email - jason.radford@go2tigers.com

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Diligent hand weeding ultimately pays off

BY MICHAEL COLEMAN AND PAUL KRISTIANSEN UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (UNE)

T

he team from the Hort Innovation-funded project VG15070 A strategic approach to weed management for the Australian vegetable industry visited The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company in mid-2019, and spoke to farm co-owner Maureen Dobra and farm manager Steve Allie about their successful approach to Integrated Weed Management (IWM).

About the farm The Dobra family are third-generation vegetable growers based in the Gingin district, approximately 90km north of Perth, Western Australia.

33LOOSE leaf crop harvesting.

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They focus on supplying the local (Perth and south-west WA) market, producing approximately a dozen types of baby leaf salads, including spinach, Asian salad, rocket, chard, French Kale, mizuna and tatsoi.

insects such as stable fly, concerns about herbicide reliance and their potential health impacts on staff, and high processing costs associated with weed contamination of the harvested loose leaf.

Loose leaf production is an intensive year-round activity. Harvesting occurs on most working days of the year to ensure maximum freshness and quality produce, and new crops are sown twice a week to maintain the production cycle.

As a result, farm owners Kevan, Maureen and Barry Dobra, and their farm manager Steve Allie, began developing an alternative IWM approach.

Weed management approach Until 2014, The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company’s weed management approach included: glyphosate herbicide application post-harvest to tidy the paddock and surrounding infrastructure up for weeds; frequent tillage during the fallow and bed formation; chemical fumigation using metham sodium; and heavy reliance on several preemergent herbicides.

Despite this intensive approach, the team experienced ongoing weed problems and management frustrations, weeds hosting important

Constant and diligent hand weeding is central to this new approach. Initially this required a significant up-front investment, with one staff member employed full time to hand weed the vegetable paddocks. All other staff working in the paddock were also required to make hand weeding a much larger part of their field activities.

Staff are required to remain vigilant for weeds, remove weeds from the paddock at any time, and dispose all weeds offpaddock to minimise the chance of weed seed being deposited in the paddock.

All staff are encouraged to take pride in weed-free paddocks and recognise that their hard work and diligence in removing weeds would eventually be rewarded over several seasons, as the weed seed bank was reduced and fewer weeds grew in the crops.

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Only one herbicide is now used within the crop. The broad-spectrum herbicide Spray.Seed®250 (paraquat and diquat) is applied once during the very short fallow period to burn off crop residue as well as any weeds from the cropping phase or the fallow. Either Spray.

Seed®250 or glyphosate are used to manage weeds along fence lines, buffer zones and surrounding infrastructure.

The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company has also significantly reduced the amount of tillage used for weed control. In summer, this usually involves only two tillage passes between crops, while in winter a third tillage pass may be required. Reduced tillage also promotes good soil management and environmental practices.

The principle is to minimise the number of weeds that mature and produce seed.

Reaping the rewards of hard work The Loose Leaf Company’s IWM strategy has resulted in paddocks that are nearly free of weeds, after several years of dedicated application.

Although their approach was initially more costly and time consuming, Kevan, Maureen and Barry and their team, led by Steve, are now enjoying the many rewards of their dedication and hard work.

• Relatively few weeds growing in the crops • Staff time required for hand weeding down to approximately four hours per week by 2019 • They have significantly reduced their reliance on chemicals (pre-emergent herbicides and fumigation) • They have likewise reduced their reliance on tillage • Both crop yield and quality have increased • Processing time has reduced, and they are able to sell higher quality weed-free produce • They have reduced the potential for hosting insect pests such as stable fly on the farm • Field and processing staff morale and pride in clean paddocks and produce has improved • Costs associated with chemicals, tillage, and processing have all been reduced.

Although the IWM approach used by The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company may not

33FARM manager Mr Steve Allie removing winter grass (Poa annua) from the crop.

suit every vegetable production system, their experience has some relevant lessons for all growers: • Growers who remain flexible and open to new ideas will have the greatest level of success in managing weeds in the longer-term • Growers should trial alternative weed management approaches first, and then include them in their IWM approach if they prove to be successful • The key principle followed by The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company was to minimise the number of weeds that mature and produce seed. This principle is applicable to all IWM approaches, and all vegetable farms.

The experience of The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company suggests that diligent application of a simple but effective weed management approach over several years can have long-term benefits.

MORE INFORMATION If you would like to learn more, a detailed case study document is available for download from the project web page: www.une.edu.au/iwmvegetables. Other weed management resources may also be downloaded.

You can also watch an interview with farm co-owner Maureen Dobra as she describes The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company’s approach to IWM: https://youtu.be/hRo4J-yyIx0.

The VG15070 project team are grateful to Kevan, Maureen and Barry Dobra, Steve Allie and The Loose Leaf Lettuce Company for sharing their story of successful Integrated Weed Management.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government.

For more information on the fund and strategic levy investment visit horticulture.com.au

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Butternut pumpkins:

w o l e b y t u a e B s e h s i m e l b e th Brown etch is only skin deep.

33RETAILERS and consumers need to understand about the inner beauty of the imperfect pumpkin.

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33RETAIL header cards used with clean and etched pumpkins.

33ETCH is associated with wet weather.

T

he development of ‘brown etch’ on a butternut pumpkin relegates one of our most popular and versatile vegetables to pig food or landfill. It’s time to save our curvaceous cucurbit from such unnecessary degradation.

Just as beauty can be skin deep, so are those blotches and blemishes that develop in rather artistic formations on the outside of the Rubenesque form. The pumpkin’s bright orange

flesh, however, is still perfect for soups, risottos, pies, cakes, curries and the Sunday roast. To improve sustainability and minimise waste, retailers and consumers need to understand about the inner beauty of the imperfect pumpkin.

Dr Jenny Ekman and her team at Applied Horticultural Research (AHR) have been investigating the causes of the markings that label this venerable vegetable unsaleable. Their findings won’t make cows happy!

Most butternut pumpkins are sold cut in half and overwrapped, displaying clearly the flawless flesh beneath the blemished skin. We conducted a small retail study looking at consumer preferences. Header cards indicated the etched and non-etched fruit.

When we discounted etched fruit by 50c/kg we sold 12% more etched than pristine pumpkins. Even without a discount, etched pumpkins still sold well. This suggests that if people can see the flesh is fine to eat, there is minimal effect to purchasing and a maximum reduction to wastage.

Initially, brown etch develops in the field.

Etch can appear as either a pattern of rather intriguing concentric brown rings, or blotches of brown hues splashed across the skin’s surface.

Initially, brown etch develops in the field. Symptoms can also manifest after harvest; that clean bin of pumpkins at the farm can be blighted by etch by the time it arrives at the wholesale markets.

Etch is associated with wet weather.

So, the only farmers benefitting from the current drought are the pumpkin growers. However, rain will eventually fall again, raising the question of what to do with etched fruit.

Simply cutting etched fruit in half and enlightening the consumers could solve what is, after all, a problem that is only skin deep.

MORE INFORMATION For a summary of the project outcomes or more information about brown etch on pumpkins, please contact: Dr Jenny Ekman, Applied Horticultural Research, jenny.ekman@ahr.com.au

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government.

For more information on the fund and strategic levy investment visit horticulture.com.au.

Project number VG15064.

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The year of soil biology and integrated weed management

T

he Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection (ICP) project works with growers nationally to put soil management and plant health research into practice.

In 2020, the project team will focus on putting soil biology and integrated weed management research into action to benefit the vegetable industry, after a strong focus on strip-tillage and nutrition management in 2019.

Soil Wealth ICP Phase 2 (VG16078) is strategic levy investment under the Hort Innovation Vegetable Fund.

Biological Products Database ‘Biological’ products (also called ‘biologicals’) are defined as those that are derived from living organisms (plants, animals, microorganisms, fungi). The term encompasses a diverse range of products, and this is a fastgrowing segment of agricultural inputs (definition from croplife.org).

About this database and how to use it The Biological Product Database is a tool for growers that will assist with navigating the array of ‘biological’ products currently available to their farming business. The project team has compiled the information in response to questions from growers about available products.

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The database is available in two different formats for ease of use: 1. Biological products sorted by trade name.

2. Biological products sorted by primary use and trade name.

The database includes a column that indicates whether products have Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) registration.

Registered products are known as ‘biological crop protection’ products.

If a product is used for crop protection (i.e. used as a biopesticide) is must be registered for use in the crop and situation it is applied in. Contact the APVMA or Hort Innovation for more information.

How was the database developed?

The project team has gathered information primarily from the manufacturers, via their websites and/or their representatives. It has attempted to strip away any confusion by laying out the bare bones of each product. The project team will include references to independent research in the database as the project progresses.

The database is a work in progress and is not comprehensive. The database will be updated and published regularly as information becomes available.

33MEET the Soil Wealth ICP project team. (L–R) Donna Lucas, Dr Pieter Van Nieuwenhuyse, Dr Gordon Rogers, Carl Larsen, Dr Kelvin Montagu, Dr Doris Blaesing, Marc Hinderager and Dr Anne-Maree Boland.

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The Biological Product Database will assist with navigating the array of products available.

33THE project team will include references to independent research in the database as the project progresses.

MORE INFORMATION You can access all the resources in this article, as well as news and events from around the country at soilwealth.com.au.

For more information, please contact project leaders Dr Gordon Rogers on (02) 8627 1040 or email gordon@ahr.com.au and Dr AnneMaree Boland on (03) 9882 2670 or email anne-mareeb@rmcg.com.au.

• APVMA Guideline for the regulation of biological agricultural products https://apvma.gov.au/node/11196

Is anything missing?

If you know of any products or trial information that should be included, or details that are inaccurate or incomplete, please get in touch at rm@rmcg.com.au.

Technology for controlling weeds in vegetable production Most new technology for controlling weeds will be a positive step forward for soil health and the environment, and will play an important role in our fight against herbicide resistant weeds.

An interactive webinar is available to learn from leading industry experts on some of the most interesting and practical advances in weed management.

The session covered non-selective fallow paddock weed control, as well

as selective in-crop weed control, and delivery technology.

Get the latest updates from: • Jeremy Winer, Weedtechnics: Satusteam© — a weed killer safe enough to drink

• APVMA Permits search https://portal.apvma.gov.au/permits • APVMA Registration enquiries, phone: (02) 6770 2300, email: enquiries@apvma. gov.au • Hort Innovation contact: Jodi Pedrana jodie.pedrana@horticulture.com.au

• Dave Farmer, Croplands: WEEDit and Recapture technology — what are they and how do they work?

• Robert Tucker, Agriculture Guided Implement Systems: Precision implement guidance in row crops using radio frequency — evolution and lessons from overseas.

The session was facilitated by Carl Larsen from RMCG. You can access other great resources on weed technology, weed management, as well as spray application basics, on the Soil Wealth ICP website.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government.

For more information on the fund and strategic levy investment visit horticulture.com.au.

Project Number: VG16078

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Understanding soil pH

in commercial vegetable production

A

BY VO THE TRUYEN INDUSTRY EXTENSION OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA

n article on Soil pH and its influences on crop nutrients was published in the 2015 Summer edition of WA Grower magazine.

It outlined the basis of soil pH and how it influences the bioavailability of mineral nutrients to plant crops, as well as the effect of grower practices that change soil pH. Recently vegetable growers in North Perth have reported low soil pH problems that are associated with poor crop growth, low crop quality and seemingly more crop diseases.

This article highlights the basics of soil pH and the effects of soil pH on vegetable crop growth and development.

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The basic of soil pH In scientific terms the pH of the soil is a measure of acidity or alkalinity. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral. Values below 7 indicate an acid soil which is usually expressed by growers as ‘sour soil’, while above 7 is alkaline.

It is important to note that a pH change by 1 unit means it is 10 times more acidic (sourer) or alkaline.

The pH of the soil and its effect on nutrient availability to plants The significance of soil pH, in relation to agriculture, is its influence on nutrient availability to plant crops.

Nutrient availability to plant crops means that the presence of nutrient elements in the soil, under the form that plant can uptake. Low availability of nutrient elements may cause nutrient deficiency regardless how much fertiliser is applied, while if the availability is too high, it will lead to toxicity.

Figures 1 is a classical expression of this concept used in most literature.

As shown in Figure 1, a very slightly acid soil (pH value ranges 6.5 to 7.0) is the most suitable condition where nutrition elements are readily available to plant crops.

Looking at each individual element, such as phosphorous (P) for example, the availability of P is greatest in the pH range between 5.5 and 7.5, dropping off below 5.5. In other words, for a given soil, if P is applied at pH 6, there will be more of it available than if the same amount is applied when the soil pH is below 5.5. Similarly, because the availability of molybdenum (Mo) is increased greatly as soil pH increases over 6.5, Mo deficiencies usually can be corrected by liming.

The pH of the agricultural soil in Western Australia It is reported in Soil pH and plant health by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) soils typically have a pH range between 4 and 8.5.

In metropolitan areas, soils are more alkaline near the limestone-based coastal sands. Soils further inland and most agricultural areas are naturally acidic (pH is below 7).

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pH ACIDIC 0

1

2

3

NEUTRAL 4

5

Strongly acidic

6

7

ALKALINE 8

9

10

Optimum pH range for plant growth

11

12

13

14

Soil pH also affects nutrient uptake by vegetable plants because pH can change soil particle properties. For example, if soil pH is unfavorably low, the positive charges on soil particle surfaces can tightly retain nutrients such as P, potentially causing P deficiency.

However, if soil pH is adversely high, then Fe, Mn, and Zn will become difficult for vegetable plants to use.

Strong alkalinity

Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium

Major nutrient deficiencies

Sulphur Calcium

Effects on metal toxicity

Magnesium Iron Manganese

Trace element deficiencies

Boron Copper & zinc Molybdenum

Source: Bluedale www.bluedale.com.au

Measurement of pH of the soil within tomato rows in North Perth ranges from 5.0 to 6.5, usually lower than that of soil between rows. Similar patterns were recorded in farms growing other crop types such as zucchinis, snow peas, cucumbers and eggplants.

In some cases where sawdust is used as a growing medium, such as kang kung and cucumber grown in a greenhouse, the measured pH was as low as low as 4.5 due to the production of organic acid by decomposing sawdust and dead roots.

In the Carnarvon Agricultural Good Practice Guide most Carnarvon soils have a pH range of 6.8 to 7.8 and are classified as ‘neutral to slightly alkaline’. At this range of pH the solubility of micronutrients such as manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) falls rapidly and plant availability starts to decline.

As pH starts to increase towards being strongly alkaline (pH > 8.5), the availability of P, iron (Fe), Cu, Zn and Mn drops rapidly, and regular tissue tests may be needed to identify possible deficiencies of these elements.

Basically, metal toxicity occurs at soil pH lower than 5.0 when elements such as Al, Fe, Mn, and Cu have much greater solubility than crop nutrient requirements (CNRs). This problem is often on acid sulfate soil. To avoid this problem lime is needed to increase soil pH and decrease the potential for toxicity.

Effects on plant pathogens

FIGURE 1 CHART OF THE EFFECT OF SOIL PH ON NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY In agricultural regions soils which are not very acid when cleared have become increasingly so through the continuous application of fertiliser.

Effects on nutrient uptake near the root zone

Effects of soil pH on vegetable crop growth and development1 Effects on nutrient present forms Soil pH determines the solubility and bioavailability of nutrients essential for crop production.

14 mineral nutrients for plant crops in the soil include nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, boron (B), chlorine (Cl), Mo, and nickel (Ni). The bioavailable forms of all the soil nutrients are ionic.

Some soilborne diseases are closely associated with soil pH. For example, clubroot disease of mustard, cabbage, or other crucifers caused by Plasmodiophora brassicae is a major epidemic disease when soil pH is lower than 5.7 but is dramatically reduced in a pH range from 5.7 to 6.2. This disease is virtually eliminated when the soil pH is greater than 7.3.

Measuring and adjusting your soil pH Growers can measure the soil pH using either soil pH kits or a digital pH meter.

The soil pH test kits, with practical guides on application, are commonly available at most of garden centers. There are also several types of digital pH meters available at most agri-chemical supply shops.

Some soilborne diseases are closely associated with soil pH.

The solubility of each of these fourteen nutrient elements is closely related to soil pH. At pH lower than 5.0, Fe, Cu, Mn, and Zn are highly soluble. These micronutrients can form precipitates with phosphate at this low pH, and P becomes unavailable.

In contrast, at a pH greater than 7.0, Ca and Mg have high solubility and they can immobilize P as well. Thus, comprehensively speaking, in the pH range from 5.5 to 7.0, all the nutrients have favorable solubility for use by vegetable plants.

1 http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/HS/HS120700.pdf

However, adjusting the soil pH requires much knowledge on types of soil additive substances that are suitable to crop growth stages, as well as the careful calculation of quantity and method of application. Agronomists should be consulted for this purpose.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Truyen Vo, Vietnamese Vegetable Industry Development Officer on 0457 457 559 or email truyen.vo@ vegetableswa.com.au

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Fall armyworm detected in Australia n early February 2020 the exotic pest fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) was detected for the first time in Australia, on the northern Torres Strait islands of Saibai and Erub.

I

Specimens from an infested maize crop were collected and identified through morphological diagnostic testing as fall armyworm.

areas across Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia to determine the extent of the current outbreak and to monitor its spread.

The Consultative Committee on Emergency Plant Pests (CCEPP) provides technical and scientific advice to the National Biosecurity Committee (NBC) in response to exotic plant pest and disease outbreaks.

The initial detection took place in a network of surveillance traps managed by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment’s Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy.

The CCEPP met on 24 February 2020 and recommended to the NBC that fall armyworm is not technically feasible to eradicate.

The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries said it is working with the Australian Government, other state and territory governments, industry groups and communities to prepare for ongoing management of the pest.

While authorities found no evidence fall armyworm had established in Torres Strait, several weeks later surveillance resulted in another detection of the pest; this time on a property in the Gulf country of north western Queensland.

This is due to the pest’s reproductive capacity, ability to fly long distances and wide host range, combined with the remoteness and spread of known infestations.

Photo © Colorado State University, Bugwood.org

33FALL armyworm larvae are known to feed on more than 350 plant species, particularly maize, cotton, rice, sorghum, sugarcane and wheat.

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Surveillance is being undertaken, including trapping in major agricultural

A national workshop is also being organised to identify management and control strategies and prioritise research needs to enable industry to manage and adapt to this significant pest.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) will hold WA specific industry meetings and workshops over the coming months.

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• Fall armyworm is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. Since 2016 it has rapidly spread to and throughout Africa, the Indian subcontinent, China and Southeast Asia • Fall armyworm larvae are known to feed on more than 350 plant species, particularly maize, cotton, rice, sorghum, sugarcane and wheat, but also many vegetable and fruit crops causing significant economic losses overseas

Photo © John C. French Sr, Bugwood.org

About fall armyworm

33ADULT fall armyworm can fly long distances and their migration rate is remarkably fast.

• Adults can fly long distances and their migration rate is remarkably fast. As well as natural dispersal, they can also be spread through movement of people • Australia’s conditions are favourable for this pest to establish and spread, including our climate and access to suitable hosts • It is most likely found in warm, moist regions with little forest cover or hitchhiking on fresh vegetables or fruit • Evidence of the pest includes egg masses, plant leaf damage or fruit or vegetable damage • Several native and introduced species of Spodoptera can look similar to fall armyworm. Some are pests, such as lawn armyworm and dayfeeding armyworm.

What to look for • The eggs are pale yellow in colour and clustered together in a mass, which often contain 100–200 eggs.

Egg masses are usually attached to foliage with a layer of mould/silk-like furry substance.

• The larvae are light coloured with a larger darker head. As they develop, they become browner with white lengthwise stripes. They also develop dark spots with spines.

Photo © Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren

• Fall armyworm larvae are most active during late summer and early autumn months

• The adult moths are 32–40mm in length wing tip to wing tip, with a brown or grey forewing and a white hind wing. Male fall armyworms have more patterns and a distinct white spot on each of their forewings.

• For photos and further information about this pest visit the Queensland Government website.

Biosecurity and reporting

government control of use legislation. Please refer to your state or territory department of primary industry for advice.

•

Detected on the northern Torres Strait islands of Saibai and Erub.

• Growers should have in place on-farm biosecurity measures to protect their crops from pests and diseases. More information is available at farmbiosecurity.com.au • Appropriate registered pesticides may be suitable to treat fall armyworm infestations, if used in accordance with label instruction and relevant state or territory

Industry and agronomists are encouraged to report any unexpected symptoms in the field by phoning the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881. This will put you in touch with your department of primary industries or agriculture.

Early detection and reporting of fall armyworm in WA is important.

MORE INFORMATION Growers, industry and agronomists are encouraged to report any unexpected symptoms in the field by making a report on MyPestGuide or by contacting the department’s Pest and Disease Information Service (PaDIS).

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Citrus research

hits the snail on the head

BY RACHELLE JOHNSTONE RESEARCH SCIENTIST, DPIRD

S

nails cause damage in citrus orchards by feeding on ripe and ripening fruit. Fruit damage appears as circular chewed areas in the rind and can result in downgrading fruit for market (Figure 1). The brown garden snail (Cornu aspersum) is the most common species of snail damaging citrus fruit in the south west of WA.

Current recommendations for snail management includes an integrated approach by: • monitoring snail numbers for assessing and targeting management • baiting to reduce population • pruning tree skirts to make it more difficult for snails to attack low-hanging fruit • managing weeds and mowing inter-row to reduce shelter and food source for snails and

applications, alongside the potential impact of snails if left untreated.

To investigate current snail management and the numbers of snails in orchards, Rachelle Johnstone from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) monitored three commercial citrus orchard sites in Harvey since February 2019. At harvest 400 fruit from each site were assessed for snail damage.

The brown garden snail is the most common species of snail damaging citrus fruit in the south west.

• banding tree trunks with copper foil or a copper sulphate to prevent snails from climbing trees or spraying foliage with copper to deter snails (not common).

WA growers are using a mix of these practices, with many expressing concern over the cost of bait

Each site had different snail management strategies already in place (Table 1).

Generally, Site 1 has never applied baits (not growing for fresh market) and Sites 2 and 3 both used Mesurol® (Methiocarb 20g/kg) baits but with different application methods, frequency and timing.

Effect of control measures on snail numbers The total number of snails found across the three sites varied considerably over 12 months. The trend in abundance however was similar, with a steady increase from one snail per tree in June to an average of 12 snails per tree in November (Figure 2–4). The different management practices across the sites (Table 1) is likely to have impacted on the snail abundance recorded, but not always, this is discussed next.

FIGURE 1 SNAIL DAMAGE ON A NAVEL ORANGE AT HARVEST (LEFT) AND JUVENILE SNAIL FEEDING ON AN ORANGE IN AUGUST 2019 (RIGHT)

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At Site 1, where skirting and no baits were used, the population was an average of 18.2 snails per tree in March, into May until September at

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less than one snail per tree. From October numbers started to increase and peaked in early December at just below 20 snails per tree. The large decrease in population observed in April is potentially due to trees being skirted at the end of March causing snails to be dislodged from the trees.

TABLE 1 BLOCK DESCRIPTION AND SNAIL MANAGEMENT AT EACH SITE Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Block description Variety

Valencia

Midknight Valencia

Navel Orange

Tree age (years)

8

9

26

Planting density

555 trees/ha

666 trees/ha

555 trees/ha

Skirting

March (after harvest)

Mid December (after harvest)

November (after harvest)

Monitoring for snails

None

None

Fortnightly & after rain events

Baiting history

NA

• Started baiting five years ago with Mesurol® (Methiocarb) • Snails an issue since planting but more severe the last six to seven years • Three applications/ year starting just before winter

• Metarex® (Metaldehyde 50g/kg) baits used • Snails have been an issue since planting • Metarex® applied five times/ year • Additional summer applications (if it rains)

Snail Management

Bait used in 2019

None

Mesurol® (Methiocarb 20g/kg)

Mesurol® (Methiocarb 20g/kg)

Bait rate (kg/ha) Recommended label rate 5.5–22 kg/ha

NA

10kg/ha (10–20g per tree)

5kg/ha

Application method

NA

Hand thrown along drip line & near trunk

Spreader under trees

Frequency of baiting 2019

NA

March, July, September, November, December

April, May, September

Cost of bait

NA

$7.50/kg (Mesurol)

$7.50/kg (Mesurol) $10/kg (Metarex)

Total cost per hectare for 2019

NA

$375 ($75/ha/application)

$112.50 ($37.50/ha/ application)

Tree

Trees skirted

25

During this period there was 3 bait applications. Snail numbers decreased after baits were applied in March.

Follow up bait applications in June and September were not followed by a decrease in snails. As in Site 1 the number of snails found increased steadily and peaked in November at 11 snails per tree, lower than at Site 1 at the same time. The two earlier bait applications, particularly September may have kept this increase and peak at Site 2 lower. The sharp drop in numbers, ~11 to 4 (50%) in December at Site 2 may be a result of the bait application.

At Site 3, with lower bait costs, the average number of snails per tree reduced by 84% from 29.08 to 4.72 snails/tree over 12 months (Figure 4).

Compared to Site 2 the numbers were considerably higher from February to March, being closer in number to Site 1 where no bait had been applied historically. The numbers decreased after baits were applied. As with other Sites the number of snails declined at the end of the year, however this Site had the least decline, despite skirting in November. The number of snails from November to January being between 8 to 10 snails per tree.

Harvest results

20 15 10 5 19

r1 9 7M ay 19 5J un 19 25 Jun 19 23 Jul 19 15 Au g1 9 6S ep 19 24 Se p1 9 17 Oc t1 9 7N ov 19 5D ec 19 29 Jan 20

Ap

17

Ma r

b1

21

eb

Fe 25

4F

9

0 19

AVERAGE NO. LIVE SNAILS/TREE

Ground

30

At Site 2, with the highest cost of baiting, there was the lowest number of snails. Starting from a low base in February with an average number of snails per tree of 1.14 to 2.4 snails/tree until July (Figure 3).

DATE

FIGURE 2 AVERAGE NUMBER OF SNAILS PER TREE AT SITE 1 (NOTE THAT MONITORING DID NOT BEGIN UNTIL MARCH)

Site 1 had the highest amount of snail damage at harvest with 12.7% of the 400 fruit showing snail damage (Table 2). All of the snail damaged fruit was graded at juice quality. At Site 2, 6.5% of the 400 fruit showed snail damage. The snail damaged fruit were mostly grade 2 quality with less than 5% of fruit with snail damage being grade 3. Site 3 had 9% of the 400 fruit with snail damage.

Most of the snail damaged fruit was WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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Ground Bait Mar

25

Bait Jul

Bait Sep

Tree

Bait Trees Dec skirted

Bait Nov

20

10 5

eb

25 F

4F

eb 19 21 Ma r1 9 17 Ap r1 9 7M ay 19 5J un 19 25 Jun 19 23 Jul 19 15 Au g1 9 6S ep 19 24 Se p1 9 17 Oc t1 9 7N ov 19 5D ec 19 29 Jan 20

0

DATE

FIGURE 3 AVERAGE NUMBER OF SNAILS PER TREE AT SITE 2

Ground

30

Bait Mar

25

Bait Jul

Tree

Trees skirted

Bait Sep

20 15 10 5

20

19 ec

Jan 29

19

5D

9 t1

7N

ov

9

Oc

p1

17

Se

9

19

24

ep

6S

Au

g1

19

15

Jul

19

23

19

Jun 25

19

un 5J

ay

7M

r1

9

9

Ap

r1

17

Ma

Fe

b1

21

25

eb 4F

9

0

19

AVERAGE NO. LIVE SNAILS PER TREE

grade 2 and 22% of the 36 fruit with snail damage was grade 3.

Reviewing the level of snails and cost of baiting of level of damage recorded on fruit, Site 2 applied the most bait and had the lowest snail numbers and snail damage at harvest. The impact of snail damage on overall grade was also the lowest at this site.

15

19

AVERAGE NO. LIVE SNAILS/TREE

30

DATE

Snail behaviour in citrus orchards While snails were mostly inactive in summer, unlike other snail species, brown snails are a bit more opportunistic and some activity and mating was observed in January and February (mostly on moist soil around drippers).

In autumn (March to May) there was a lot more active snails on the ground and more mating observed. By June most of the snails had moved into the canopy and feeding on leaves and fruit. A lot of small, juvenile snails were observed at this time. By late Spring/early summer snails were mostly back sheltering in the tree trunks.

' findings Key

FIGURE 4 AVERAGE NUMBER OF SNAILS PER TREE AT SITE 3

Findings from the case studies generally supported the current recommendations for snail management.

33SNAILS sheltering from the heat in February 2019.

The first bait application in March had the biggest impact on snail numbers at both Site 2 and 3.

This aligns with the current recommendations that baiting should begin when snails begin to move and feed in early autumn and before they start laying eggs, usually after the first heavy rains of the season. This is also when snails are hungriest, after spending the summer months being mostly inactive. The ground is comparatively bare so the chance of a snail contacting a bait is increased. Rain is infrequent, so the field life of baits is extended.

With the break of the season at this time of year snails become active and baiting targets snails before they start laying eggs.

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TABLE 2 PERCENTAGE OF ORANGES (OUT OF 400 FRUIT) WITH SNAIL DAMAGE AT HARVEST Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Proportion of fruit with snail damage

12.7%

6.5%

9%

Grade 3

12.7%

0.3%

2%

Grade 2

0

3.1%

6.5%

Cost of snail baiting over 2019 per ha

0

$375

$112.50

Average snails per tree (over 12 months)

9

3

5

Baiting in September appeared to be less successful at Sites 2 and 3.

Generally, baiting in spring is not recommended for long term control.

There are a lot of juvenile snails at this time which are too small to take baits. There is also plenty of vegetation around for snails to feed on.

winter. Another season of monitoring and harvest assessment will help confirm these findings.

Go to: www.agric.wa.gov.au/ citrus/managing-snailscitrus-orchards

Monitoring showed that level of snails differed at the sites, particularly during spring build up and over summer and that baiting seems to be playing a role in managing the level of snails. There may be some potential to apply a few less bait applications over

MORE INFORMATION For more information see the DPIRD website www.agric. wa.gov.au/citrus/managingsnails-citrus-orchards or contact Rachelle Johnstone, (08) 9780 6158 or email rachelle.johnstone@dpird. wa.gov.au

33SNAILS mating along the dripline in March 2019.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Workers’ compensation insurance for contract labourers is a legal requirement. If you’re employing contract labour workers over peak seasons to meet demand, you need to ensure you have a workers’ compensation insurance policy, even if they’re just with you for a short period.

All workers, including seasonal, piece and contract labour hire workers need to be covered for workers’ compensation to protect you and your business if a worker is injured.

If one of your workers is injured whilst you are uninsured, you will be held personally liable for the claim which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. You will also be liable for penalties from WorkCover WA. Getting an insurance policy is easy and can be arranged through an approved insurer or with the help of an insurance broker.

Call WorkCover WA’s Advice and Assistance line on 1300 794 744 or visit https://www.workcover.wa.gov.au/employers/ understanding-your-rights-obligations/covering-yourworkers/ if you require further information about obtaining a policy and your obligations.

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of animals on the risk of foodborne illness in fresh produce

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Contamination may occur through use of irrigation water from polluted dams or rivers.

33SALMONELLA enterica is one of the most important human foodborne bacteria and is potentially spread through wild animals such as rodents, amphibians and reptiles, mammals and birds.

T

he Fresh Produce Safety Centre for Australia and New Zealand have released a fact sheet that addresses the impact of intensive animal production and animal intrusion on the risk of foodborne illness in fresh produce.

Fruits and vegetables can be major vehicles of foodborne outbreaks as they are often consumed raw, with no kill step to eliminate pathogens that can be acquired from the field or processing environment or human contact.

Demand for fresh and healthy convenience foods has led to greater consumption of fresh horticultural produce over the last two decades.

In Australia, there have been 32 fresh produce-related outbreaks between 2010 and 2015 with 1260 reported cases of illness.

Improved technologies detecting human pathogens — such as whole genome sequencing — has resulted in greater awareness and traceability of fresh produce being linked to foodborne illnesses.

33FRUITS and vegetables can be major vehicles of foodborne outbreaks as they are often consumed raw.

Identification of environmental sources and understanding the transmission processes of foodborne pathogens in the food supply chain are necessary to manage food safety risks.

Wild and domestic animals are the main reservoir for a broad range of pathogenic zoonotic agents and includes bacteria (Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and Yersinia spp.) and parasites (Cryptosporidium spp. and Angiostrongylus cantonensis).

Animals carrying these human pathogens in their intestinal tract often appear healthy, even though the pathogens can cause severe disease in humans.

Contamination may occur through; direct contact of the crop with faeces; use of irrigation water from polluted dams or rivers; or untreated manurebased soil amendments.

The major zoonotic pathogens associated with intensive animal production and wildlife Salmonella enterica is one of the most important human foodborne bacteria in industrialised countries and is potentially spread through farmed animals such as chickens, cattle, sheep and pigs, as well as wild animals such as rodents, amphibians and reptiles, mammals and birds. Contamination may occur through direct contact of the crop with faeces; use of irrigation water from polluted dams or rivers; or untreated manure-based soil amendments.

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Keep farm animals confined and/or far away from water sources, growing fields and storage areas.

33BIOAEROSOLS from intensive animal production operations is an important risk factor associated with fresh produce contamination.

Good practices for managing co-existence of animal and crop production:

Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) is a pathogen that can cause illness with severe symptoms and further complications. Cattle is the major reservoir of this pathogen but it has also been isolated from other livestock and domesticated animals including sheep, goats, pigs, horses, cats and dogs.

• Control livestock movement by keeping farm animals confined and/ or far away from water sources, growing fields and storage area

Wild animals, such as rodents, rabbits, ruminants like deer, wild boar and feral swine, and birds, as well as invertebrates, such as flies, can be reservoirs or transient carriers for STEC. Birds, especially, can move E. coli across long distances to, from, and among agricultural facilities.

Risks of having intensive animal production close to produce production areas Run-off water into nearby aquatic environments and bioaerosols from intensive animal production operations are important risk factors associated with fresh produce contamination.

However, cattle on rangeland, as well as livestock on small-scale diversified farms, can also be sources of foodborne pathogens, and potential interspecies transmission with wildlife has been documented (e.g. transmission between pastured cattle and feral pigs). Intensive animal operations often produce large numbers of livestock in concentrated confinements.

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• Establish buffering zones between livestock operations and crops/ water sources e.g. riparian zones and wetlands, non-crop or low-risk crop plantations • Use dedicated tools for farm animal activities and crop activities • Compost biowaste to reduce microbial load before application to fields • Do not spread manures prior to heavy rainfall • Prevent intrusion and minimise habitat of wild animals in the crop production area e.g. using fences, buffer zones and bird repellents • Do not use pesticides or chemical repellents in the growing field • Support co-management of food safety goals and maintaining biodiversity near farmlands • Take corrective actions when clear evidence of animal intrusion in the field is found.

MORE INFORMATION Visit https://fpsc-anz.com/ for more information and a copy of the fact sheet

Key take-home messages

• History of the land use and adjacent lands: Spatial knowledge of land use of the fields and surrounding areas, and their history, is essential to developing an effective co-management risk reduction strategy at the grower level.

• Harvesting time and wildlife activity: Know whether harvesting times correspond to periods of increased wildlife activity.

• Manage your risks: There is no uniform approach for assessing wildlife intrusion risk. Each farm (and even field) will be different and may change across seasons and years.

Therefore consult wildlife and food safety specialists to assess which wildlife species are potential problems.

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Reid Fruits deploys Laava’s digital fingerprints to outsmart counterfeiters

BY AMBER ATKINSON | COMMUNICATIONS & POLICY OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA

TOOL

33LAAVA’S Smart Fingerprint technology enables better experiences, trust and transparency for consumers, and to ensure safety and security for brands.

LAAVA’S FINGERPRINT TECHNOLOGY

WHAT DOES IT DO

ANTI-COUNTERFEITING TECHNOLOGY

WHO WOULD USE IT

GROWERS WANTING TO ENSURE SAFETY AND SECURITY FOR THEIR BRANDS

THE COST

CONTACT LAAVA FOR PRICING

MORE INFORMATION

VISIT WWW.AUSTRADE.GOV.AU OR WWW.LAAVA.ID

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WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

TASMANIAN CHERRY GROWER Reid Fruits has teamed up with brand and product integrity startup Laava to prevent counterfeiters from copying Reid’s distinctive packaging.

Reid Fruits is applying Laava’s patented Smart Fingerprint technology on its cherry boxes for 20 export markets during the 2019–20 season.

The technology uses advanced computer vision technology developed in collaboration with CSIRO to produce a unique ‘fingerprint’ that can be scanned by any smartphone.

Unlike barcodes or QR codes used in the past, Laava’s Smart Fingerprint technology is much harder to impersonate or replicate and much more secure, making it more resistant to counterfeiting.

According to Laava commercial director Gavin Ger it also delivers detailed brand and product information and interactive experiences to consumers.

He said Laava’s Smart Fingerprint technology was designed with two things in mind: to enable better experiences, trust and transparency for consumers, and to ensure safety and security for brands.

Reid Fruits managing director Tim Reid said counterfeiting was a massive issue for its business and other Australian producers.

“This technology offers a level of secure authentication that we believe will make it extremely difficult for counterfeiters to replicate,” Mr Reid said.

Based in southern Tasmania, Reid Fruits is a family-owned business that has been operating since 1856.

TOOL TIME

After growing apples for over 140 years, in 2000 the company turned its attention to cherries, securing a 500acre property in the Derwent Valley where it has planted more than 100,000 cherry trees.

Reid Fruits started exporting cherries in 2005 and almost from day one, the company’s premium products have been targeted by counterfeiters, including in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

In 2018, Reid Fruits received a photo from an Indian distributor of one of its cherry boxes — two weeks before the export season started.

Counterfeiting is particularly problematic in China, Reid Fruits’ largest export market.

Following a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, demand for Tasmanian products and Tasmanian cherries in particular skyrocketed — as did the counterfeiting of Reid Fruits’ cherries.

“For example, counterfeit products are being sold online at a reduced price, so that puts pressure on us to lower our price to be competitive.

“Counterfeiting not only leads to a direct loss of sales for us, it also affects our importers and distributors. In 2018, one of our Chinese importers had his sales basically halved from the year before, he estimates he lost around A$400,000.”

Advanced optical technology delivers trustworthy authentication Reid Fruits’ search for new anticounterfeiting technology led the company to ask Austrade for assistance.

Austrade’s industry experts introduced Reid Fruits to a number of companies offering innovative authentication solutions.

After an extensive assessment, Reid Fruits elected to work with Laava.

Chinese consumers can also access a version of Laava’s scanner in WeChat.

“Most of the codes used to identify products at the moment like QR are ‘read’ by a camera or a phone looking at the code and decoding it,” Mr Ger said.

“There’s no actual authentication going on — the scanner just reads the code and actions whatever the code tells it do.

“Most also use open standards that allow anyone to generate a code. These types of codes are a counterfeiter’s dream and a serious risk for brands — they were never designed for authentication.

“What makes Laava different is that each Laava code is unique and can only be generated by Laava — every box of cherries will carry a one-off, serialised identifier.

Reid Fruits marketing and sales manager Tony Coad said the company had spent tens of thousands of dollars to prevent counterfeiting, switching to higher-quality packaging, using special processes such as embossing and foil on its cartons, introducing a watermark on its box bases and printing its logo on the long-life plastic liners that keep cherries fresh in the box.

It also included a seasonal, laser-cut, embossed foil sticker on the outside of its boxes and a card inside with a unique QR code which when scanned, links to a website that authenticates the product.

“In the 2018 season, all these elements were copied within the first two weeks of the boxes appearing in the Chinese market,” Mr Coad said.

The QR-based technology was especially troubling for Reid Fruits, as counterfeiters simply created their own QR codes that linked to a fake authentication website (a technique known as ‘spoofing’).

“It’s hard to quantify the impact on our sales simply because we really don’t know how much counterfeiting is going on.” Mr Coad said.

Counterfeiting is a massive issue for Australian producers.

“Laava is using a newer, higher standard of optical recognition which is not so easy to impersonate or replicate,” says Coad.

Developed and refined in collaboration with CSIRO over two years, Laava’s Fingerprint technology is unique in that it uses an optically based process to validate products.

The technology also uses multi- factor authentication, is blockchain-ready and integrates directly with industrystandard packhouse management and traceability solutions.

Consumers use the Laava mobile website to scan the Fingerprint from any smartphone (there’s no need to download an app).

“When the code is scanned, our technology optically compares the image of that code against our database. Only when it finds a match will it authenticate the product.

“That allows us to immediately identify cases where someone has tried to copy or simply pass off a code that looks like one of ours as a legitimate Laava Fingerprint.

“This same secure process allows brands to enforce business rules, such as checking the number of scans, and where those scans are taking place.”

MORE INFORMATION For more information email info@austrade. gov.au or visit www.austrade.gov.au, or www.laava.id

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New fruit regulator one to one replacement for old systems

BY AMBER ATKINSON | COMMUNICATIONS & POLICY OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE digital world are moving rapidly.

TOOL

MC2-FC FRUIT REGULATOR

WHAT DOES IT DO

STORAGE CONTROLLER FOR HARD AND SOFT FRUIT

WHO WOULD USE IT

GROWERS

THE COST

CONTACT JHD PRODUCTS FOR PRICING

For VDH products, the manufacturer of measuring and control equipment from Roden, it was high time to replace the more than 25-year-old loyal FC-785PC fruit regulator with a new generation regulator.

This resulted in the MC2-FC, which boasts more applications and smart gadgets whilst remaining just as reliable, versatile and easy to operate as its predecessor in cooling top and soft fruit.

Easy to connect to network The MC2-FC controller is the third generation fruit regulator.

VDH sales manager Jacco Smid said the company had included the expertise and knowledge of specialists, installers and end users in the design of this new fruit regulator.

MORE INFORMATION

"The MC2-FC has a touchscreen for reading the data, fast processors and ethernet for fast and stable communication with the cooling, fans, defrost and any humidifier,” he said.

The design of the new fruit controller also takes into account its predecessor, the FC-785PC. “The housing of the new fruit controller has the same dimensions as its predecessor. This makes replacing the old fruit controllers easier. In addition, the MC2-FC can communicate with the old fruit regulators through smart software. In this way, a company can gradually replace its controllers with the new version and incorporate them into the network of regulators without too many problems.”

Where the MC2-FC is a standalone controller, it can also communicate with the MC3-Fruit controller which can control five different cooling cells.

Both controllers can communicate with each other.

Relay cooling According to Mr Smid, the MC2-FC is an open system so that the owner can easily determine the settings for the device and fill it in properly without the need for an installer.

WWW.VDHPRODUCTS.COM/NL

“In addition to many advanced and smart functionalities, the controller also has a ‘relay control’ which allows one or more controllers in a network to cool one after the other or simultaneously,” he said.

“This means that you can cool with a small cooling capacity and also save energy, which is good for the purse.”

The MC2-FC controller is supported by VASP, an advanced management and control software. This also allows the customer to gain insight into the condition of the cold stores via their smartphone and control them remotely.

33THE MC2-FC can communicate with old fruit regulators through smart software.

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WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

MORE INFORMATION For more information visit: www.vdhproducts.com

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your

industry Your industry WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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Battle against European wasp continues in Western Australia

T

he European wasp (Vespula germanica) is a serious pest that would severely impact Western Australia’s horticultural and agricultural industries if it were to establish here. European wasps damage crops, destroy beehives and pose a risk to the safety of workers and tourists on WA farms, orchards and vineyards.

WA remains the only place in the world to have kept the European wasp at bay, but the invasion pressure continues.

Favourable environmental conditions and the lack of natural predators means there is potential for the European wasp to become a greater pest in WA than it has become anywhere else in the world.

European wasps can damage all soft fruit with a thin skin including stone and pome fruit.

Each year fertilised wasp queens arrive in WA amongst cargo from other states and spread to find suitable places to establish new nests. Underground nests are difficult to see and disturbing a nest can lead to thousands of wasps attacking in defense.

33DPIRD technical officer Malavika Nair hanging up an Adopta-trap.

European wasp’s predicted range of establishment is widespread — potentially from Kalbarri to Eucla.

European wasps can damage all soft fruit with a thin skin including stone and pome fruit. In Victoria, the grape growing and winemaking sector is one of the most affected by the pests.

European wasps commonly sting fruit pickers and have been recorded to cause up to 75% crop loss in late picked grapes. 87% of vignerons surveyed believed European wasps were a serious problem and 21% reported European wasps were a nuisance to tourists at wineries and restaurants.

In New Zealand, European wasps have seriously affected or destroyed 8–9% of beehives. This has flow on impacts on both honey production and the pollination services of bees.

In south west WA, European wasps could establish in native forest areas with consequent significant ecological impacts and would also present a health and safety risk to bush walkers and forest workers.

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33 EUROPEAN wasps are attracted to protein sources such as meat and fish.

detected in 1977 and has conducted a surveillance and eradication program since 1994. Public involvement has been strengthened through the Adopta-Trap initiative and Local Government participation in the European Wasp Working Group.

33DPIRD senior technical officer Alan Lord looking for European wasp.

In WA, the surveillance season runs from November to April each year. WA’s worst season to date was in 2018–19, when 166 nests were located and destroyed.

More than 3000 traps have been deployed across Perth and regional areas this year, as part of the coordinated surveillance efforts to detect the presence of European wasp.

Autumn is a key time to look for the wasps, as their nests now contain thousands of wasps, making their distinctive foraging behaviour on pet food and meat easier to spot.

Industry and public awareness is critical for the early detection of this pest, which will allow WA to remain the only place in the world to have successfully kept these wasps from establishing.

Help us to keep it that way.

MORE INFORMATION If you see anything suspicious contact DPIRD immediately. Enquiries and reports of European wasp sightings can be made via the MyPestGuide™ Reporter app or online reporting (mypestguide.agric.wa.gov.au), DPIRD’s Pest and Disease Information Service on (08) 9368 3080, or you can email photos to padis@dpird.wa.gov.au.

33DPIRD staff removing a European wasp nest at Thornlie.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) are working with other government and community groups to keep the wasp out of WA, carrying out a range of activities including wasp tracking and trapping, nest location and destruction, public awareness and community trapping programs.

European wasps can be distinguished from the common paper wasp as it has black antennae, is attracted to proteins such as meat and fish and flies with raised legs. It scavenges on human food and drinks and pet food and flies in and out of a single hole in the ground DPIRD has located and destroyed more than 1400 nests in WA since the first European wasp nest was

You can also help in the fight against European wasp by signing up to adopt a trap for your farm, orchard or vineyard. For more information, visit agric.wa.gov.au/wasps.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

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Growing Leaders

s r e d a e l n e g t the nex

organisationally or within their industry) that they have not done prior to taking on the program. For us, this is deeply rewarding.”

Jill Rigney believes the wider mix will broaden the views of participants. “Our experience in 12 years with the Rural Leader’s Bootcamp clearly demonstrates participants learn the ‘art of leadership’ more quickly through having to apply principles and not get bogged down in their own technical fields,” she said.

The program is designed for people to improve their leadership skills.

V

egetable Growers have the opportunity to participate in a brand-new program to help them become good leaders and how to inspire others in their workplaces and industry.

The Growing Leaders Program is a multi-industry levy funded program where participants have the opportunity to meet, mix with and learn from young leaders across a range of horticultural industries.

Delivered by David Hanlon and Jill Rigney from The Right Mind (TRM), this program is based on their awardwinning leadership program. The program seeks to challenge participants to reflect on what is expected of a modern leader, and to equip them with the tools they need to prosper. It was widely acclaimed in the adaptation for the nursery and turf industries and now is offered to a wider range of industries.

As David explained, “It is a program based on our Rural Leader’s Bootcamp we run but with modules containing real life industry examples which will ensure analytical skills are tailored to the participants own industry.”

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WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

The TRM program comes with a wealth of fresh and innovative training material (evaluated by external peers) that have been customised to the specific needs of Hort Innovation by highly experienced facilitators. This comprehensive leadership-oriented curriculum is characterised by high-quality teaching materials, complemented by small and whole group theoretical and experiential learning.

“It is transformational in its approach and provides a personal stretch to participants beyond what is traditionally offered,” David said.

“Consistently participants leave with an urge to tackle things (either personally,

The program has a number of elements involved and includes two face-to-face workshop sessions, which David fondly refers to as a “boot camp — it is definitely full-on, and participants love that. It facilitates a more rapid understanding of their own leadership style and provides the latest tools to grow it.”

“The program is designed for people to improve their leadership skills for themselves, for their team, and their organisation and the wider industry in which they work,” David said.

“It’s about working through the process of leading yourself and others.

“The program includes learning about, understanding and identifying your own and others’ communication styles, how to manage conflict, how to set and meet priorities for yourself and your business, how to manage risk and understanding your customers’ needs among others.

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One of TRM manta’s is ‘doing leadership’ As David says, “it is so easy to sit and absorb with little going back to the participants own business or industry.”

To overcome this, participant’s undertake a workplace project which is discussed with the immediate manager and supported by TRM during the program.

This is through one-on-one coaching sessions, and specific webinar-delivered sessions to re-enforce participant’s knowledge and skills.

New plant analysis guide helps growers manage vegetable crop nutrition

T

he Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection (ICP) project recently released Plant Analysis for Vegetable Crops: A Practical Guide to Sampling, Analysis and Interpretation.

The new plant analysis guide covers how this approach is used for vegetable crops, explaining the purpose and types of plant analyses and aiding growers in selecting the right tools for their crops.

“We have found the participants own businesses love it. They are actively encouraged to provide feedback during the program, sit in on the webinars, and provide us with feedback at the end of the program,” said Jill.

Outcomes from the program include amongst other things, a significantly deeper understanding of self and ones own potential. For the organisations participating there is a greater knowledge around the ‘hidden drivers’ of performance and how to bring them to the fore. Participants in the nursery and turf industry program, were ‘amazing contributors to industry awareness.

“We were amazed at the number who conducted field-days, did interviews for their respective new outlets, etc,” said Jill As an industry funded program, TRM strongly encourages participants to ‘step up’ and take on higher leadership positions within their industry body.

The first workshop of the program will be held in Brisbane on May 11–13, and a second workshop in Melbourne on August 10 and 11.

The program is open to all industry levy payers.

There is no cost to participate in the program, however travel costs to the workshop destinations and accommodation are at participant’s expense.

MORE INFORMATION Interested growers and industry members can log onto TRM’s website for more detail and the application form.

Guidance on sampling methods, desirable nutrient concentrations and interpretation of results are all provided.

The new guide is packed with expert advice on how to use plant analysis to manage soil fertility and crop nutrition, and is available now on the Soil Wealth / ICP website www.soilwealth.com.au.

The guide walks vegetable growers through sampling and analysis techniques, managing potential problems such as nutrient deficiencies, and how to maximise productivity through optimal nutrient management.

The publication author, Dr Doris Blaesing, who brought years of research and training to the growers’ guide, said soil testing can provide an estimate of potential nutrient availability.

"But growers cannot predict the quantity of nutrients a crop will actually use because many factors other than soil fertility are involved in plant nutrient uptake,” she said.

The guide is produced and distributed by the nationwide Soil Wealth and Integrated Crop Protection (ICP) project — jointly delivered by RM Consulting Group (RMCG) and Applied Horticultural Research (AHR), and funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government.

The Soil Wealth and ICP project provide research and development (R&D) extension services, products and communication on improved soil management and plant health to the Australian vegetable industry.

MORE INFORMATION Visit the Soil Wealth ICP website www.soilwealth.com.au to access an electronic copy of Plant Analysis for Vegetable Crops: A Practical Guide to Sampling, Analysis and Interpretation.

For more information please contact: • D r Doris Blaesing m: 0438 546 487 e: dorisb@rmcg.com.au • D r Gordon Rogers m: 0418 517 777 e: gordon@ahr.com.au

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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YOUR INDUSTRY

Farm workers face off in Manjimup soccer tournament

BY AMBER ATKINSON COMMUNICATIONS & POLICY OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA

T

his Australia Day 190 Timorese, Fijian and Tongan seasonal farm workers gathered in Manjimup for the inaugural Pan Nation Cup soccer tournament.

The workers are in Australia as part of the national Seasonal Workers and Pacific Labour Schemes and work across 10 farms in the south west of Western Australia.

The tournament was funded by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and organised by vegetablesWA to build and strengthen support networks and assist the workers to integrate into the Australian way of life.

The event was held at Deanmill Oval and was supported by a host of volunteers from vegetablesWA, Manjimup United and the Deanmill Football Club, as well as local farm employees. vegetablesWA Labour Scheme Facilitator Melissa Denning said the tournament was a valuable way to connect farm workers and build a sense of community.

“These workers will be in the country anywhere between six months and three years so it’s important that we do our part to make them feel welcome and appreciated,” Miss Denning said.

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“At a time when there is a shortage of legitimate, willing and capable workers within certain growing regions, these 190 workers play such a vital part in the food production chain.

“The tournament on Sunday was such a great success. We had a great turn out, with farm workers travelling from Narrogin, Katanning and Kojonup, as well as family members travelling from Perth to throw their support behind their teams.”

Farm face off against Timorese from Ladycroft Orchard.

Bamess Farms claimed victory, with the final score of 6–3.

DPIRD agribusiness development manager Jackie Jarvis said the Seasonal Worker Programme and the Pacific Labour Scheme provided a “win-win” solution to overcoming a labour supply shortage.

Workers from Bamess Farms claimed victory.

The competition required five members from individual farms to compete, and to ensure everyone gets to play participants can be swapped in and out.

Each team played two games of fiveminute halves, with the remaining two teams vying for the trophy.

The nail biting grand final saw Ni-van farm workers from Bamess

“These programs enable WA agribusinesses to access a reliable, skilled workforce, providing certainty and the ability to operate more profitably, while providing high value employment to seasonal workers, who learn skills that could create future opportunities when they return home,” Ms Jarvis said “The department is supporting these initiatives by creating an enabling environment to facilitate the success of the programs and is proud to support the inaugural Pan Nation Cup.”

ADVERTORIAL

Morning Glory Farms

launches marketing campaign across Asia Pacific with DiMuto Solutions platform that truly closes the loop from farm to fork,” Mr Eatts said.

DiMuto’s Sales and Marketing Retention and Awareness Tool (SMART) Marketing solution enables small and medium produce growers to conduct cost effective marketing campaigns to engage consumers.

When consumers scan DiMuto QR codes tagged to individual food products, they can obtain information about product origins and growing practices, learn new recipes and participate in promotions.

Consumers are also encouraged to leave feedback on their produce, giving brand owners important information about quality of the produce and the consumer experience.

THE SMART MARKETING services powered by unique DiMuto QR codes is a cost-effective solution to reach out to end consumers and communicate brand stories of farmers and growers Western Australian spaghetti squash grower, Morning Glory Farms, has teamed up with tech-based trade solutions platform, DiMuto, to digitalise its squash and help conduct marketing campaigns.

Located in Southern Forests, Morning Glory Farms is a third and fourth generation farm growing stone fruit, sweet corn and spaghetti squash, along with cattle and sheep.

33MORNING Glory Farms owner Bevan (Left) and son Ewan Eatts, with DiMuto Founder and Chairman Gary Loh (Right) .

Morning Glory Farms currently supplies spaghetti squash to leading supermarket retailers like Coles and IGA.

Morning Glory Farms owner Bevan Eatts said that as a grower, it was difficult to reach out to consumers directly and tell his story.

Under this partnership, DiMuto will also help Morning Glory Farms to grow their international presence in Southeast Asia with Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand as key export markets.

“With DiMuto’s marketing solution, we are now able to let people know where and how their squash is grown, as well as getting feedback from them — a

MORE INFORMATION Contact HuiMin Lee on +65 6275 1611 email huimin@dimuto.io or go to www.dimuto.io.

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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YOUR INDUSTRY

Horticulture sector braces for

coronavirus impact W

ith coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) dominating news headlines and heavily restricting travel, it is imperative for growers to be prepared, stay informed and mitigate risk wherever possible.

He stated that restrictions on travel and people movement in impacted countries has seen a decline in consumer demand, particularly high-end, quality products that Australia is renowned for.

National Farmers’ Federation Chief Executive Officer, Tony Mahar has warned that the longer the situation goes on and the more countries impacted, the larger the challenge for Australian agriculture to deliver food and fibre to consumers.

“China is WA’s biggest trading partner, representing 28% of our total agrifood and forestry exports at $2.35 billion per year,” Minister MacTiernan said.

According to Mr Mahar one of the greater concerns for agriculture is its ability to sustain a workforce in the face of increased travel restrictions resulting from the coronavirus outbreak.

“Restrictions on movement are also affecting supply chains with air and port capacity tightening.”

Minister for Agriculture and Food Alannah MacTiernan MLC said the industry must prepare for trade impacts of COVID-19.

“However, the effects of the novel coronavirus outbreak extends beyond China — we expect food and beverage sales to slow in other Asian markets as residents and tourists in these areas avoid travel and high traffic areas.

“A large proportion of the agricultural sector including horticulture, pork and grain sectors use seasonal workers or backpackers to harvest crops,” Mr Mahar said.

“We expect an impact on exports to these affected countries, particularly for industries that produce highly perishable products and rely heavily on the Chinese market.”

33RESTRICTIONS on movement are also affecting supply chains with air and port capacity tightening.

Be prepared, stay informed and mitigate risk wherever possible.

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The ARC Training Centre for Food Safety in the Fresh Produce Industry has released a fact sheet on coronavirus which emphasises that it is unlikely to be passed on through fresh produce and highlights the simple measures that can be put in place to reduce risk.

The author of the document, Dr Hayriye Bozkurt, has warned that the virus may survive for up to three hours on dry inanimate surfaces, and several hours on hands, tissues, and other surfaces.

To reduce the risk of transmission of infection, she urges the industry to follow good personal hygiene practices along with good agricultural practices.

Following is an excerpt from Dr Bozkurt fact sheet Coronavirus unlikely to be passed on through fresh produce.

YOUR INDUSTRY

Coronavirus unlikely to be passed on through fresh produce DR HAYRIYE BOZKURT ARC TRAINING CENTRE FOR FOOD SAFETY

What is Coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that usually cause respiratory illness.

They include viruses that cause the common cold and seasonal flu, as well as more serious illnesses like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

Can coronaviruses survive outside the body, on food and on other surfaces?

Can the virus be passed on through fresh produce?

Coronaviruses are thought to be transmitted through respiratory droplets, contact with infected secretions, and fecal-oral transmission.

We know through experience with SARS and MERS that people are not infected with these viruses through fresh produce and it is unlikely 2019nCoV is passed on through fresh fruit and vegetables.

Most viruses from the respiratory tract (such as corona, coxsackie, influenza, SARS or rhino virus) can persist on surfaces for a few days. Although more data is needed to determine how long 2019-nCoV can survive on surfaces, we know that coronavirus can survive up to three hours on dry inanimate surfaces, and several hours on hands, tissues, and other surfaces. However, this is variable and dependent on influencers such as surface type, temperature, and relative humidity.

temperature is below freezing. We know that current industrial practices applied to frozen products demonstrate limited efficacy for reducing the viral load. The public should boil their frozen product before consumption.

How to reduce risk?

Infected food handlers could introduce the virus to fresh produce by coughing and sneezing, or through hand contact, unless they strictly follow good personal

33GOOD personal hygiene along with good agricultural practices should be followed strictly.

33CORONAVIRUS can survive up to three hours on dry inanimate surfaces.

33THE public should boil their frozen product before consumption.

As with other viruses, Coronaviruses need a host (animal or human) to grow in, so they cannot replicate in fresh produce. It is not clear if a person can contract 2019-nCoV by touching a surface or fresh produce with 2019nCoV on it and then touching their mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. As always, good personal hygiene along with good agricultural practices should be followed strictly.

hygiene practices along with good agricultural practices.

What is the tolerance of coronaviruses to inactivation by heat or cold/freezing?

• avoiding close contact, when possible, with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing

Although it is still not certain what time and temperature combinations will inactivate 2019-nCoV, cooking thoroughly would be sufficient to achieve desired amount of reduction.

For freezing and cool storage, as with other viruses, the virus may be able to live for months or years when the

The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises that standard recommendations to reduce exposure to and transmission of a range of illnesses are maintained.

These include: • proper hand hygiene • cough/cold hygiene practices • safe agricultural practices

MORE INFORMATION To stay informed on the status of Coronavirus, visit the World Health Organisation website www.who.int/healthtopics/coronavirus

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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evoke

AG.

goes west in 2021 33(L–R): Gareth Parker (CEO, Business Events Perth), Dr William Ryan (Director, AgriFutures), John Harvey (CEO, AgriFutures), Kay Hull (Chair, AgriFutures), The Hon. Alannah MacTiernan, Susan Hall (General Manager Investment, DPIRD), Ralph Addis (Director General, DPIRD), Peter May (Business Development Manager Investment, DPIRD), Leah Boucher (CEO, Integra Digital) and Belinda Lay (Partner, Coolindown Farms).

W

estern Australia is set to host the AgriFutures Australia evokeAG conference in February 2021, following the announcement at the 2020 event last month.

WA is focused on value-add, agtech and foodtech as it diversifies the economy and takes advantage of our environment, climate, proximity and quality aspects of food, farm and future.

The opportunity to host evokeAG was led by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and Business Events Perth, and supported by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI).

DPIRD Agribusiness, Food and Trade Executive Director Liam O’Connell said hosting the 2021 event provides an ideal platform to showcase our State’s capabilities and attract potential investors and customers from around

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Australia and strategic markets across the Asia Pacific region.

“The WA Government is committed to supporting the growth and development of the State’s agriculture, fisheries and food industries,” Mr O’Connell said.

“With an already burgeoning agtech scene, hosting a vibrant agtech meet-up group and a series of Perth and regional accelerator and innovation hub opportunities, evokeAG will further highlight WA as an investment destination to international and domestic investors and agtech businesses.

“As the gateway to key international markets, WA is primely positioned to meet the growing demand for innovative opportunities, fresh produce and high quality agrifood production.

“DPIRD is looking forward to welcoming delegates from Eastern Australia and around the world to take a fresh look at the possibilities on offer in WA.” Focused on the future of the agrifood tech space, evokeAG attracts more than 1000 delegates from around the world and across Australia to connect,

collaborate and look to the future possibilities of agrifood tech. The international event showcases, inspires, provokes and elevates the importance of collaborative thinking for the future of agriculture.

Moora Citrus Director Sue Middleton said the event was an eye-opener and provided new insights into how investment can be driven into the WA agriculture industry.

“We all know the challenges that face Australian farmers,” Ms Middleton said.

“It was rewarding to be amongst people who were actively seeking innovative solutions rather than just talking about what we should be doing.

“Seeing those solutions showcased to critical stakeholders and investors was really exciting, and I can’t wait for more WA producers and agtech start-ups to have the opportunity to experience the event for themselves in 2021.”

Stay tuned for more details about evokeAG in Perth, February 2021!

YOUR INDUSTRY

33“BEING part of evokeAG, as a WA startup, was really valuable. It gave us a great opportunity to connect with other startups who are at a similar stage or a bit further ahead and to share what might eventuate in the coming months.”

Rob Kelly, LIVEstock Pricing

33(L–R): Grower Group Alliance CEO Annabelle Bushell, Facey Group Executive Officer Sarah Hyde, DPIRD Business Development Manager Peter May and Moora Citrus Director Sue Middleton at evokeAG 2020.

evokeAG

comes to Western Australia in February 2021.

33“EVOKEAG provided an opportunity to make market connections and learn about new tech developments which promise to have a real impact on the agricultural industry, particularly in horticulture.”

Myles Barnard, Urbotanica

WA agtech start-ups represent at evokeAG WA agtech companies and start-ups had the opportunity to explore innovative developments in the agrifood technology space at last month’s international evokeAG event in Melbourne.

Four WA investor-ready businesses, with interests in vertical farming, precision fertiliser application, digital supply chain solutions and biosecurity, received $1500 support packages from DPIRD to assist their attendance, following a statewide expression of interest process.

Laconik, LIVEstock Pricing, Urbotanica and MALDI-ID experienced the event first-hand; meeting with international innovators and investors, exchanging information and learning how technology can shape the future.

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33“WE thank Woolworths and ALDI for getting behind this industry-led initiative and are hoping to see other Australian retailers and the larger wholesalers join us soon.”

Thomas Hertel, Fair Farms Program Manager

Australia’s horticulture sector backs industry-led certification program

S

ince its launch in June 2019, 100 growers and other horticulture businesses from across Australia have joined the industry-developed Fair Farms Training and Certification Program demonstrating industry’s commitment to stamping out workplace non-compliance and worker exploitation.

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YOUR INDUSTRY

Fair Farms Program Manager, Thomas Hertel said Growcom was rolling out Fair Farms on behalf of industry in a bid to show who is doing the right thing and use market forces to drive out unethical and unlawful employment practices.

“We’re excited about the strong take-up so far and congratulate our participating growers and other supply chain members for showing industry leadership on this important issue,” Mr Hertel said.

“Of the businesses registered to date, 60 have already completed the self-assessment against the Fair Farms Standard to identify areas for improvement.

“Fair Farms aims to have a critical mass of ethical suppliers certified against the Fair Farms Standard, so wholesalers and retailers can make the switch and start sourcing their fresh produce only from verified ethical businesses.

“Australian grown, Fair Farms certified, all the way to the grower level, is what

we’re working towards. When retailers and the consumer buy into that and reward ethical compliance, we expect to see real positive impact on the treatment of workers on farms.”

Fair Farms is working closely with key stakeholders from across the supply chain including growers, wholesalers, participating retailers, trade unions, and industry-bodies AUSVEG and the National Farmers’ Federation to ensure the successful roll-out.

“We thank Woolworths and ALDI for getting behind this industry-led initiative and are hoping to see other Australian retailers and the larger wholesalers join us soon,” Mr Hertel added.

Articles have covered topics such as: • Providing accommodation to workers • Managing worker fatigue • Developing emergency procedures, and • Effective inductions These and many more can be found in the ‘News & Resources’ section of the Fair Farms website: www.fairfarms.com.au/newsresources

Stamping out workplace noncompliance and worker exploitation.

Keep your skills fine-tuned with Fair Farms

MORE INFORMATION To find out more about how to get Fair Farms certified visit www.fairfarms.com.au or email us at fairfarms@ growcom.com.au

Fair Farms is developed and delivered by Growcom with support from the Fair Work Ombudsman, The Federal Department of Agriculture and AUSVEG.

Fair Farms is regularly publishing technical articles around key elements of the Fair Farms Standard that underpins the Fair Farms Training and Certification program.

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VegNET IEO Update

delivering results across Horticulture in Kununurra and is mere weeks away from exceeding all project objectives and expectations; with no signs of slowing down!

Joel Dinsdale has been flat out like a lizard drinking.

Autumn 2020

BY SAM GRUBIŠA INDUSTRY EXTENSION OFFICER, VEGETABLESWA

W

elcome to 2020, the year of the Metal Rat! Culturally seen as a sign of wealth and surplus, representing the beginning of a new day and with the lucky colours being blue, gold and green (my interpretation — the sky, the sun and some damn healthy crops); this Chinese zodiac is setting us up for a thriving year.

“The Summer Australia was on Fire”.

What a way to say goodbye to 2019 and hello to 2020! Official or not, the state of emergency felt by the entire country and the sheer grit and determination shown by the men and women refusing to surrender to this devastating opponent,

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The master of export development and facilitation, Manus has been hard at work offering support and guidance to the WA growers applying for funded positions on AUSVEG’s trade show missions. Through this national project three WA businesses were able to attend the 25th anniversary of the Gulfood’s Trade Show in Dubai.

has left a rather profound mark both domestically and internationally. While chatting with my cousin Dragana in Croatia recently, I heard lingering concern in her voice when she asked about the fires. After looking at the stats, her concern made sense. As of January 14 2020, the estimated area burnt this fire season is 18.6 million hectares / 46 million acres / 186,000km2 / 72,000m2, however you want to write it down, the numbers are overwhelming and not all the fires are out!

It’s all systems go for the team at vegetablesWA! Bryn and the Planfarm crew have gathered the last of the 2018–19 data and handed it to the Benchmarking Brains Trust of Number Crunching.

For those who participated a personalised, individual consultation will be coming your way soon; as will the industry report with its evolving yearly averages and insights.

Labour Scheme Facilitator, Melissa Denning is here, there and everywhere!

She’s kicking goals with the inaugural Pan Nations Cup in Manjimup,

As usual, everybody’s favourite farm visitor, QA Coordinator Joel Dinsdale has been flat out like a lizard drinking.

Travelling all over the countryside from Geraldton to Wattleup and beyond, he’s doing more kilometres than the Leyland Brothers! Assisting growers in their transition to Freshcare 4.1 and ameliorating many QA concerns, Joel’s level of busy is proof our industry takes quality and food safety very seriously!

As for your friendly, neighbourhood Extension Officers? After a rough start to the year with Truyen and his (noncoronavirus) stuffy nose exiled from the office upon his return from Vietnam for Lunar New Year, and me skilfully evading my new puppy’s vicious attempt on my life (aka my sloth-like reflexes resulted in a busted ankle), we have hit the ground running! With workshops up the wazoo, field walks aplenty and a final milestone looming … the next couple of months are going to be action packed!

Until next edition dear reader — may your crops flourish, your prices be equitable and the Lunar new year predictions be proved accurate … so nobody ends up knocking a rat on the head with a metal shovel!

MORE INFORMATION Contact Sam Grubiša on 0427 373 037 or email sam.grubisa@vegetableswa.com.au

WA POTATOES

potato

update WA Potatoes

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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WA POTATOES

contacts Horticulture House 103 Outram Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005 p: (08) 9481 0834 e: admin@wapotatoes.com.au w: todatoes.com.au

Executive Officer’s Report

Simon Moltoni, Chief Executive Officer m: 0447 141 752 e: simon@wapotatoes.com.au Morena Perdec, Finance & Admin Manager e: morena@wapotatoes.com.au Georgia Thomas, Project Manager e: georgia@wapotatoes.com.au

Committee 2019–20 Vaughan Carter Chairperson

Busselton

Albany Colin Ayres Deputy Chairperson

m: 0417 092 505 m: 0428 451 014

Glen Ryan Secretary

Pemberton

m: 0428 827 126

Gary Bendotti Treasurer

Pemberton

m: 0427 569 903

Patrick Fox

Scott River

m: 0499 887 202

Bronwyn Fox

Dandaragan

m: 0427 447 412

Christian deHaan

Manjimup

m: 0429 436 361

Elected Members Representing the Ware Fresh sector: Vaughan Carter, Christian de Haan, Glen Ryan and Bronwyn Fox Representing the Seed sector: Colin Aryes Representing the Export sector: Patrick Fox Representing the Processing sector: Gary Bendotti

T

SIMON MOLTONI EXECUTIVE OFFICER, POTATO GROWERS ASSOCIATION

he next phase in the development of the WA potato industry has a name — AusFarm Connect (AFC). The new export entity is getting closer to launch with the Committee fine tuning the business plan and constitution.

Recent updates for growers include the business development, market development and engagement, with government required to bring AFC to life.

Over the next few months business development workshops will be held for the interim Board to improve the understanding of the functions of AFC in order to finalise the business plan and manage the business during the critical early stages.

The Corona virus is affecting the export development project with travel bans already imposed on target nations with potentially increased restrictions in the near future. We will need to react accordingly and consider the health risk to the individuals involved.

The Egypt project has been finalised.

It has successfully identified the opportunities and risks and the next steps required for market access. All growers should have received a copy of the report in their inbox. If not, contact the office and we can send one.

Fee-for-service charge 2019–20

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

An industry dinner will be held Friday evening for all members who wish to attend.

The Seed for Schools program is nearing launch for this year. A record of over 800 requests for packs have been received and has put a strain on our resources. Morena is on top of this growing project and will give a report in the next WA Grower magazine.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Simon Moltoni on 0447 141 752 or email simon@wapotatoes.com.au

Projects approved 2019–20 Part funding for PGA

Processing potatoes — local and export

$6.00/t

Seed potatoes — local and export Ware (fresh) potatoes — export

$150/ha Delivery of Registered Seed Potato Certification Schemes & Virus Testing $8.00/t Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid (PSTVd) $6.00/t surveillance of the Seed Scheme

Ware (fresh) potatoes — marketing

$2.50/t

Ware (fresh) potatoes — local

54

The next Committee of Management meeting is being held in Manjimup on Friday, 13 March. The PPC meeting is being held the same day to coincide with the Warren District Agricultural Show on Saturday, 14 March.

$310,500 $96,000

Part Funding for Export Development Project $100,000

WA POTATOES

Egypt export potential

Trade mission confirms opportunity for seed potatoes growers will be to gain market access through an Australian and Egyptian government to government agreement.

This process commenced in 2017, but significant work is still required to progress the phytosanitary and varietal issues before the agreement can be established.

“We are confident that WA’s globally recognised biosecurity status for seed potatoes, that meet and exceed the import protocol cited in official decrees published by Egypt for European seed, will assist us to gain access in due course,” said Simon.

33THE WA delegation meets with Pepsico in November 2019.

A

trade delegation of Western Australian (WA) potato industry leaders, consultants and government representatives have completed a tour to Egypt, confirming the potential to export at least 10,000 tonnes of top quality local seed potatoes.

The delegation was focused on connecting with commercial operators at all levels of the Egyptian supply chain involved in potato crisp processing, following up on a 2017 visit which identified the market as having significant potential for WA seed potato exports.

certified seed are imported each year from United Kingdom and European suppliers, and the market is still growing,” said Vaughan.

“Our visit confirmed the potential we identified in 2017 and provided a much better understanding of how the industry works, including where WA seed potatoes could be competitive and even provide benefit to the Egyptian industry,” Vaughan added.

According to the Potato Growers Association of WA CEO Simon Moltoni, the biggest challenge for WA seed

Potato Growers Association of WA Chairperson, Vaughan Carter joined the tour which including meetings with the three largest crisp processors in Egypt, PepsiCo, Egypt Food Group and Americana (Senyorita) Foods with 48%, 12% and 6% of the savoury snacks market respectively.

“The Egyptian potato sector is enormous, producing over 5 million tonnes annually.

As a result, over 150,000 tonnes of

33THE delegation visiting the Agro Stars variety evaluation site in November 2019.

The visit is considered yet another important step in shoring up the future of the WA potato industry, through developing close relationships internationally and collecting valuable intelligence to support export development. Both critical elements along the pathway to a new Export Entity for growers, which is aiming to be launched in 2020.

“Key supply chain participants in Egypt have shown initial support for trial shipments to evaluate WA seed potatoes in-market. We are looking forward to working closely with Egyptian Quarantine in order to make this happen,” said Vaughan.

The visit is considered another important step in shoring up the future of the WA potato industry.

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Grower profile

Bronwyn Fox DANDARAGAN PERTH

Farmers Bronwyn & Dave Fox Location Dandaragan Enterprises Lupins, hay, sheep and potatoes

D

andaragan grower Bronwyn Fox has recently joined the Potato Growers Association of WA (PGAWA) Committee of Management. The family farm produces lupins, hay, sheep and of course lots of delicious potatoes!

Bronwyn is very active in the community and is currently Chair of Rural Edge Australia, running business skills training for farmers. As well as being a Board member for the West Midlands Group, representing growers in the West Midlands Region (Gingin to Eneabba), running R&D and environmental projects relevant to the area. Plus Bronwyn is currently doing the Signature Leadership Program though Leadership WA.

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Q: Who lives on the farm?

A: Mick & Delys, Dave and I and our three kids, William, George and Rosie.

Q: How long has your family had the farm?

A: Mick & Delys purchased the property in 2000 and moved up here in the summer of 2000–01.

WA POTATOES

“I’d love to see the industry get behind the export market entity.”

Photo © Justine Eacott Photography

Bronwyn Fox

33 BRONWYN and Dave Fox with William, Rosie and George.

Q: Will the farm stay in the family? Will the kids take over?

A: The farm management is being transferred to Dave and I at the moment.

Dave has always wanted to be a farmer and I love it too so yes we will keep the farm in the family. As far as our kids go there is definitely a lot of interest in all aspects of the farm but they are a bit young yet to know what they want to do.

They are definitely interested in tractors, sheep and potatoes, they love to play with their mini tractors and have many farms set up inside and around the house, so we will see if that transfers to the real thing in years to come.

Q: What do you enjoy about potato farming?

challenging and I quite like thinking up ways to improve the crop yields. I’m really interested in business efficiencies for the farm business that we can make to minimise the risks involved with the potato crop.

Q: Which is your favourite potato variety?

A: I like them all but if I had to choose one it would be the Maris Piper variety!

Delicious all rounder that tastes good no matter what you do to it!

Dandaragan grower Bronwyn Fox has recently joined the Potato Growers Association.

A: I never really knew much about potatoes until Dave mentioned he’d be keen to try growing them up here in Dandaragan.

I thought he was a bit mad but we looked at all of the climate and growing out of season to most of the state looked like a good opportunity, and it has been. So, I’ve really enjoyed learning all about them!

I am still learning and being part of WA Potatoes has given me more opportunity to learn more about the industry as well. Planting in the hot weather is

Q: What is your favourite potato recipe?

A: I’m a bit traditional in the kitchen so my favourite recipe is the early season spud, tiny and sweet boiled perfectly and then with lots of butter and mint sauce! I have served this up to friends and they still rave about it now!

For catering I do a potato bake that has cream and French onion soup — the local community love it when we bring that along. We provide a lot of spuds to the different community groups for teas at the club on a Friday night and everyone loves when our spuds are served up, we have some pretty good cooks in town who really know how to make food taste great!

Q: Is there anything about potato farming that you wish consumers knew or understood better?

A: I wish they had more opportunity to visit a working farm and see how it works. I also wish they knew the nutrition of potatoes and the relative water efficiency versus other crops.

Q: Look into your crystal ball — where do you hope to see the WA potato industry in five years?

A: I’d love to see the industry get behind the export market entity. I think there is a lot of strength in working together for the greater good and seeing other countries as competitors rather than each other.

There is a lot of demand worldwide that we can tap into more successfully as a group rather than individually.

I think the industry will have less growers and each grower will be growing more. There may be specialised export growers who tap into the work of the AusFarmConnect, and not worry about the domestic market. I still think the industry will be dominated by family businesses.

I think there will be more consumption when consumers realise how good potatoes are and the health ‘experts’ stop telling everyone that they’re bad.

How can fresh, whole, unprocessed food be bad?

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WA POTATOES

Grand Lane Fish House

“We make thousands of serves of chips every week, and each batch is hand-cut with the skin left on, then twice cooked in a special blend of cotton seed and sunflower oil to get the best crunch and flavour,” Paul said.

“If for some reason the Maris Piper’s are not available we request White Star as a great second option,” says Paul.

Along with the amazing chips, Grand Lane serves up sustainable North Atlantic Cod, Haddock, Smoked Cod, Hake, Threadfin salmon and Barramundi, with homemade sauces including English and Irish curry sauce and homemade mushy peas.

W

hen the WA Potatoes team heard that there was a fish and chip store serving locally grown, twice cooked hand-cut chips in the Perth CBD, we knew we had to check it out.

Paul Joyce heads up the inconspicuous Grand Lane Fish House, tucked behind a travel shop, down a short laneway in the Perth CBD. The venue is easy to miss, but due to its loyal following and focus on quality is currently listed as number 2 of 138 Quick Bites in Perth on Trip Advisor and has 4.8 our of 5 stars on Google.

We got chatting to Paul and it quickly became clear why the business is such a success. The menu is short, but the emphasis on quality is big. Paul is passionate about serving great food and offering an experience which his loyal customers, and regular visitors from overseas obviously enjoy.

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Maris Piper potatoes, sourced from Pemberton, are the top choice for the amazing chips made at Grand Lane Fish House and are served in paper cones brought in specially from Belgium. The variety has a creamy white flesh and a fluffy texture that makes them flavourful and crunchy.

Maris Piper is not a common variety in WA so shoppers would need to seek it out through specialty stores and farmers markets. However, we have some other great options available as Paul explains.

The shop also proudly serves up some of the best gluten free fish and chips we have tried, sourcing their batter mix specially from the UK. Another great element of this authentic business is the fantastic service and experience customers enjoy. Firstly through the adventure of finding the shop down a little laneway, then having great chat with Paul and his team before eating some of the best fish and chips you’ll ever have.

MORE INFORMATION Located behind 135 Barrack St, Perth WA.

33CHEF/OWNER of Grand Lane Fish House, Paul Joyce.

WA POTATOES

Evidence-based project to

dispel myths about potatoes in diet

A

new initiative will put the latest independent research on the nutritional value of potatoes at the fingertips of health professionals.

The initiative aims to dispel myths about potatoes and provide fresh nutritional testing for the popular vegetable.

Funded by Hort Innovation, the evidence-based project, Aussie Potatoes — the power packed wholefood will take its message on the road later this year to key conferences.

Accredited Practising Dietitian Jane Watson said potatoes were getting a bad rap with the rise of diets such as keto which consequently meant consumers were missing out on the nutritional benefits.

“Dietitians, nutritionists, doctors and sports health specialists understand not only the nutritional value of vegetables such as potatoes but also the ebb and flow of food fads,” Dr Watson said.

“It’s time to take a fresh look at an old nutritional friend, the not-so-humble potato. It’s a plant-based, power-packed part of a balanced diet.”

Dr Watson said potatoes were known to be an important source of dietary fibre, vitamin C and B6, potassium, folate, iron, and, when cooked and cooled, resistant starch.

Potatoes can play an important role in global food security, providing a sustainable food supply.

“Potatoes contain a range of antioxidants, including phenols, flavanols, anthocyanins and carotenoids,” Dr Watson said.

“Pigmented potatoes provide a particularly rich source of anthocyanins.

Antioxidants in fruit and vegetables, such as potatoes, are an important part of a healthy diet and can increase sports performance food and offer the nutritional benefits to fuel athletes.”

A Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations study shows potatoes can play an important role in global food security, providing a sustainable food supply.

33POTATOES are known to be an important source of dietary fibre, vitamin C and B6, potassium, folate and iron.

MORE INFORMATION The project will include a website including links to peer-reviewed research papers, fact sheets and educational opportunities including webinars.

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WA POTATOES

Potato, lamb and date tagine OK so a tagine is actually the dish you would normally cook this little beauty in, but I’m cheating as it’s totally a tagine style recipe. If you have one you could switch from slow cooker to slow cooking on your stovetop in your tagine.

Serves 4–6 Ingredients

Method

600g lamb shoulder 2 onions, peeled and chopped into 8 wedges 6 cloves garlic, minced 20g ginger minced 2 tbsp coriander ground 1½ tbsp sweet paprika 1 tbsp cumin ground 1 cinnamon quill 3 tbsp olive oil 1kg gourmet baby potatoes 6 fresh dates 1 can cherry tomatoes with liquid 500ml water 1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1. Heat a large fry pan and drizzle with olive oil.

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2. Add the lamb shoulder and seal well on each side, turning when the meat is caramelized, then place the lamb in your slow cooker.

3. Add more oil to the same pan along with onion, garlic, ginger and spices.

Cook over medium heat, tossing for a few minutes, until the onions have browned a little and the spices are fragrant.

4. Add the cherry tomatoes and 500ml of water to the pan and bring to a simmer.

5. Meanwhile add the potatoes and dates to the slow cooker then pour your onions and hot liquid into the slow cooker.

6. Bury as many potatoes under the liquid as possible.

7. Pop the slow cooker on high and cook for 4–5 hours or until the lamb is falling apart and the potatoes are tender.

8. Stir through the chickpeas, season liberally and serve with greens of your choice.

Tip

ENJOY WITH ... GRILLED BROCCOLINI

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pome

update Pomewest

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From the Pomewest

contacts Pomewest Committee and Officers

Mark Scott, Chair e: markpscott@bigpond.com Mario Casotti e: mario@casottigroup.com Wayne Ghilarducci e: strathspey@modnet.com.au Jason Jarvis e: twinpack@bigpond.com Harvey Giblett e: newtonbros@wn.com.au Sam Licciardello e: sam@orchard1sixty.com.au Susie Murphy White, Project Manager e: susan.murphy-white@dpird.wa.gov.au Nardia Stacy, Executive Manager e: nardia@fruitwest.org.au

Executive Manager Season update

APC–Pomewest FFS Income 2019–20 Project General Account Budget including FFS, Project Grant Funding APAL, HIA and DPIRD and Fruit West Co-operative Biosecurity Account Budget (FFS)

$ 588,710 60,000

APC-Pomewest expenditure general account 2019–20

Project $ New technology project (Susie Murphy White) 90,000 Maturity standards legislation & compliance 40,000 Medfly surveillance trapping network 61,557 (Ashmere Consulting) Systems approach to market access 40,000 Disinfestation & quality management of BRAVO 229,280 apples in the cold chain for market access (DPIRD & Fruit West Co-operative are co-funders) Other projects 15,000 Annual meetings and communications 15,000 Industry sponsorships & association 4,800 memberships Promotion & publicity local project (Fresh Finesse) 37,500 Administration including salary and office costs 165,567 APC charge @10% of FFS income 45,000 Total 743,704

APC-Pomewest expenditure biosecurity account 2019–20 Project Codling moth (DPIRD) Biosecurity Liaison Officer APC charge @10% of FFS income Total

$ 35,000 15,000 6,000 56,000

APC fee-for-service charge POME FRUIT EFFECTIVE FROM 1 JANUARY 2015 Type of fruit Fresh fruit — apples, pears, Nashi, other Processing fruit Biosecurity FFS for fresh fruit Biosecurity FFS for processing fruit

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$/kg 0.015 0.005 0.002 0.001

I

BY NARDIA STACY EXECUTIVE MANAGER, POMEWEST

n 2020 our key focus and priority is to grow our industry by lifting consumption for WA apples and pears. This will be achieved by maximising taste quality for our customers.

The year has started with a torrid time for our industry across the nation. Climatic conditions including fire and drought in the East and hail in the West which has resulted in a potential 20% decrease in volume.

Our thoughts are with orchardists in NSW and SA who have been terribly affected by the bushfires and QLD growers with drought. We wish them and their orchards a speedy recovery and hope that relief and assistance comes quickly so they can get back on their feet. Despite all this, WA has had a sound start to the season.

Conditions and Season Update Weather conditions have been heating up in early February, sunburn is the immediate concern when temperatures soar. The increasing pressure to minimise the risk of hail, birds, water saving and sunburn are influencing many of growers are keen take the plunge to install protective netting. As such, many were encouraged to hear of the proposed federal assistance scheme for netting.

This was announced recently by the Department of Agriculture with $1.5 million promised to improve pomefruit productivity. We look forward to understanding the details of how the scheme will roll-out, we understand eligible growers will be

required to at least match the capped $300,000 per grower. The eligibility is what needs to be established, APAL and Pomewest are pushing for an equitable solution between states, regions and orchards.

The impact of the hail damage in last October is becoming more evident as the fruit matures, with some blocks still expecting a 30% loss after thinning. At this stage we anticipate a reasonable harvest and crop estimate this year. Pears are another story with a high proportion of damage being noticed due to a very sensitive growth stage at the time of the storm front so volumes will be down.

The National 2020 Crop Estimate report is available for Apple and Pear growers to access please contact the Pomewest office if you wish to be sent the link.

Water supplies are still holding on with demand increasing during the hot dry summer period. The season continues to track along 7–10 days earlier than usual with the Gala harvest about start second week of February in the South West. The fruit is looking good on the trees with minimal hail damage visible now as most of the damaged fruit has been

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removed. The apples are of a good size tracking above average.

APAL Post Harvest Seminar Marking the start of the year, myself and Harvey Giblett travelled to Shepparton Victoria to attend the Future Business, Post Harvest Seminar and Orchard Tour. We were excited to represent the Pomewest Committee and the industry to share lessons learnt from our quality and maturity testing program. We received a lot of interest, which was really encouraging. Most participants agreeing that quality is the key factor to ensure the future of the domestic and export market for the industry.

With increasing competition with the snack foods for sales at retail, we need to make sure that consumer experiences are top class for growth in consumption in the category.

bring the whole industry together to understand the value and the negative impact of sending sub-standard fruit to market for future sales. Susie Murphy White is currently out and about working with growers to assist to test fruit and ensure that it meets the standards.

The Committee is determined to help the local industry help itself. There are many businesses doing the right thing, still others to be convinced, it will take time to change the tide. Next steps will include reporting passes and failures to industry and retail and looking at engaging the whole supply chain to put a stop to the incentive of putting immature and tired fruit on the shelf.

Also, looking at improving fruit handling practices so fresh, beautiful fruit reach the mouths of West Australians consistently.

Donnybrook Apple Festival

11–12 April 2020

Maturity Standards/Quality Project — early testing results Some new season Galas are failing starch minimum standards in wholesale which indicates we still have a way to go with the program. It is important to achieve minimum standards across brix, pressure and starch for a pass result. The challenge remains to

Donnybrook Apple Festival — industry event, Easter 11–12 April 2020 Pomewest are excited to announce their involvement in this event and planning is underway. We intend to provide information sessions and fruit sales to promote apples and pears at the festival and involve local growers to tell their stories and engage with the public.

33NARDIA Stacy presenting the WA Quality Program for apples.

We will promote the taste profiles of different varieties so that consumers can ‘pick their favourite’ apple and pear.

As well as encouraging involvement with local value added businesses using apple and pear products to build excitement to the Fresh Produce tent.

A report on the event will feature in the Winter edition of WA Grower.

March Pomewest Committee Meeting The first committee meeting was held in Kirup on Wednesday 18 March 2020.

Minutes of the meeting are available and can be circulated on request.

This edition We will feature an article from a presentation given at the APAL Post Harvest Seminar on the future of DPA — contamination and alternative treatments in order for export readiness where zero tolerance MRL’s are likely in overseas markets. Also Susie reports on her future orchards trials.

Richelle Zealey of APAL reports on an opportunity to engage in a workers compensation pilot and an APFIP article on the new direction of the program.

MORE INFORMATION

33QUALITY Panel discussion — Harvey Giblett (right) with Andrew Mandemaker APAL and Chris Fairless of Kyabram Cold Storage.

In closing this report, I again welcome you to contact myself, Susie or Committee members at any time to discuss any industry matters. Nardia Stacy on (08) 9368 3869, 0411 138 103 or nardia@pomewest.net.au.

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A new direction

BY SCOTT PRICE CHAIR, AUSTRALIAN POME FRUIT IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

F

or more than 25 years, the Australian Pome Fruit Improvement Program (APFIP) has been supported by grower levies to independently evaluate new apple and pear varieties, promote and distribute virus free nursery material, and establish a certification scheme.

Over this time APFIP has racked up quite a few achievements including significantly shortening the time new plant material has to spend in quarantine. But the new variety landscape has changed and, in response, APFIP is changing as well.

Growers are also adapting, with one of the important changes I have observed in the industry being the establishment of new plantings on training systems and, particularly on the mainland, the increasing adoption of nets.

However, an issue that remains and may get worse if restrictions are placed on access to the soil fumigant Chloropicrin, is apple replant disease.

While growers in Australia have adopted new varieties and certified material ensuring planting stock is free of known viruses, there has not been the same uptake or access to new rootstocks. In Australia, we’ve mostly stuck with M26 but around the world there are some really promising new rootstocks that show resistance to replant disease.

This is one area that APFIP wants to explore on behalf of growers as we take on new challenges and look to our future.

Around the world there are some promising new rootstocks that show resistance to replant disease.

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The APFIP Board, once the same as the APAL Board, has evolved into a subset of the APAL Board. This allows interested directors to focus on APFIP and invest more time into supporting its development.

We are re-engaging with the program’s work to ensure we all better understand it to inform decision-making. In June we met in Tasmania and visited the heritage collection in Grove, and in October we met in the Goulburn Valley where we partook in another valuable visit to the Victorian Government’s research station at Tatura.

This engagement is supported by APFIP’s Operation Manager Tom Frankcomb who took up the reins in October 2018. Since then he has been very busy meeting with growers across all the growing regions to hear from

growers directly. He has also been visiting our evaluation sites to review their status.

With all this fresh input and thinking, we have prepared and submitted a review of APFIP to Hort Innovation outlining the current status of the program’s activities and outlining our plan up until the end of the program’s current funding cycle (June 2020) and beyond.

A lot of this work is still in progress as we decide on our exact course of action.

However, we’ve already made some changes to what we are doing. With the review of all the APFIP evaluation sites we’ve requested some site maintenance and removal of unwanted trees.

New plantings also took place in winter 2019 and we’re investigating how to better capture all the data from these sites.

Plus, with abundant, real-time weather data now readily available at growers’ fingertips we have ceased investing in the APFIP weather stations, allowing us to invest elsewhere.

MORE INFORMATION To keep you informed we plan to share more news, stories and updates across our newly established APFIP Facebook page. Or stay tuned to APAL’s Industry Juice newsletter or Australian Fruitgrower magazine, and your state fruit grower organisations for updates.

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WA growers

invited to participate in workers compensation pilot

A

pple and pear growing businesses in Western Australia (WA) are invited to participate in a pilot program focused on group buying in workers compensation.

This would mean that instead of buying workers compensation insurance as an individual business, everyone who participates would purchase a collective piece of the cover.

This opportunity has stemmed from the rising cost of business-related insurance and an investigation completed by Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) into the creation of a Discretionary Mutual Fund (DMF) for industry.

The first stage in setting up a DMF is to determine whether it’s workable, which was confirmed following a feasibility study completed late 2019.

The DMF would provide coverage for industrial special risks (ISR) — such as expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation panels — property, liability, machinery and potentially crop protection.

However, it would not be feasible or advised to have all cover sitting in the DMF which is why group buying opportunities are also being presented.

These opportunities shared across the country would include management liability, motor vehicle, travel and cyber coverage.

There are additional benefits, in terms of workers compensation, for businesses in WA, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Northern Territory (NT) who have an opportunity to pool resources with other growers in their state/territory to save money and purchase this cover as a group.

This is because workers compensation in these areas is underwritten and a broker can negotiate terms for business owners. The government controls workers compensation in each of the other states which is why the same opportunity doesn’t apply.

Group buying workers compensation.

33THE Discretionary Mutual Fund would provide coverage for industrial special risks, property, liability, machinery and potentially crop protection.

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Why participate in the workers compensation pilot?

also a reward to clients for good claim performance.

There are eight insurers licensed to provide workers compensation in WA. Because there are multiple insurers, engaged individually by each business, there are a range of rates and deals being offered. Collectively, apple and pear growing businesses face similar risks but appear to the insurance industry in silos because these businesses are not acting, or purchasing, together.

While the features of a CED can vary per policy, they are fundamentally offered by an underwriter to the client where the following two scenarios are achieved:

APAL has engaged Justin Niven and Tom Patterson from KJ Risk Group to conduct the DMF feasibility study. Now that phase 1 is complete, they’re working towards increasing the scale of DMF participants; and implementing group buying and workers compensation opportunities, where appropriate.

2. The Client’s claim costs remain below a certain threshold (most CED’s will allow a rebate for claim costs so long as the total incurred costs remain below 70% of the total premium charged for each policy year).

A case study has been completed for one of their clients, a large WA-based buying group, to highlight the savings they’ve made through their workers compensation program within the last two years (Figure 1).

What is a claim experience discount?

A claim experience discount (CED), or rebate, is a feature offered by most insurers for larger workers compensation programs and acts as both a business retention tool and

where they sit with the insurer and review all claims

1. The Client renews their policy with the Insurer for a further 12 months (e.g. for a 2019–20 CED to be payable, the Client needs to renew the policy with the same Insurer for the 2020–21 policy period); and

How are these outcomes achieved?

• Comprehensive safety audits have been introduced at the lower performing sites within the buying group • Performance reports are shared with the buying group to ensure they’re aware of their risks, including trend analysis to identify/clarify the risks across the board • A Job Dictionary is created to outline the typical tasks performed at each site. Functional requirements of each role are measured and recorded into a formal document. This document can then be sent to a general practitioner (GP) in the event of a workplace incident, to highlight the list of duties and identify appropriate tasks that can still be performed, with little risk of re-injury/aggravation while the worker recovers from their injury.

Expressions of interest close Friday, 17 April.

• As the broker working for the large WA-based buying group, KJ Risk has developed a relationship with senior leaders of their chosen insurer to ensure they’re working with the best team

MORE INFORMATION

• The strong working relationship between KJ Risk and the insurer ensures all buying group members receive strategic claim support

If you would like to participate in the workers compensation pilot or require more information about the DMF and group buying opportunities contact: APAL Manager, Future Business Richelle Zealley: (03) 9329 3511 or rzealley@apal.org.au or Pomewest Executive Manager, Nardia Stacy (08) 9368 3869 or nardia@pomewest.net.au.

• A KJ Risk representative attends quarterly claim reviews in person

Expressions of interest close Friday, 17 April.

Performance improvement metrics Collectively purchasing workers compensation as a state has led to less employee claims, reduced premiums and better management of risk for this large WA-based buying group and KJ Risk client.

Total claim experience discount (CED) payments increased by a multiple of five

5

FIGURE 1 PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT METRICS 2017–19 FOR LARGE, WA-BASED BUYING GROUP

Claim frequency reduced by

43%

Premium rate reduced by

8%

Loss ratio reduced by

31%

CED payments in this case study go to a maximum of 20% return each year — previously 4%

20%

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Newer ways to treat superficial

T

he antioxidant, diphenylamine (DPA), has been used worldwide since the mid-1950s to successfully treat superficial scald, a storage disorder of apples and pears.

However, a recent lowering of the Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) in the European Union (EU) has led to newer methods being used to treat the disorder by growers wishing to export to the EU.

The EU MRLs tend to be a predictor for other countries, so there has been much interest internationally in searching for alternatives to DPA.

The following information is a short summary of the key findings from a Hort Innovation project (AP17001).

It was completed by Dr Virginia Williamson from the University of Melbourne in 2019 and presented at APAL’s Postharvest seminar in Shepparton, January 2020.

SCALD is a physiological disorder caused by chilling injury.

33SUSCEPTIBILITY to this storage disorder varies with the variety of apple, environment and cultural practices.

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Some alternatives to DPA are: 1. The HarvestWatch™ system, which is now used in over 30 countries world-wide. It is based on monitoring whether fruit become stressed during controlled atmosphere storage and shift from aerobic respiration to fermentation because of the low oxygen atmosphere. Stressed fruit exhibit a peak in chlorophyll fluorescence (regardless of whether they are green or red fruit) which is picked up and the oxygen level adjusted automatically by a computerised system. The system works extremely well but may not be suitable for all growers because DPA from previously used cool rooms and bins can be transferred in trace amounts to fruit that has not been treated with DPA. Thus, new cool rooms and bins are needed, which is a large financial outlay of approx. $500K for a new room (this includes ~$50K for the HarvestWatch™ system). An option is that growers and packers wishing to export, develop a cooperative to split the cost—but testing/certification would be required to ensure no accidental DPA-exposed fruit or bins entered.

DPA is a fat-loving substance that becomes ingrained in cool room walls, floors and bins over many years of use. Some possible methods of removal from facilities will be discussed at the end of this article.

2. SmartFresh™ or 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is already used by Australian growers to inhibit ethylene production in apples (and pears—using conditioning and a step-wise cooling process1) during storage. 1-MCP 1 James, H. 2016. Using SmartFresh™ with pears. Apple and Pear Australia Ltd. Published January 26, 2016. www.youtube. com/watch?v=mZZEEJQO3aM Accessed 12 December, 2018.

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can also inhibit superficial scald, but fruit stored longer than 20 weeks may need another application of SmartFresh™ because the gene involved in superficial scald production is no longer suppressed after that time2.

3. Antioxidant dips (e.g. ascorbic or citric acids) should be retested for their effectiveness in controlling superficial scald. The original work in the 1950s, from which the world-wide use of DPA arose, did not test these acids at the same concentration as DPA. For example, DPA was effective at 1,000 and 2,000 ppm, but ascorbic and citric acids were only tested at 500 ppm and were discounted because they did not control superficial scald as well as the higher rates of DPA. Thus, higher concentrations of these two acids need to be tried.

Additionally, some recent research has revealed that ascorbic acid may have a role in preventing internal browning in apples3. Therefore, trials testing the efficacy of higher concentrations of ascorbic acid to prevent both superficial scald and internal browning are warranted. Furthermore, a pre-harvest ascorbic acid dip may negate the need for a further SmartFresh™ application prior to 20 weeks of storage (as mentioned above), but again, this will await trials.

4. Lovastatin is naturally produced by oyster mushrooms and is betterknown as a statin, or cholesterollowering drug. Yet, it was as effective as DPA at inhibiting superficial scald in Granny Smith and Delicious apples 2 Pechous, S, Watkins, CB and Whitaker, BD. 2005. Expression of α-farnesene synthase gene AFS1 in relation to levels of α -farnesene and conjugated trienols in peel tissue of scaldsusceptible ‘Law Rome’ and scald-resistant ‘Idared’ apple fruit. Postharvest Biology and Technology 35: 125–132.

3 Mellidou, I, Buts, K, Hatoum, D. et al. 2014.

Transcriptomic events associated with internal browning of apple during postharvest storage.

BMC Plant Biology 14: 328 doi:10.1186/s12870014-0328-x

and d’Anjou pears4,5. The cost of this drug is the same as DPA, so this is another option worth considering.

Possible DPA removal methods from facilities DPA is difficult to remove, not only because of decades of use worldwide, but also because it is a fat-loving substance that has become ingrained in various surfaces.

Some removal trials were conducted in several places around the world, but because numerous attempts are required to remove DPA to virtually undetectable limits, some exporters built new cool rooms instead.

33SCALD on a granny smith apple.

As mentioned above, this may not be feasible for all growers and packers, so the following options are proposed: a) Heating cool rooms to +40°C was trialled in Western Australia with some success because DPA levels decreased (A. Crawford, pers. comm.

4 Ju, Z & Curry, EA. 2000. Lovastatin inhibits α-farnesene biosynthesis and scald development in ‘Delicious’ and ‘Granny Smith’ apples and ‘d’Anjou’ pears. Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science 125: 626–629.

5 Savran, HE and Koyuncu, MA. 2016. The effects of superficial scald control methods having different effect mechanisms on the scald formation and α-farnesene content in apple cv. ‘Granny Smith’. Scientia Horticulturae 211: 174–178.

2018). The released DPA was then broken down using ozone (level not stated), but ozone removal is not recommended because even a small amount of 5 ppm is dangerous to health. Venting the released DPA into the atmosphere is a safer option. It should be noted, though, that it is uncertain how the joint-sealing paint in cool rooms withstands heating. b) High pressure washing with 10% soda lime was suggested by Italian researchers in 19926, but no information was provided about its effectiveness or the temperature of the washing liquid. c) Hot water (+40°C) high pressure washing with either an acidic or alkaline solution is worth trialling. The melting point of the DPA molecule is 53–55°C and it is stable at pH values between 5 and 9, so using either an acidic solution less than pH 5 or an alkaline one more than pH 9 (taking care of any exposed metal pipes and refrigeration coils) may help dislodge it. If a surfactant was added to the solution, it would aid in the breakdown of the fat-loving DPA molecule.

All these removal options would require repeated attempts, with residue testing in between to determine efficacy. Thus, they would not be appropriate if export to the EU is an immediate goal. However, as a medium-term strategy, using an alternative to DPA as mentioned above, combined with one of the suggested removal methods, may enable more apple and pear exports to the EU. MORE INFORMATION The full project report is available to apple and pear levy payers via this link: www.horticulture.com.au/growers/helpyour-business-grow/research-reportspublications-fact-sheets-and-more/ ap17001 6 Galantini, G, Galantini, GC, Petrini, C, Mazzini, C, Tugnoli, G and Zucchi, M. 1992. Indagine sull’inquinamento ambientale da difenilammina in mele non trattate in post-raccolta.

(Investigation on environmental pollution from diphenylamine in post harvest untreated apples.)

Industrie Alimentari 31: 435–438.

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Growing Season Update 33FRUIT size monitoring in December 2019.

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from your Pomewest Project Manager

BY SUSIE MURPHY WHITE PROJECT MANAGER, POMEWEST

I

t is the growing season and your trees are actively growing with trial activity in full swing. This season I have a number of trials underway plus the usual fruit size monitoring.

Fruit sizing data continues to be collected across the South West to maintain the Orchard Net database and this year those growers measuring fruit size have also stepped up to record the amount of water applied in the orchard.

Water use, growth rate and taste One of the Future Orchard trials is looking at the amount of water applied in the orchard and comparing fruit growth rate, maturity and taste of the fruit.

Fruit sizing data continues to be collected across the South West.

This trial is a result of the Future Orchards Community Orchard Group asking about how much water is required by apple trees and when it can be reduced.

So this trial sets out to define how much water is being applied this season across eight orchards from Donnybrook to Pemberton. Each orchard reports on how many hours of irrigation has occurred for the week, rainfall and evapotranspiration is collected from the DPIRD weather stations. Then a simple water balance calculation is then used to define the irrigation deficiency.

The orchards participating in the trial have a range of watering different systems (drip or under tree sprinkler), different environments some with netting others without, a range of soil types and climatic conditions. This season we had some really hot days (>38ºC) very early in the season during December and it was interesting to see those who applied more water before the event and after the event.

33SNAP pruned trees (left) Click pruned trees (right).

The amount of water applied throughout the season, accumulated water deficit, along with fruit growth rate and maturity testing has been recorded.

For Gala and Pink Lady apples a taste test will be undertaken to see if there is any difference in taste between the different watering systems.

The results of this trial will be discussed at the next Future Orchards Walk Monday 22 June 2020.

SNAP vs click pruning Another Future Orchards trial compares the time and costs of pruning using the SNAP method vs Click method at Fox’s Orchard. SNAP pruning had been introduced several years earlier to growers by many Future Orchard speakers and has gained lots of supporters. The trial is being conducted on 2015 planted Alvina Gala on V trellis. We have recorded the time it takes to prune each block with these two methods and utilise experienced pruners trained in these techniques.

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Mobile maturity testing.

The results show there was little difference in the time taken to prune using the different methods. But the SNAP pruned trees had a better yield than the Click pruned trees. The average number of apples per tree was 220 on the SNAP trees and 168 apples per tree on the Click pruning.

Ultimately the fruit have responded to the treatments and decisions on changing practices in the orchard can now be made on the method of pruning used.

Predicting lenticel damage Last season lenticel damage was reported in Kanzi and Fuji apples. To help determine when lenticel damage will be a problem a trial has been set up to predict if lenticel damage will be a problem again this season. There are three different methods used to test apples from orchards who had damage and didn’t have any damage last season.

The prediction methods include dipping the apples in Hot Water for 30 minutes, dipping apples in Ethephon for two seconds and keeping fruit at room temperature. All three methods are undertaken three weeks prior to harvest to enable the grower to then make a decision on whether the apples will be stored or sold directly into the markets. This trials follows a similar trial that has been undertaken by Tree Fruit Researchers at Washington State University on Honeycrisp Apples.

Soil treatments for apples planted after apples Next trial to be monitored is the long term soil treatment trial at Fontanini’s.

Trunk diameter, shoot growth and for the third leaf and a fruit count will be done this year. We are planning to go back visit this site for the last Future Orchards Walk in September 2020. It will be interesting to see the impact of the Chloropicrin, Biofumigation and Beneficial Bacteria have had on the longer term growth rate.

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33THE mobile maturity testing unit is available to test Gala’s, Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples.

Maturity testing Meanwhile, I continue to mix up iodine solution so it is ready and available for growers to test the starch in apples that are about to be picked. The mobile maturity testing unit is available anytime to test Gala’s, Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples and to view components to set up your own maturity testing unit. Please contact me to arrange a time.

Despite the hail damage that was observed early in the season it is pleasing to see some great looking trees out there now with minimal hail damage.

A fantastic job has been done this year to ensure the crop looks it’s best. Pack outs and consumer preference will now tell the real story.

Thanks to all growers involved in the trials this year, it is really appreciated the time and effort it requires to gain valuable insights into growing great apples and helping WA provide great produce that is sought after.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Susie Murphy White, Project Manager (Pome), on 0429 413 420, (08) 9777 0151 or susan.murphy-white@ dpird.wa.gov.au

WA CITRUS

citrus

update WA Citrus

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WA CITRUS

contacts WA Citrus Committee

From the

industry

Producer Committee Members Mary Ann O’Connor, Chair m: 0429 012 503 e: chair@wacitrus.com.au Richard Eckersley Shane Kay Andrew Sorgiovanni Cliff Winfield Daniel Ying

Affiliate Committee Members Damien Guthrey Brett Heather

WA Citrus Office

33DEPARTING Chair Richard Eckersley and incoming Chair Mary Ann O’Connor.

Building 16, 3 Baron-Hay Court, SOUTH PERTH WA 6151 Bronwyn Walsh, Industry Development Manager m: 0400 873 875 e: industrymanager@wacitrus.com.au Kate Cox, Administrative Services m: 0439 899 600 e: admin@wacitrus.com.au Helen Newman, Biosecurity Representative e: biosecurity@wacitrus.com.au

what’s on...

2020 Citrus Australia National Market Outlook Forum WHEN 3–4 March WHERE Melbourne

International Society of Citrus Nurseryman Congress WHEN August WHERE South Africa

Citrus Research International Congress WHEN August WHERE South Africa

International Citrus Congress WHEN 8–13 November WHERE Turkey

Citrus Australia Regional Forum in WA WHEN Week of 23 November WHERE Western Australia * Dates and location of industry events are subject to confirmation based on availability of speakers, venues and attendance.

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T

here was a healthy turnout at our end of year event in late November last year.

The Citrus Australia Regional Forum featured a workshop on biosecurity, an update from Nathan Hancock on export and tree plantings, political engagement as well as a wellbeing presentation. All were well received by growers, thanks to Citrus Australia for their support and presentations for the day.

The entertainment continued with the industry golf afternoon and dinner. Seven teams this year meant there was plenty of competition.

Thanks especially to Kate for coordinating this event and ensuring it ran smoothly.

Not least of all, were thanks to Richard for his commitment to the role of Chair of WA Citrus. His leadership has been through some of the association’s busiest time with grants for R&D and more consultation and political engagement as we found our stride as an industry.

I’m sure by now many of you have had a visit from Worksafe, as my orchard has. While initially apprehensive, I found the Worksafe inspector to be fair and practical. Yes, I received Improvement Notices. However, when I took a step back and looked at the overall picture, they are potential safety issues and by addressing them, I may be saving my business from possible insurance claims and/or legal action down the track.

Also a reminder that all Freshcare audits are now being done to the new version, Freshcare Edition 4.1 and I encourage all growers to update their records. Hopefully this won’t be too onerous.

I look forward to working with Committee members as well as Bron, Kate and Helen in 2020. Please don’t hesitate to contact me. All the best for the citrus season to you all.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Mary Ann O’Connor on 0429 012 503 or chair@wacitrus.com.au

WA CITRUS

Progress on the industry structure

BY BRONWYN WALSH INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (IDM)

L

ate in 2019 the Citrus Australia Board supported the recommendation from the WA regional advisory group that “the WA citrus industry transition to having only one industry committee to undertake the industry roles required by July 2021”.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is proposed between the APC and Citrus Australia for the APC Committee to perform the role of the WA regional advisory group for Citrus Australia. In mid-March Nathan Hancock will be in WA to work through the contents of the MoU with the industry structure working group (Chairs of the three WA citrus committees).

Biosecurity

G

rowers made a start on their orchard biosecurity plans at the Biosecurity Workshop held as part of the Citrus Australia Regional Forum in late November last year.

Helen Newman, WA Citrus Biosecurity representative, and Jeff Milne, National Citrus Surveillance Coordinator from Citrus Australia lead the workshop and discussion as growers worked through the potential biosecurity risks and related mitigation strategies. This exercise is an essential part of preparedness for industry for preventing or minimising risks to their business in relation to biosecurity related risks. Helen and Jeff will be sharing more information with growers from the workshop in coming months.

Meanwhile, industry is also monitoring the current responses in place to exotics to Australia and exotics to Western Australia. In midJanuary Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) informed us that advice from the Australian Department of Agriculture (DA) was that the European Commission has formally recognised WA as a pest free area for Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (citrus canker).

DA are in the process of updating the Manual of Importing Country

Requirements (MICoR) to reflect the change in status for WA and to update the requirements for the export of Citrus spp. to the European Union from this state.

The re-establishment of exports of citrus fruit to the European Union has been achieved following the successful eradication of the disease from northern WA and certification by DPIRD on 12 November 2019 of state freedom for citrus canker.

Citrus Australia has been keeping industry informed on progress on the notification in February of Fall Armyworm, an exotic to Australia, via Citrus Australia eNews.

Locally in WA the response by DPIRD to the Red Imported Fire Ant, an exotic pest to WA, is continuing with a quarantine area still in place around the Fremantle region.

MORE INFORMATION For more information visit the DPIRD website https://dpird.wa.gov.au.

The proposed new structure is that the APC Sub Committee will be the only citrus committee in WA representing WA citrus growers. It will perform the roles formerly of WA Citrus, the APC CSC and WARAC. This means streamlining processes to be more efficient in communication and meeting WA grower needs.

A final vote by WA Citrus members to support this proposal will be at a meeting to be held later in 2020.

MORE INFORMATION If anyone would like further information on the proposed changes in the industry structure please don’t hesitate to contact any of the Chairs or Bronwyn Walsh, Industry Development Manager.

Vegetable and pome industry representatives joined the Citrus biosecurity workshops.

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WA CITRUS

Markets

State Government funding is being used for research along the supply chain, monitoring lemon quality.

33(LEFT) Citrus growers drop by AppleTech in Manjimup. (BELOW) Citrus growers and packers catching up during lemon grower workshop.

I

BY BRONWYN WALSH INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (IDM)

n early February lemon growers from WA met in Manjimup to discuss production and markets for fruit.

Growers heard about new lemon plantings in WA and across Australia, and from domestic market analysis, show the importance of including export markets as a destination for the extra lemon supply coming on-line in the next few years. The results from an export market analysis for lemons were presented to the group. Growers also discussed current management practices such as pests, diseases, canopy and quality management.

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These activities were funded from State Government funds as part of the Grower Group R&D grant fund.

Thanks to Nick Markovski from AppleTech for generously hosting a visit enroute back to Perth.

This funding has also gone towards research along the supply chain monitoring the quality of lemons from orchard to export market destination.

Lemons are more susceptible than oranges and mandarins to the cool temperatures they are exposed to as part of the export supply chain for fruit fly disinfestation. Fruit from West Gingin, Harvey and Manjimup has been included in this preliminary research, thanks to growers and packers for their assistance and providing fruit for this research.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Bronwyn Walsh on 0400 873 875 or industrymanager@wacitrus.com.au.

STONEFRUIT

stonefruit

update Stonefruit WA

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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STONEFRUIT

Value Chain Facilitator

contacts Stonefruit Sub-Committee Danny Di Marco, Chair e: dimarconson@gmail.com Anthony Fullam

e: afullam@wn.com.au

Bruno Delsimone

e: bdelsimone@mercermooney.com.au

Anthony Caccetta

e: antc83@hotmail.com

Mark Scott

e: markpscott@bigpond.com

Sebastian Fiolo

e: karragullen@bigpond.com

Mick Padula

e: mickpadula@yahoo.com.au

Shay Crouch, Value Chain Facilitator

e: shay.crouch@perthnrm.com e: (08) 9374 3306

APC fee for service charge Stone fruit effective from 1 November 2009 Type of fruit

$/kg

All fresh stone fruit (apricots, cherries, loquats, nectarines, peaches and plums)

0.015

Processing fruit

0.006

what’s on...

2020 Project proposals due WHEN Friday 20 March All project proposals for the APC Producers’ Committees are due.

APC Annual Meeting with Committees WHEN Friday 27 March WHERE Technology Park, Bentley, WA

APC Stonefruit Sub-Committee Meeting WHEN First week of April WHERE Market City, Canning Vale, WA

APC Stonefruit Sub-Committee AGM WHEN May 2020 (TBC)

Hort Connections 2020 WHEN 15-17 June WHERE Brisbane Convention Centre The most influential opportunity for networking, education and business for the entire fresh produce industry.

DPIRD Indonesian Fruit and Vegetable Inbound Buyers Mission WHEN Postponed from March 2020 to early 2021

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BY SHAY CROUCH VALUE CHAIN FACILITATOR, STONEFRUIT WA

Update

D

uring these summer months we have been able to see the effects of the strange winter and spring we had experienced. The hot spring; the hail damage; the low rainfall and extreme variability between one week and the next has seen the volumes of stonefruit down across almost all varieties.

In saying this, the quality and taste of this seasons produce has been noted by customers and growers themselves, as being exceptional and better than previous years.

Customers buying great tasting peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and cherries at reasonable prices is the best form of promotion for the industry.

The lower volumes have seen better returns go back to growers, especially as we saw the reduced availability of Eastern States fruit in our market, and the growth in consumer demand for WA fruit.

As in recent years, the market is experiencing a glut in mid-February, resulting in lower prices.

However, this season has offered consistently good prices until this point; unlike the considerable pricing variation in previous years.

This is a situation which we need to continue working on, so we can achieve consistent pricing in future seasons.

33OUR stand at Channel 9’s Barbie in the 'Burbs on the 13th of February in Baldivis.

STONEFRUIT

Stonefruit WA participated in the Buy West Eat Best Good Choice Campaign.

This season we have been involved in significant projects such as the public launch of the stonefruit season in the Perth CBD; active participation in the Buy West Eat Best Good Choice Campaign, 100 in-store demonstrations, and a dedicated Merchandiser visiting over 300 metro stores.

We participated in Channel Nine’s Barbie in the Burbs, and were featured in an episode of Our State on A Plate.

We continue to seek export opportunities and other industry-scale benefits, such as pathology testing in an attempt to improve tree health across the sector.

These projects will be assessed on their performance, with new projects for 2020–21 being submitted to the committee by the 20th of March.

If you would like to see projects or activities happening in this period, feel free to contact me and we can put them to the committee. ●

33GOOD Choice Campaign Facebook Carousel, just one of the components of the campaign, together with TV Commercials, Radio adverts, Side of Bus material and IGA Digital Screens.

MORE INFORMATION For more information contact Shay via email shay.crouch@perthnrm.com or phone (08) 9374 3306.

e t s a t r e t f a t e e w s e h T of success

T

BY SCARLET ROXBY MERCHANDISER, STONEFRUIT WA

he Committee has put considerable effort into point-of-sale visibility this season, reaching the target of 100 in-store demonstrations.

We thank the wonderful team from Fresh Finesse, for their dedicated approach to providing a fantastic customer interaction for every single person who tasted the fruit.

The success of the campaign can be attributed to the greater commitment to the season-long demonstrations (from Nov-Feb), a far greater number of demonstrations compared to previous seasons. Previously, in-stores focussed on the ‘back to school’ period in early February, however, this is more than two months into the stonefruit season.

This year’s campaign has been highly effective as the demonstrations have gone for the entire season.

WA stonefruit is present in almost all major stores, and stocks the shelves either partially or entirely. Consistency and quality has improved since the early December weather events, and prices have eased to a level where cost has been a decreasingly important factor in customer/manager feedback over the season.

Customer feedback is positive with strong support for WA produce and appreciation for the ‘great quality’ and ‘tasty’ fruit, with some concerns expressed about under-ripe or overripe fruit.

Some customers are unaware that you can take fruit home to allow it to continue ripening, some more work could be done to create better awareness.

33JORDAN, from Fresh Finesse, representing Stonefruit WA at Whitfords Woolworths, January 2020.

unpredictable as seen with the weather conditions in 2019.

The decision to engage with store managers directly through the merchandiser role, in addition to an increased consumer focus with the in-store demonstrations, improves our awareness throughout the supply chain. ●

The combination of a merchandiser and the heavy in-store demonstration presence has proven beneficial in increasing sales and understanding the WA stonefruit in stores.

MORE INFORMATION

Store managers appreciate being better aware of the ups and downs of the season, especially when it is relatively

For more information contact Shay via email shay.crouch@perthnrm.com or phone (08) 9374 3306.

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STONEFRUIT

Pathology

test results

BY SHAY CROUCH VALUE CHAIN FACILITATOR, STONEFRUIT WA

A

fter hearing concerns about tree health across a number of cultivars in several regions, the Committee requested the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) investigate potential causes of the decline.

DPIRD investigated the potential cause of decline in October — November last year. Andrew Taylor (Plant Pathologist) and the DPIRD team took samples from five orchards, with the samples being analysed by DDLS.

1 3

Several different symptoms were observed. Wilting and or dead shoots were often associated with gummosis, potentially indicating a common bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae.

Fungal fruiting bodies and lesions were found on dead or dying leaders.

Lesions were also observed on dead trees, just above the soil level, suggesting a soil-borne pathogen, likely Phytophthora. Murdoch University, who were currently investigating Phytophthora species in horticultural crops were asked to identify if Phytophthora was involved.

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331. Wilting of new shoots, often associated with gummosis. 2. Fungal fruiting bodies associated with dead leaders. 3. Gummosis

2

STONEFRUIT

After testing, 75% of the properties reporting shoot death and dieback symptoms were shown to exhibit a bacterial infection by Pseudomonas, with one orchard sample giving a positive identification of Pseudomonas syringae.

Murdoch University detected three Phytophthora species: P. multivora, P. crassamur and P. cinnamomic using molecular testing. It is not certain if all or just one of these is specifically responsible for the tree decline seen below.

Fungal species Phomopsis, Botryosphaeria and Cytospora were detected and are common in natural and propagated trees, but do have the capacity to become primary pathogens when the trees are already under stress or wounded. These produce the fruiting bodies seen in image 2. Infection usually occurs via wounds (natural or pruning), and the timing of spore release is usually associated with rainfall or heavy dew.

There are no registered bactericides which prevents Pseudomonas syringae infection, except copper fungicides.

These fungicides provide protection from new infection but provide no control if the bacteria makes its way into the tree. Cultural practices remain the best mechanism to limit the spread and impact of this pathogen. DPIRD will look to work with the industry to provide extension materials for orchards when Pseudomonas syringae is present.

It is recommended, where possible, to avoid pruning when wet weather is forecast and apply a pruning wound dressing after pruning, within 48 hours.

To investigate the effect of Phytophthora further, more funding will be required as will collaboration between tree crop commodities.

Andrew is working on a proposal to the Pome, Citrus and Stonefruit Committees to access a larger funding pool for further research via linkages with the universities and a federal government funding opportunity. ● MORE INFORMATION To see the full report please email admin@wastonefruit.com.au.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Murdoch University detected three Phytophthora species using molecular testing.

33DYING trees in a row contrasted with trees with a canopy

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Representing Stonefruit WA in retail

BY SCARLET ROXBY MERCHANDISER, STONEFRUIT WA

T

his season, the Stonefruit WA committee hired a merchandiser to visit retailers across the Perth metro area.

Almost 320 stores have been visited.

The merchandiser’s role is to bridge the gap between growers and feedback from store managers and customers.

As the merchandiser, I believe the role has been exceptionally well received by the fresh produce managers around Perth. There is no other role like this one, and I believe this a beneficial step towards building a stronger relationship in all areas of the stonefruit supply chain.

Furthermore, it reinforced to managers that buying and supplying local produce was imperative for a sustainable future for the farmers in our state.

From stores as far north as Alkimos and south to Mandurah and east to the hills, I have covered a range of demographics and store types (see Table 1). It has been clear how customers from different areas of Perth shop regarding their choice of fruit, and their willingness to pay for a premium product. The majority of managers were extremely receptive to my visit, asking for advice and were pleased to hear of growers actively looking to bridge the communication between the growers and manager/customer.

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33WESTERN Australian grown nectarines in displays at the Fresh Produce Co in Greenwood.

TABLE 1 MAJOR RETAIL GROUP STORES WHICH HAVE BEEN VISITED ACROSS THE PERTH METRO AREA Store

Count

COLES

81

Woolworths

81

IGA

117

Farmer Jacks

13

Independent

35

Fruit Market

45

ALDI

5

Spudshed

3

As stonefruit is a perishable product, it has been beneficial to have a representative from the industry to ask or source the necessary information from the people that know best — the growers. If this role continues each season, managers will be more aware of the opportunity to approach the industry about difficulties they have, and provide important feedback that needs to be addressed.

With the event of the bushfires, and the subsequent road closures, customers and managers became more aware of the surprising distance that some of our fresh produce travels before hitting the shelf, despite having orchards and other farms located in our state.

While it is naive to think that WA can produce all its food, by spreading the word to the people who can choose what produce they buy, I hope that Perth now has a greater appreciation for the origins of the fruit they consume.

Almost 320 stores have been visited, making the initial visiting phase complete. Throughout the rest of the season, the goal is to revisit some of the shops, to gain feedback from produce managers reflecting on the entire season and improvements which can be made for following years. This role has allowed the industry to keep an ‘ear to the ground’ and remain aware of consumer trends and feedback. ● MORE INFORMATION For more information contact Shay via email shay.crouch@perthnrm.com or phone (08) 9374 3306.

YOUR BUSINESS

your

business Your business WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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YOUR BUSINESS

Evaluating the financial health of your business Has your business had a health check lately?

BY CHRIS PUCKRIDGE RURAL FINANCIAL COUNSELLOR RFCS WA

W

hile we all know the importance of regular health checkups to keep our bodies running at optimum, how often do we apply the same concept to our businesses?

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Regular reviews of your business are important because they allow you to identify issues before they become problems and highlight opportunities that may be emerging.

Many businesses are operating in an increasingly complex environment.

This frequently means there are a greater number of components that need to be known and understood before decisions are made.

What complicates this is that there is often a lack of certainty attached to each component, meaning the overall level of uncertainty — and stress — for business managers is increasing.

Many businesses are operating in an increasingly complex environment.

A healthy business will have ways of coping with this uncertainty. We often hear growers using ‘rules of thumb’ to simplify decision making.

Rules of thumb can be useful but in a complex and uncertain operating environment, they have to evolve to reflect change. Otherwise a rule of thumb could go from guiding us to profit to making a loss.

Any health checkup you complete on your business needs to include your assumptions — or rules of thumb — and review whether they are still useful.

YOUR BUSINESS

33IDEALLY a business needs to be able to adopt new technology to remain competitive.

Business health checklist

If you tick more than three items that re late to your busines you may find the RF s, CSWA helpful.

We have limited know led

Ideally a business needs to be able to cover production costs, adopt new technology, expand to remain competitive or take up new opportunities and have reserves to deal with the unexpected.

There are a few indicators that might point to whether your business is in need of minor adjustments or perhaps it might need a health overhaul.

Often these can appear almost silently and include: • If the owners and staff are feeling stressed • There is a feeling of always trying to make back what was lost in the last unexpected event • Having to juggle payments and creditors • Keeping the bank happy is a regular consideration in decisions • Business managers are working flat out for long periods and feeling flat over time.

If your business fits in to this category — don’t despair. Often things can be turned around with a fresh set of eyes and a clear plan.

ge around preparing fin ancial documentation such as Cashflow, Actuals to Budget, Assets and Liabilities We are unsure of the financial benchmarking or rat ios around our business Our farm business ha s made net losses for at lea st three of the last five years We are not able to me et our financial commitmen ts when they fall due The business had ap plied for temporary overdrafts in the past which we have struggled to repay on time We haven’t always pa id BAS on time previously an d/or have outstanding monies owed to the ATO

We don’t have a clear bu

siness or personal plan for the future and for the parties inv olved (such succession pla nning) We have little off farm asset or superannuation to assist with succession plann ing and retirement and no cle ar plan for business ownersh ip in the future Key professionals (Ac countant, Bank Manager, Cons ultant or a family member) are talking about possible proble ms within the business We feel stressed aro und the financial position of the business There is stress withi n the family dynamics which is im pacting negatively in both fam ily and business situations.

Call 1800 612 004 Horticulture can be a very tough industry, but we also know it can be very successful.

A health check will start with what is important to you and with the support of an experienced counsellor will examine the business.

The aim is to, together, find what fits for you and your business moving forward.

MORE INFORMATION Supported by the State and Federal governments, the RFCSWA works with a wide range of primary producers and regional small business owners under financial duress to improve their position and profitability. Call 1800 612 004 or visit rfcswa.com.au for more information.

You are the expert on your business, so the counsellor’s role is to gather the information you need to support your decisions.

33THERE are a few indicators that might point to whether your business is in need of minor adjustments or perhaps it might need a health overhaul.

That’s where the Rural Financial Counselling Service of WA can help.

Regain Focus, Create Solutions Rural Financial Counselling Service

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YOUR BUSINESS

Food defence and fraud in practice

BY JOEL DINSDALE QUALITY ASSURANCE COORDINATOR, VEGETABLESWA

O

n 1 January 2020, Freshcare’s Food Safety & Quality Edition 4.1 (FSQ4.1) became the mandatory option for growing and packing businesses seeking certification to a GFSI benchmarked Standard.

There are a number of changes that growers should be across (see freshcare.com.au for details) to ensure that they can meet the FSQ4.1 requirements.

One of the changes found in FSQ4.1 is updates to the Food Defence (FD) and Food Fraud (FF) modules. There are two frequently asked questions that get posed to me as a Trainer related to this area in the food safety domain:

1. What is FD/FF?; 2. That doesn’t affect me, so why do I need to bother considering it?

In this article, I will be drilling into some of the FD/FF questions to provide practical insights into the importance of this module in Freshcare and the other GFSI benchmarked food safety programs.

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33HAVING a robust food defence management strategy allows a business to reduce the risk of harm to product.

YOUR BUSINESS

33FOOD fraud includes the mislabelling of a product resulting in economic gain and/or impact to public health.

Food Defence Freshcare defines Food Defence as “the efforts to prevent intentional contamination of food products by biological, chemical, physical, or radiological agents that are not reasonably likely to occur in the food supply chain”.

Freshcare highlights that it is impossible to secure the entire supply chain but understanding potential risks and control measures is key to control when considering Food Defence. Therefore, having a robust food defence management strategy allows a business to reduce the risk of harm to product/infrastructure etc.

Food Fraud Freshcare defines Food Fraud as “the deliberate and intentional substitution, addition, tampering or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients or food packaging; and/or the mislabelling of a product resulting in economic gain and/or impact to public health”.

A food fraud vulnerability assessment must be completed by every business going to audit against the FSQ4.1 Standard. “This assessment should identify a business’s food fraud vulnerabilities that have the potential to cause economic and/or public health harm; and documenting the likelihood and severity should it occur and documenting the mechanisms for control to mitigate the risk to public health.” (Freshcare Factsheet F12 — Food defence and food fraud, 2019)

So now that we have defined food defence and food fraud, what are some real-world examples that help to identify the reasons for having a FD/FF risk assessment and management plan?

We only have to look to the strawberry industry in Australia to see firsthand how intentional contamination affected businesses from east to west, with many growers and agents opting to install metal detectors following the needle incident in 2018 to provide some guarantees of food safety — although this will never completely mitigate the risk.

despite our geographical isolation (in Australia), technology allows us to easily access world markets which increases our exposure to greater risks of FD/FF. Although whole, fresh produce is generally considered a lower risk than processed foods such as grains etc. (in terms of food fraud), we need only glance at the various media to grasp that the completion of the F12 Food defence and food fraud module in FSQ4.1 is an important step when protecting your products and livelihood. So be sure to take the time to complete the new forms thoroughly to ensure that you are compliant and implementing steps to reduce your risks.

There are a number of changes that growers should be across to ensure that they can meet the FSQ4.1 requirements.

Less severe examples of food fraud (but nonetheless still important to consider) include the substitution of cultivars i.e. substituting and labelling Nadine potatoes as White Star’s; or the substitution of products i.e. labelled as ‘Grown in WA’ when the product is actually an imported product.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Joel Dinsdale, Quality Assurance Coordinator, on (08) 9486 7515 or email joel.dinsdale@vegetableswa.com.au

We only have to look to modern forms of media to see why FD/FF is important.

Netflix has a documentary series Rotten that highlights some examples of food fraud in relation to products such as honey, garlic, milk, peanuts, avocados, sugar and water.

Other forms of media also regularly highlight stories of adulterated products, economic terrorism etc. (a simple Google search yields many examples in seconds), proving that WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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YOUR BUSINESS

Now is the time to prepare for bushfire seasons to come A

33RECORD-BREAKING temperatures and months of severe drought fuelled the devastation that spread across bush, forest and parks.

ustralia faced a devastating start to its fire season in late 2019 and things quickly got worse before rains helped contain many of the worst fires in February 2020.

It was reported that 33 people died as a result of the bushfires — including four firefighters — while many millions of animals are reported to have been killed.

The Department of Fire and Emergency Service (DFES) urges people to get emergency information from multiple sources and never rely on any one source of information.

Although recent cooler conditions and rain have brought respite, it is crucial to take stock of the Summer that was, so growers can be fire ready next bushfire season.

Record-breaking temperatures and months of severe drought fuelled the devastation that spread across bush, forest and parks.

Stay informed

Regional residents are advised to join a Bushfire Ready Group to get to know the risks in their local are, and if there isn’t one established, take steps to rally neighbours, friends and family together to make a plan.

In terms of hectares burnt, the Australian fires are the largest to affect any of the megadiverse countries — that is, larger than the 2019 Amazon and 2019 Californian fires.

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One of the biggest challenges during a crisis is knowing how to stay informed and get information specific to your region and circumstances.

Remember, fires can happen suddenly and change quickly, so don’t rely on receiving a warning.

Ember attack occurs before, during and after a fire front passes.

A bushfire survival plan outlines what you will do if a bushfire occurs and will help you take action and avoid making last minute decisions that could prove deadly during a bushfire.

Don’t forgot to factor in your pets and/ or livestock during a bushfire as they will need water, shelter and a safe place to stay.

YOUR BUSINESS

Growers can sign up for official warnings ahead of the season to get notified of bushfire warnings on social media or via apps, which means that during an emergency they are able to monitor what’s happening.

You can find bushfire alerts and warnings at: • www.emergency.wa.gov.au

33A survival kit should include essential supplies such as a radio, spare batteries, torch, first aid kit, woollen blanket, emergency contact numbers, water and non-perishable food.

• 13 3337 (13 DFES) • www.twitter.com/dfes_wa • www.facebook.com/dfeswa • RSS feeds — subscribe via www.emergency.wa.gov.au • ABC local radio or 6PR emergency bulletins • Third party apps such as Emergency +, WALGA’s LocalEye, DBCA Parks and Wildlife Alerts and National Bushfires.

NOTE: that these apps are not provided

by DFES and DFES can give no guarantee that they will notify you in an emergency.

A survival kit should include essential supplies such as a radio, spare batteries, torch, first aid kit, woollen blanket, emergency contact numbers, water and non-perishable food.

It is important that you include water and appropriate clothing in your emergency kit and consider where you will shelter during a bushfire to protect yourself from radiant heat.

On the day don’t forget to add essentials

Smoke

Growers are also encouraged such as your wallet/purse, car and to make sure their phone house keys, medications, phone and charger and important documents. company has up to date details, as a telephone warning It is essential to remember might be sent to your that flames are not the only risk you face in a bushfire mobile phone or It is important and nearly all structural landline in extreme damage caused by a to have a well-stocked circumstances. bushfire is due to ember

first aid kit as part of a survival kit.

This warning system (Emergency Alert) uses the address held by a person’s phone company, so keeping your address details up to date with your phone company to give yourself the best chance of receiving a warning if one is issued.

Risks and dangers Accidents often happen during bushfires due to poor visibility, high stress and increased adrenalin levels which can lead to confusion, poor decision making, loss of concentration and tunnel vision.

Growers are urged to be aware of the likelihood of injury while carrying on fire protection/suppression activities (e.g. burns, cuts and falls).

It is important to have a well-stocked first aid kit as part of a survival kit, know what contents are in the kit and how to treat potential injuries such as burns, cuts and falls.

attack.

Ember attack

Lung injuries and suffocation can occur where the body is exposed to smoke and super-heated air. It is important to seek shelter when heat and smoke are most intense.

Your nose and mouth should be covered with a dust mask, wet towel or scarf, and a special filter mask should be included in your survival kit for people in your family who suffer respiratory conditions such as asthma.

Ember attack occurs before, during and after a fire front passes.

Prepare your property:

Embers are pieces of burning bark, leaves or twigs that are carried by the wind around the main fire creating spot fires.

• Rake up leaf litter and remove rubbish from around your home

Spotting can be carried over half a kilometre from a fire and can land in areas around your home such as your garden, under or in the gutters of your home and on wooden decks, and if not extinguished, your house could catch fire.

• Keep gutters free of leaves

Radiant heat The hotter, drier and windier the day, the more intense a bushfire will be and the more radiant heat it will generate.

Radiant heat can cause injury and death from burns and cause the body’s cooling system to fail, leading to heat exhaustion and possible heart failure.

• Install a mesh guard on your air conditioner

• Prune overhanging trees and shrubs • Keep grass short • Store flammable liquids, chemicals and firewood away from your home • Put in firebreaks • If you plan to stay and actively defend your home, you will need an independent water supply of at least 20,000 litres, a generator and pressure pump.

MORE INFORMATION For more information about how to prepare for bushfires visit areyouready.wa.gov.au and have the five minute fire chat www.dfes.wa.gov.au/firechat

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Getting meter installation reporting right as we head into 2020

T

his year is a big year for metering and the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation is providing the support for growers to get it right.

Entitlements between 10,000kL–49,999kL in the Gnangara groundwater areas were required to have meters installed at the start of this year.

All entitlements between 10,000– 49,999kL in the Gnangara groundwater areas are required to have meters installed at the start of this year, and elsewhere in the State by the end of 2020.

To support the uptake of metering, the department has recently made some changes to make it easier to register meters.

Under the Rights in Water and Irrigation Regulations 2000 all new meters must have a Form 8: Information to be provided on installation of a water meter completed and submitted to the department once the meter install is completed, no later than 30 days after the install.

The Form 8 has been systemised and can now be accessed easily via the Water Online Licence dashboard.

Program Manager Regulatory Coordination Ben Trezise said 2020 was a big year in the progress towards metering.

“By the end of this year, all licenses with an annual water entitlement of 10 000kL/yr or more need to have meters installed,” Ben said.

“We have lots of resources available including a meter installation guide and guidance on how to integrate your meter installation details and reporting via the Water Online portal.”

33WATER Online gives licensees greater ability to manage compliance with licence conditions.

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Under the metering regulations most licensees are required to record a meter reading at the end of each month and submit these readings annually.

YOUR BUSINESS

Unless otherwise approved, meter reads are also required to be submitted to the department electronically via Water Online.

Measuring water use has many benefits to licensees beyond assisting the department manage water equitably and responsibly.

Water meters provide users with accurate information on how much of their annual entitlement they have used, as well as helping them understand how efficiently they’re managing irrigation water, and can help identify any problems with irrigation infrastructure.

“By submitting your meter reads electronically you are able to track your water usage anywhere and anytime,” Ben said.

“The Water Online portal also links your usage automatically to our water licensing software to ensure your submissions are recorded, reviewed and actioned by the department appropriately.”

33METERING helps licensees track how efficiently they are using water.

Water Online provides a suite of e-business solutions for current and prospective licensees to manage their water licences and applications, as well as any water licence reporting and administration needs.

“By registering as a user on the portal you have the ability to view all your licences and current applications, and manage compliance with licence conditions such as reporting, water meter registration and meter read submission,” Ben said.

MORE INFORMATION If you have not yet registered as a user of Water Online you can register now by heading to the following link https://online. water.wa.gov.au/ With climate change and a growing population putting pressure on our water resources the department encourages all water users to use their water responsibly.

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On-farm power generation options for vegetable growers

33BECAUSE wind is intermittent, growers need to have an electrical load pattern that ensures most of the electricity generated can be consumed on site.

W

ith the price of electricity rising, vegetable producers face growing costs across the production space, including from irrigation, heating and cooling processes to powering processing and packing plants.

At the same time, some renewable energy sources are becoming significantly cheaper to install, which, together with incentive schemes on offer, have made them more appealing.

Research into on farm power generation

by Applied Horticulture Research, in collaboration with Parkside Energy, has produced details of the options and explored the feasibility of adoption of such systems.

A considerable amount of data was generated by the team in the process of narrowing down options to the four most promising power generation technologies: 1. Solar photovoltaics (PV)

2. Wind turbines

Proven solar alternatives:

3. Natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) generation with a reciprocating engine, potentially with cogeneration or trigeneration

• concentrating solar thermal

4. Woody biomass power generation.

All of these technologies are established and deployed around the world. With the exception of trigeneration and biomass generation, these technologies are already being used in the horticulture or related sectors in other countries.

The researchers encourage growers interested in on-farm power to seek the assistance of an appropriate energy consultant to establish costs and benefits for their enterprise.

Devices which generate electrical power only: • solar PV • wind power • natural gas generation • liquefied petroleum gas power • woody biomass power generation • micro-hydro power generation

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• concentrating solar PV Storage technologies that support intermittent power generation options: • lead-acid batteries • micro-hydro as pumped energy storage • chilled water/ice storage Key factors for growers looking to adopt on farm power generation include: • The cost of electricity from the grid • Financial performance of power generation technologies relative to network supplied electricity • Economic incentives, such as subsidies and feed-in tariffs • Availability, quality and affordability of energy resources or fuel • Ease of obtaining approvals and meeting regulatory requirements for power generation • Desire to make farming operations more sustainable, which can also have marketing benefits • Diversification of energy sources and potentially income as a risk management measure

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Key findings of the report: On-farm power generation — options for vegetable growers

Solar photovoltaics Solar PV should be economically viable for most vegetable growers, including those in less sunny regions, provided the current Small-Scale Technology Certificate (STC) government subsidies paid under the Renewable Energy Target (RET) remain. For example, a solar PV plant with a total establishment cost of $2500/kW of capacity can be viable at a 10% Internal Rate of Return (IRR) with a 5–7 year payback period if electricity costs more than 12–15c/kWh. A key consideration in this analysis is that 90% of the electricity produced can be consumed on site.

Simple and cogeneration using reciprocating engine generator The study considered three types of on-site power generation using reciprocating engines: • Simple generation (i.e. electricity only) • Cogeneration of electricity and process heat • Cogeneration of electricity and process cooling The key issue for viability is the cost of gas. The analysis found that simple or cogeneration requires fuel prices that can compete with the amount paid for

Wind turbines This analysis focused on 50–500kW capacity second hand wind turbines.

Despite uncertainty about the total capital required to install a second hand wind turbine, it appears that they will be viable in many cases because they cost significantly less than new plant.

Wind is viable if the cost of electricity is more than about 10c/kWh and most of the electricity generated can be used on site. This analysis is based on: • using second hand wind turbines with total capital expenditure of $1750/kW • current subsidies (LGCs) are retained • the turbine operates at 20% of capacity or higher • a 10% internal rate of return is acceptable • 100% debt financed at 6.5% pa interest over 10 years

3390% of the electricity produced can be consumed on site.

Should the RET be repealed, this same solar PV plant then requires the current cost of electricity to be more than 19–22c/kWh to be viable, which could be the case for some growers.

Thus, solar PV may remain financially viable for some growers even if the RET is repealed.

Battery storage Battery storage is not currently viable.

It costs about $800/kWh to set up, and required a current electricity price of more than 35c/kWh before it would be economically viable. Further, given the significant uncertainty in the full cost of battery storage systems, the researchers cannot recommend the installation of battery storage at present.

electricity. Additional heating or cooling from cogeneration can provide another potential benefit. The capital cost and payback periods are less important than the cost of fuel, which dominates the financial performance.

Only network delivered natural gas is priced to reasonably compete with most current electricity prices. For example, a gas-fuelled generator with a capacity factor of 50% or more should be viable when the price being paid for electricity is more than 10c/kWh, provided that it consumes fuel with a price of $10/GJ or less.

With LPG not viable, on-site engine generation will not be viable for growers who do not have access to network delivered natural gas.

If the RET is repealed, this will have a weaker impact on the financial viability of wind than it does for solar PV. The breakeven point for viability would rise to at least 12c/kWh if LGCs (Large scale Generation Certificates) are removed.

Because wind is intermittent, growers need to have an electrical load pattern that ensures most of the electricity generated can be consumed on site.

Woody biomass On-site power generation using woody biomass was not analysed since it does not appear to be a significant resource for the large majority of growers, and because the performance of electricity generating plant that consumes this fuel is poor at the scale of individual growers. The most common method of generating electricity from woody biomass involves its direct combustion to drive a steam turbine. At around 100kW and below, these steam.

MORE INFORMATION For more information and to read the full report visit the Hort Innovation website www.horticulture.com.au/growers/helpyour-business-grow/research-reportspublications-fact-sheets-and-more/ vg13051

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Mapping a plan to success Your business plan should never be a static document.

33HAVING a clear vision of where you ultimately want to be will help you develop a solid road map to get you there.

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P

utting a business plan in place — and reviewing it regularly — is one of the most critical steps you can take to protect your business.

33WHILE creating a business plan may seem intimidating at first, the old adage is true — failing to plan, is planning to fail.

Why your business needs a plan to grow Just like any other business, growers and farmers need to ensure their operations are set up to cope with the ups and downs that the environment may throw at them. Having a well prepared business plan in place before starting your business can help refine your ideas, create a deeper understanding of the opportunities and threats in your market and provide a clear direction. And if your business is already underway, writing or reviewing your business plan can be just as useful to ensure you are on the right track.

A well-considered business plan provides a set of clear strategies to achieve what you want, as well as helping assess whether you need to make any adjustments to reach these goals.

Your business plan should never be a static document. It should be revisited and updated regularly as your business grows and factors inside and outside your operation change.

Who to involve in business planning If you want to develop a plan with realistic and achievable outcomes, any family members or partners involved in the business should be consulted during the planning process. This is particularly important when looking at aspects such as business continuity, growth and succession planning.

You should also access trusted professional advice where needed, rather than trying to become an expert in everything. Your accountant, financial planner and local business networks can all be great sources of information.

A range of free advice and resources to help your business survive and thrive

is also available from the governmentfunded Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC).

What does a business plan contain?

Business plans can range in length and complexity, but the most useful include sections on the business vision, mission and goals; an overview or description of the business (business profile); market research; operating strategy; details of its products or services; a marketing plan; and a financial strategy. Most also contain a short summary, known as the executive summary, at the start.

If the purpose of the plan is to request funding, it needs to include financial projections or income and cash flow statements. Banks and other financing institutions and investors will want to see a business plan before investing in your venture.

To ensure your business plan covers all the essentials, download a free business plan template and guide from smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/tools

Mapping the future Having a clear vision of where you ultimately want to be will help you develop a solid road map to get you there. Understanding your goals and the factors needed to support a successful operation — like land to expand, equipment to harvest and process

larger crops, access to markets, labour resources and enough storage — are all important considerations for the future direction of your business.

While creating a business plan may seem intimidating at first, the old adage is true — failing to plan, is planning to fail. Creating or revising your business plan should be at the top of your business priority list.

Where to get help Business plans take time, research and effort to prepare. If you have never written one before, you might feel a little bewildered. Luckily, professional help is available.

Throughout Western Australia, the SBDC provides free, confidential and practical business advice by phone or in face-to-face meetings with experienced business advisers. The agency also offers low cost workshops on a wide range of topics for small business owners. In regional WA, a network of local advisers is available to help you with a range of business matters.

MORE INFORMATION Learn more about writing a business plan by attending the SBDC’s How to Write a Business Plan workshop or check out the advisory services and workshops provided

by Business Local providers in regional WA. Visit smallbusiness.wa.gov.au or call 133 140 for more information.

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33MATEUS hard at work.

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BY MELISSA DENNING LABOUR SCHEME FACILITATOR

M

ateus Soares dos Anjos considers himself to be a lucky man. He works on a horticultural farm in SouthWest Western Australia, often in hot temperatures in summer and very cold in winter.

Mateus comes from the suburb Comoro in the Timor-Leste capital of Dili. He is one of 1500 Seasonal Workers to come to Australia to pick fruit in this current financial year (see Figure 1).

This is Mateus’ second year coming to Australia and he is very proud that his work last year was good enough for his to be invited to return by his employer.

He was selected in 2018 to be a Team Leader for his farm due to higher level of English.

Mateus acts as translator between the group of workers and the supervisors on the farm as well as picking and packing the crop.

The contract for this year is seven months long and Mateus said that although he misses his family the money he can earn in Australia helps his family immensely in

33MARIO, another happy worker at Fruitico.

1800 1600

Timor-Leste

1400 1200

SWP VISAS

Mateus is up before dawn most days of the week to have breakfast and make his lunch for the day. Mateus says the work can sometimes be “hard” but when I went to visit him for this interview, he had the biggest smile on his face, and you could even here workers singing in the field. Mateus thinks he is lucky because he has a job and is able to provide for his family.

1500 Seasonal Workers came to Australia to pick fruit this current financial year.

1000 800

Samoa

600

Fiji Kiribati Solomon Islands

400 200 0

Papua New Guinea

2013–14

2014–15

2015–16

YEAR

2016–17

2017–18

2018–19

FIGURE 1 SEASONAL WORKER PROGRAMME VISAS BY THE SMALLER SENDING COUNTRIES Source: Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2 February 2020 https://parlwork.aph.gov.au/house/questions/242

Timor-Leste. Last year Mateus remitted approximately AUD$8000 to Timor-Leste. This money paid for the university education for two of his children. His 22-year-old is studying Tourism and his 18-year-old is completing a Management Accounting course. From the money Mateus will earn this year he plans to establish a small kiosk that his wife and children can run when he returns next year. And he does plan on returning if he is invited by his employer.

Mateus gave a diplomatic answer when I asked him why he applied for the Seasonal Workers Programme in the first place. He said, “it was to learn and to gain experience in Australia”.

However, some of the other Timorese workers smiled at this response and all agreed it was for the money they would earn for their families.

Remittances are currently the second highest export earner for Timor-Leste with over USD$5 million having been sent back in 2017 (Figure 2).

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30,000,000

$27,107,045

TOTAL REMITTANCES (USD)

25,000,000 20,000,000 15,000,000 10,000,000

$9,639,267 $5,029,319

5,000,000 0

United Kingdom Korea

Australia

$614,423

$249,455

$178,523

$109,859

$283,688

Ireland

Portugal

Brazil

Indonesia

Other

COUNTRY FIGURE 2 TOTAL VALUE OF REMITTANCES BY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (USD) Western Union & BNU 2017 (estimate) plus ANZ remittances Source: Curtin, R, 2017, Remittances biggest export earner for Timor-Leste after oil, DevPolicyBlog, Crawford School, ANU

This figure is just from Australia and the number of Seasonal Workers has doubled since this date was released.

33SEASONAL Workers are involved in a variety of horticultural farms.

This is Felicia grafting apple trees in Manjimup.

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All of the six women and nine men who were working on the farm are returnees from last year. They told me that they had started to build their houses, paid for children to attend school and purchased motorbikes with their money from last year.

There is no doubt the Seasonal Worker Programme has its challenges but from the perspective of the workers at this particular farm they just want to keep returning, earning their wages to support their family and continue to smile whilst they do their job. Mateus and group feel lucky to be here.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Melissa Denning, vegetablesWA Labour Scheme Facilitator, 0477 477 044.

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Accommodation should have adequate heating, cooling and ventilation.

Providing

accommodation to workers

33ACCOMMODATION must not be overcrowded, there should be two or less people in each room and each person should have at least 5.5m2 of floor space in sleeping areas.

BY MELISSA DENNING LABOUR SCHEME FACILITATOR

W

ith farms scattered over every corner of Australia, it is common for many growers to provide accommodation to their workers.

Farm accommodation can draw in more workers to remote areas and help backpackers without their own transportation.

Unfortunately, substandard accommodation is a common complaint among transient workers. If you provide accommodation to your workers, it is important to make sure it is a safe and fair arrangement.

The Fair Farms Standard promotes that businesses ensure the accommodation they provide is safe, freely chosen and meets legal requirements.

Safe accommodation Where a person lives has a big impact on how happy, healthy and secure they feel. Therefore, accommodation for workers must: • Be in line with local council regulations

• Have emergency exits, fire alarms and safety equipment • Have appropriate facilities, including toilets, washing, dining, laundry and refrigeration • Provide easily accessible potable water, hot water and electricity • Be sanitary and reasonably free from rodents and insects • Be located away from production buildings (e.g. not in a packing shed) Importantly, the accommodation must not be overcrowded. Generally, there should be two or less people in each room and each person should have at least 5.5m2 of floor space in sleeping areas.

Additionally, many overseas workers are not used to the climate conditions of working and living in rural Australia.

Therefore, accommodation should have adequate heating, cooling and ventilation.

Finally, workers need to be able to move freely. You cannot excessively interfere or place restrictions on workers’ freedom of movement beyond what is reasonable for personal safety.

This means you cannot lock workers in their accommodation at night or keep them in a remote area without access to transport.

Freely chosen A key element of the Fair Farms Standard is freely chosen accommodation. This means you cannot make workers stay in your accommodation as part of their job. If you charge workers for accommodation, the cost must be fair and reasonable when compared with other accommodation options in the area.

Legal requirements If you deduct rent from wages, have written agreements with workers and document the deduction on payslips. If you don’t deduct wages, make sure you give receipts.

If accommodation falls under a tenancy authority, make sure you and the worker sign a legal tenancy agreement and that you lodge any bond with the relevant authority. If the accommodation you provide falls outside of the tenancy authority, you need to have written agreements in place that outline the conditions of tenancy.

MORE INFORMATION For more information visit the Fair Farms website: www.fairfarms.com.au For information about your labour scheme options contact Melissa Denning, vegetablesWA Labour Scheme Facilitator, 0477 477 044.

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Irrigation system assessments The best way to test the efficiency of a delivery system is to assess the application uniformity.

33SUBMERSIBLE pump discharge assembly.

T

he Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) recently engaged Irrigation Australia to manage a project to conduct free system assessments of horticultural irrigation systems in the Carabooda, Nowergup and Wanneroo districts north of Perth, WA.

Pumping system

Results

The pump is a major component of any irrigation system. A pump that runs efficiently reduces costs to the grower by using less energy and requiring less maintenance. Any pumping system operating at less than 50% efficiency is considered poor and should be investigated.

Assessment results were provided to growers in a ‘traffic light’ format that rated the performance of major system components as; Good, Acceptable, or Poor (see Table 1 and Figure 1). These ratings indicate whether the performance exceeded, met, or undershot the industry minimum standard.

A total of 22 system assessments were conducted by Willmott Irrigation on behalf of Irrigation Australia. Of the systems tested, 10 used drip irrigation, while 11 used overhead sprinklers and one system used under-tree mini sprinklers.

Application uniformity was measured using the distribution uniformity (DU) method where a higher percentage indicates greater evenness between the depths of water applied across the field.

Each assessment consisted of gathering key information and performing tests on a grower’s irrigation system.

The assessed system components could be broadly divided into one of two categories; the pumping system, and the delivery system.

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Delivery system The best way to test the efficiency of a delivery system is to assess the application uniformity, which describes how evenly an irrigation system applies water over the area being irrigated.

The minimum industry standard for DU of drip irrigation systems is 85%, while the minimum standard for overhead systems is 75%.

Other tests included pressure variation along mainlines and laterals, pressure differential across filters (if applicable), and flow variation between emitters.

• Drip systems had an average pump efficiency of 61%, resulting in ratings of either ‘Acceptable’ or ‘Good’ • Overhead systems had an average pump efficiency of 55%, which is within the normal operating range.

However three individual overhead systems had pump efficiencies below 50% resulting in a rating of ‘Poor’ • Drip systems had an average uniformity score of 91%, which exceeds the minimum industry standard of 85%. This resulted in all the drip systems receiving a uniformity rating of either ‘Acceptable’ or ‘Good’ • Overhead systems had an average uniformity score of 70%, which is below the minimum industry standard of 75%. This resulted in more than half the overhead systems receiving a uniformity rating of ‘Poor’.

YOUR BUSINESS

TABLE 1 EXAMPLE OF RESULTS SECTION OF A DRIP SYSTEM REPORT Rating key GOOD ACCEPTABLE POOR

System component

Test

Rating criteria

Pump(s)

Efficiency

Poor < 50%, Good > 60%*

Filtration

Head loss

Poor > 45kPa, Good < 25kPa

56% 15

Mainline

Pressure variation

Poor > 20%, Good < 10%

12%

Laterals (layflat)

Pressure variation

Poor > 30%, Good < 20%

8%

Emitters

Pressure variation

Poor > 30%, Good < 20%

28%

Flow variation

Poor > 20%, Good < 10%

21%

Uniformity

Poor < 85%, Good > 95%

86%

Unlike drip systems, uniformity tests on overhead systems are highly impacted by wind conditions. This makes one-off tests somewhat unreliable because a system may score significantly higher or lower depending on the wind speed and direction at the time of the test.

However, the average wind speed in Wanneroo during summer is 11km/hr, while the average maximum wind speed is 45km/hr (DPIRD weather station data). This means that significant wind speeds should be considered the norm and systems should be designed and operated to account for these conditions.

Drip Overhead

100

DISTRIBUTION UNIFORMITY

90 80 70 60

Conclusions

50

FIGURE 1 DISTRIBUTION UNIFORMITY AND PUMP EFFICIENCY SCORES FOR DRIP AND OVERHEAD SYSTEMS

Result

40

20

30

40

50

PUMP EFFICIENCY

60

70

80

It was not within the scope of this project to provide recommendations to individual growers. However we can make some general recommendations for improving systems based on our observations of the systems that were assessed.

33PERFORMING a flow test on a drip emitter.

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The spacing of sprinklers in overhead systems was often too wide resulting in poor irrigation uniformity, particularly in windy conditions. A high level of application uniformity is one of the key areas for increasing water use efficiency as it reduces the amount of over watering required to ensure the crop water requirement is met for the whole crop.

No assessed systems had the capacity to regulate pressure at the valves.

Pressure regulation can significantly improve system efficiency by limiting pressure fluctuation that can reduce uniformity.

With increasing emphasis on water and energy conservation, many systems are being operated at lower pressures.

As a result, pressure variations have become a larger percentage of the total, requiring more precise regulation.

None of the pumping systems assessed used variable frequency drives (VFDs).

Combining the strength of submersible pumps with the efficiency of variable

frequency drives creates a tremendous opportunity for pump users to reduce energy costs, improve performance, regulate the output pressure at the pump and extend equipment life.

None of the systems assessed incorporated evaporation-based irrigation scheduling in their management plan. Evaporation-based scheduling is part of a systematic approach to efficient irrigation that considers plant and environmental factors to determine crop water requirements. Matching irrigation to

crop demand ensures that water is delivered when required and does not exceed the storage capacity of the soil.

This method works best when combined with soil moisture monitoring to confirm irrigation effectiveness.

MORE INFORMATION Please phone (08) 9368 3136 or email info@irrigation.org.au.

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Call our WA team today on 1800 724 214, visit achmea.com.au or email info@achmea.com.au The information in this advertisement is general advice only and does not take into account your individual objectives, financial situation or needs (your personal circumstances). Before using this information to decide whether to purchase the insurance policy, you should consider your personal circumstances and the relevant Product Disclosure Statement available from the ‘Downloads’ section of our website www.achmea.com.au. Achmea Schadeverzekeringen N.V. ABN 86 158 237 702 AFSL 433984.

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your

market Your market WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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Indonesia imported over $800 million worth of vegetables in 2018.

33INDONESIA’S middle class population is growing, and consequently the country’s high value fruit and vegetable imports are growing.

Export opportunities for WA growers as Indonesia’s middle-class booms

I

BY MANJU RADHAKRISHNAN RESEARCH SCIENTIST, INDUSTRY & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DPIRD

ndonesia is the tenth largest world economy1 and the fourth most populous country in the world.

Indonesia’s middle class population is growing, and consequently the country’s high value fruit and vegetable imports are growing.

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Indonesia imported almost $1.7 billion worth of fruit and over $800 million worth of vegetables in 2018 from across the globe (Figure 1).

Apples represent the largest value imported fruit, followed by grapes and pears. These three fruits represent 73% of all fruit imports. Other major imported fruits are mandarins, dates, lemons and limes, oranges, kiwi fruit, plums, cherries, strawberries, other berries, durians, peaches and nectarines, avocados, longans, lychees and pomegranate. Import growth has been very high for plums during the past five years.

When it comes to vegetable imports, growth has been less significant compared to that of fruits, experiencing a five-year growth of 56%.

If garlic, which forms 84% of the imports, is excluded, the growth rate is negative. Other major imports are onions, potato (other than seed), seed potato, brassica, mushrooms, cauliflower and broccoli.

China is the major source of both fruit and vegetable imports with a share of 56% and 86% respectively.

The prices of imports has fluctuated over the years, but has mostly increased. Current average import price and growth in price during the past five years are given in Figure 2.

All imported fruits have had a price increase over these years, while two vegetables; brassica and potatoes other than seed, experienced a decline in price. The price of seed potato is almost stagnant, having declined slightly.

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VALUE ($M) AND SHARE (%) OF FRUIT IMPORTS Apples (479m) 28% Grapes (424m) 25% Pears (339m) 20% Fruit nesoi, fresh (155m) 9% Mandarins (124m) 7% Dates (83m) 5% Lemons and limes (29m) 2% Oranges (28m) 2% Kiwi fruit (17m) 1% Plums, prune plums and sloes (10m) 1% Cherries, fresh, nesoi (3m) 0% Strawberries, fresh (2m) 0% Raspberries/blackberries/mulberries/loganberries (2m) 0% Durians (1m) 0% Peaches, including nectarines (1m) 0% Avocados (1m) 0%

VALUE ($M) AND SHARE (%) OF VEGETABLE IMPORTS Garlic (677m) 84% Onions and shallots (76m) 9% Potatoes except seed (18m) 2% Seed potato (7m) 1% Edible brassica (6m) 1% Mushrooms (4m) 1% Cauliflower and broccoli (4m) 1% Mushrooms (agaricus) (4m) 0% Others (126m) 16%

$1699m

$803m

FIGURE 1 IMPORTS OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES TO INDONESIA IN 2018

IMPORT PRICE OF OF FRUITS IMPORT PRICE FRUITS IMPORT IMPORT PRICE PRICE OF OF FRUITS FRUITS Apples Apples Apples Apples Avocados Avocados Avocados Avocados Cherries Cherries Cherries Cherries Dates Dates Dates Dates Durians Durians Durians Durians FruitFruit nesoi, fresh nesoi, fresh FruitFruit nesoi, nesoi, fresh fresh Grapes Grapes Grapes Grapes Kiwi fruit Kiwi fruit Kiwi Kiwi fruit fruit Lemons & limes Lemons & limes Lemons Lemons & limes & limes Mandarins Mandarins Mandarins Mandarins Oranges Oranges Oranges Peaches & nectarines Peaches &Oranges nectarines Peaches Peaches & nectarines & nectarines Pears Pears Pears Pears Plums Plums Plums Plums Raspberries/blackberries Raspberries/blackberries Raspberries/blackberries Raspberries/blackberries

2,9322,932 2,9322,932 2,0852,085 2,0852,085 4,2304,230 4,230 4,2154,230 4,215 4,215 4,215 3,979 3,979 3,9793,979 2,8602,860 2,8602,860 1,9701,970 1,970 1,970 2,455 2,455 2,4552,455 1,8211,821 1,8211,821 3,3453,345 3,3453,345

GROWTH IN IN FRUIT PRICES (2013–18) GROWTH FRUIT PRICES (2013–18) GROWTH GROWTH IN IN FRUIT FRUIT PRICES PRICES (2013–18) (2013–18) 7,3617,361 7,3617,361

108.4108.4 29.329.3 108.4108.4 29.329.3 58.358.3 58.358.3 164.8164.8 164.8164.8 49.549.5 49.5 57.749.5 57.7 57.7 57.7 36.2 36.2 36.2 36.2 59.5 59.5 59.559.5 111.6111.6 111.6111.6 108.1108.1 108.1108.1 143.8143.8 143.8143.8 183.0183.0 183.0183.0

16,012 16,012 16,012 16,012

6,6246,624 6,6246,624 10,966 10,966 10,966 10,966 11,423 11,423 11,423 11,423

325.4325.4 325.4325.4

283.0283.0 283.0283.0 336.2336.2 336.2336.2

0 0 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 910 1011 1112 1213 1314 1415 1516 1617 1718 18 0 0 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 910 1011 1112 1213 1314 1415 1516 1617 1718 18

0 0 0 0

IMPORT PRICE OF OF VEGETABLES IMPORT PRICE VEGETABLES IMPORT PRICE OF OF VEGETABLES IMPORT PRICE VEGETABLES

GROWTH IN IN VEGETABLE PRICES (2013–18) GROWTH VEGETABLE PRICES (2013–18) GROWTH IN IN VEGETABLE PRICES (2013–18) GROWTH VEGETABLE PRICES (2013–18)

$/TONNE (’000) $/TONNE (’000) $/TONNE (’000) $/TONNE (’000)

Cauliflower & broccoli Cauliflower & broccoli Cauliflower & brassica broccoli Cauliflower & brassica broccoli Edible Edible Edible brassica Edible brassica Garlic Garlic Garlic Garlic Mushrooms Mushrooms Mushrooms Mushrooms Mushrooms (agaricus) Mushrooms (agaricus) Mushrooms Mushrooms Onions &(agaricus) shallots Onions &(agaricus) shallots Onions & seed shallots Onions & shallots Potatoes except seed Potatoes except Potatoes except seed Potatoes except seed potato SeedSeed potato potato SeedSeed potato

0 0 0 0

1,7261,726 1,7261,726 988 988 988 1,161 988 1,161 1,1611,161 3,4453,445 3,4453,445

632 632 632573 632 573 573 573 1,0701,070 1,0701,070

500500 500500

-16.2-16.2 -16.2-16.2

FIGURE 2 IMPORT PRICES OF DIFFERENT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES Note: Import price includes insurance and freight charges. It doesn’t include duties

200200 200200

300300 300300

FIVEFIVE YEAR GROWTH (%)(%) YEAR GROWTH FIVEFIVE YEAR YEAR GROWTH GROWTH (%)(%)

400400 400400

5.7 5.7 5.7 5.7 34.334.3 34.334.3

4,3234,323 4,3234,323

10001000 15001500 20002000 25002500 30003000 40004000 45004500 -50 -50 10001000 15001500 20002000 25002500 30003000 40004000 45004500 -50 -50

$/TONNE (’000) $/TONNE (’000) $/TONNE (’000) $/TONNE (’000)

100100 100100

113.4113.4 88.188.1 113.4113.4 88.188.1

11.011.0 -6.9-6.9 11.011.0 -6.9-6.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

0 0 0 0

50 50 50 50

100100 100100

FIVEFIVE YEAR GROWTH (%)(%) YEAR GROWTH FIVEFIVE YEAR YEAR GROWTH GROWTH (%)(%)

150150 150150

33INDONESIA imported almost $800 million worth of vegetables in 2018 from across the globe.

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FRUITS

VEGETABLES

$72m

Grapes (50.75m) 70.1% Oranges (4.49m) 6.2% Mandarins (4.29m) 5.9% Lemons and Limes (3.41m) 4.7% Pears (3.28m) 4.5% Cherries (2.48m) 3.4%

$6.9m

Plums (1.55m) 2.1% Apples (0.94m) 1.3% Avocados (0.44m) 0.6% Peaches and nectarines (0.28m) 0.4% Others (0.46m) 0.6%

Australia exported 26,290 tonnes of fruit valued at $72m to Indonesia in 2018. Imports are growing. Grapes are the major fruit exported with a share of 70%. Citrus fruit, pears, cherries and plums are other major exports worth more than $1m.

Seed potato (3.24m) 47% Potatoes except seed (1.36m) 20% Onions and shallots (0.64m) 9% Lettuce except head lettuce (0.39m) 6%

Edible brassicas (0.25m) 4% Tomatoes (0.21m) 3% Cauliflower and broccoli (0.17m) 3% Others (0.64m) 9%

Excluding pulses

Australia exported 5,800 tonnes of vegetables valued at about $7m to Indonesia in 2018. Imports have declined over the past five years. Seed potatoes are the major exports from Australia, with 47% share in the value of exports. Potatoes except seed is the only other category with more than $1m value in exports.

FIGURE 3 FRUIT AND VEGETABLE EXPORTS FROM AUSTRALIA TO INDONESIA IN 2018 Onions and shallots are one of the major categories (import value of $76m) to experience price growth. Garlic, which is the largest import by value, also experienced a price increase, but WA’s competitive advantage in the production of garlic compared to the major competitor, China is uncertain.

Fruit and vegetable exports from Australia to Indonesia Australia supplies approximately 8% of Indonesia’s fruit imports and less than 1% of vegetables by value.

Fruit imports2 by Indonesia from Australia grew by 173% ($47m to $129m) and vegetable imports declined by 24% ($10m to $7m) between 2013 and 2018.

Indonesia is the seventh largest importer of WA fruits and vegetables.

Western Australia is yet to realise the potential of this market — current fruit exports to Indonesia form only 4% of WA’s fruit exports (worth $1.4m) and 3% of WA’s vegetable exports (worth $3.5m). WA constitutes less than 2% of Australia’s fruit exports to Indonesia, while WA is the leading state with a share of 51% in Australian vegetable exports to Indonesia.

2 Huge difference in the value of fruit exports from Australia to Indonesia and fruit imports by Indonesia from Australia. Insurance and freight charges are added to the export price to derive the import price.

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Plums are the biggest fruit export to Indonesia from WA. The value of plum exports increased by more than five times, growing from just $168,000 in 2016 to $891,000 in 2018.

Other fruit exports are oranges, grapes, avocados, mandarins, peaches and nectarines, strawberries, persimmons, cranberries and blueberries and cherries. Seed potatoes are the biggest vegetable exports from WA to Indonesia, with a share of 93%. Other vegetables exported are onions and potatoes other than seed.

Some of the other important facts about Indonesia on an export point of view are: • Low level of per capita consumption on some product lines compared to world average • Growth in population and middle income segment • Australia’s new trade agreement with Indonesia • Geographically, a tropical producer • Proximity for WA. Indonesia is a tropical producer, whose main agricultural products are palm oil, palm kernel, rubber, cocoa, coffee, tea, tobacco, rice, sugarcane, maize, cassava, tropical fruits, spices, poultry and fisheries.

Global Business Guide describes opportunities for exporters in Indonesia as follows: “Exporters should position themselves strategically to offer products that cannot be grown locally such as temperate fruit varieties rather than competing directly with local producers. For example, stone fruits such as cherries, peaches and plums as well as various berry fruit types cannot be cultivated in Indonesia’s tropical climate”3.

Ensuring Asian market success Asia continues to be the major export destination for WA agricultural products, led by China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) identifies new markets for state agrifood exporters and works to further develop these international markets.

MORE INFORMATION Visit www.dpird.wa.gov.au for more information on DPIRD’s export services.

Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

3 Overview of Indonesia’s Horticulture Sector — Fruit & Vegetables, Global business guide 2016.

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Just two years ago, in February 2017, Fruitico finalised construction and commissioning of their new 2,500m2 cool rooms and pack house facility for its burgeoning table grape business based at Coolup, just south of Pinjarra in Western Australia’s southwest.

Fruitico’s CEO Roger Fahl explained that a planned upgrade and extension was completed a year later, in January 2018, and this is where the company’s fruit is grown, processed and exported.

“We committed many millions of dollars to ensure this facility would be specifically-suited, purpose-fit and perform optimally and reliably for us for many years. And we have some pretty optimistic plans for growth and expansion during that period.

This required super-effective energy cost management over a range of consumption cycles and needs, but we also needed specific custom controls and management systems so potential problems could be identified, notified and remedied before we even knew about them at the cool rooms or the pack house,” Mr Fahl said.

According to CEO of Frig Tech Services, Ashley Fahl, which specialises in customised refrigeration systems, the main reason for the success of the

33THE 2,500m2 facility boasts four cold rooms, a pre-cool room and packing area.

refrigeration system they designed and recommended was a combination of a lengthy collaborative process before even turning the first sod to build the facility, along with installation of state-of-the-art equipment and control systems.

“The client had been working through this process with us for a good 18 months prior to starting the actual build. We’ve always maintained that any quality project such as this requires a massive amount of input prior to engaging the partners to construct the final design facility,” Mr Fahl said.

“This design has allowed the customer to fast-cool a massive quantity of product from field temperature to final storage temperature in extremely short time frames, without holding up processing and picking from the field when the product is at its prime condition for consumers.”

Storage Control Systems, USA, provided the computerised control management systems.

“It makes a lot of sense to select and recommend only the best when it comes to refrigeration equipment and computerised control management systems, especially when you’ve spent months and months to design, plan and create the optimum setup which will be best to handle Fruitico’s growth for many seasons to come,” Mr Fahl said.

About Frig Tech Services Frig Tech Services offers customised commercial refrigeration installation, specialist service and maintenance throughout WA, the Mid Coast of New South Wales and North Queensland. This is in addition to the company’s two other divisions which cover air conditioning and electrical services.

MORE INFORMATION Call us now on (08) 9932 6436, email us at info@frigtech.com.au or go to frigtech.com.au.

Frig Tech Services selected leading Swedish manufacturer, Frigadon, for the refrigeration equipment.

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Grower case study

d n a ox F k ic tr a P – s m r a F Fox Shannon Fisher I

BY MANUS STOCKDALE EXPORT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT LEAD, VEGETABLESWA

PERTH SCOTT RIVER

Farmer Patrick Fox & Shannon Fisher Location Scott River, Western Australia Enterprises Chinese cabbage (wombok), broccoli, celery & potatoes

n February 2017, when the Tomato potato psyllid (TPP) was found in Western Australia, Fox Farms had $250,000 of potatoes prepared for export. With the risk of reduced export opportunities for potatoes from WA Fox Farms made the decision to diversify their business and start growing vegetables for export.

The Fox family has been farming in southern WA for three generations and has strong connections in Singapore that were built through their potato export business, so they started exploring the opportunities for vegetables.

Patrick and Shannon and their three girls farm in Scott River 300km south of Perth.

The abundant water and mild climate makes it a great place to grow potatoes and vegetables all year round.

The main crops grown by the Foxs are Chinese cabbage (wombok), broccoli, celery together with potatoes. Patrick also has another farm in Yarloop where they grow potatoes and pumpkin as well as their packing facility.

Farming for three generations and has lead to strong connections in Singapore.

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Fox Farms work with a number of other growers in different regions of WA to grow vegetable lines outside their production window so that they can supply export customers year-round.

“Export gives us the potential to grow and expand our business beyond the local WA market. We can produce large volumes of vegetables such as Chinese cabbage very well but there’s only so much of it that we could sell without flooding the local market. Our export customers can sell large volumes in Singapore and offer us a consistent price for the whole year. While the price isn’t as high as the domestic price at times it also doesn’t drop as low and allows us to budget and operate at an efficient scale. With export we’re not planting and hoping we make money; we already have the price agreed before it’s in the ground. Unless there’s a crop failure we know we will be profitable,” Patrick explained.

In October 2018 Patrick and Shannon attended an export workshop in Perth that was arranged by vegetablesWA as part of the Export Facilitator project.

“Though the export workshop we learnt quite a bit and got to meet other WA growers who are exporting. Hearing from people like Jim Trandos and getting a better understanding of how air freight works was really valuable. We also got to meet Michael Coote from the AUSVEG Export Development project and since then we have got involved in the AUSVEG overseas trade activities,” Patrick said.

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“Attending the trade show was a real eye opener for us...“ Patrick Fox

Patrick attended the FOODEX trade show in Japan with AUSVEG in May 2019.

“Attending the trade show was a real eye opener for us. There was quite a bit of preparation before we went but vegetablesWA and AUSVEG were really helpful. From helping us polish up our company brochure, through to organising introductions to Japanese importers before we travelled to Japan and arranging the market insights tour it was a very worthwhile experience.”

At FOODEX Patrick met a number of importers that were particularly interested in the Kabocha pumpkin that he had just started growing.

“We sent some samples of the Kabocha to a couple of importers and they were impressed with the quality. Our supply window fits in nicely between the local Japanese supply and other countries such as Mexico and New Zealand. In April

2020 we are sending several shipping containers of pumpkin to one customer and negotiating with another. It’s exciting to be breaking into a new market with so much potential,” Patrick said.

Export already makes up 90% of Fox Farms business but the volume of exports has grown significantly in the past 12 months.

During the 2018–19 financial year their exports have increased by about 300% to 400 40ft shipping container of produce exported by the business.

“We’re really happy with the way business is going at the moment. Our plan is to build on what we have and scale up production of the lines that we are already growing. We are building a new packing facility at the farm in Scott River so we can manage the quality of our brassica crops better by getting

the temperature down as quickly as possible. We’re keen to look at some new markets, maybe the middle east, and start dealing direct with some retailers in new markets. We’ve been developing our branding and starting to get more customer recognition in overseas markets.”

MORE INFORMATION For more information about the Export Facilitator Project or to get involved in export development activities please contact Manus Stockdale manus.stockdale@ vegetableswa.com.au or (08) 9486 7515.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government.

For more information on the fund and strategic levy investment visit horticulture.com.au

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Understanding market access

A guide to using MICoR

BY MANUS STOCKDALE EXPORT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT LEAD, VEGETABLESWA

B

efore exporting fresh produce from Australia, you must first check your product has market access to the country where you would like to trade.

Understanding market access is done by learning how to use MICoR. To assist growers navigate the MICoR database,

vegetablesWA has created this guide new users that are using the website for the first time.

What is MICoR? MICoR stands for Manual of Importing Country Requirements, Importing Country Requirements (ICR) are the conditions a trading partner imposes on products seeking entry to their country. ICRs are designed to protect the biosecurity status of the trading partner, Australia also has strict ICRs for those seeking to export products to us. ICRs are set by the National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) in each country, in Australia the NPPO is the Commonwealth Department of

Agriculture and therefore they manage the MICoR database.

MICoR is a database of known ICRs for Australia’s trading partners, as advised by their respective NPPOs.

MICoR takes the form of a website and can be found at micor.agriculture.gov.au.

MICoR should be used as a guide only as NPPO’s may update their ICRs at any time without notice. It is the exporter’s responsibility to confirm ICRs well in advance of export. MICoR is a centralised database which should be exporters first reference point when considering sending product into a new market.

MICoR website micor.agriculture.gov.au

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Supporting information • MICoR should be considered a starting point

33IT is essential you check MICoR to make sure you are aware of the ICRs for Australian produce as sometimes importers in other countries are unaware that these conditions vary from country to country.

Why is MICoR important to my export business?

It is important to note that ICRs for Australian products may differ to ICRs for goods originating in another country because Australia may have different pest and disease profiles that the trading partner is seeking to manage. For example, the conditions for Australian broccoli to Japan might be different to the conditions imposed on Chinese broccoli to Japan.

It is essential you check MICoR to make sure you are aware of the ICRs for Australian produce as sometimes importers in other countries are unaware that these conditions vary from country to country, as the exporter, you must do the due diligence.

ICRs. In simple terms, a carrot is a prescribed good but a carrot cake is not. If your export business produces a processed, value-added range, you may be exempt from ICRs as defined in MICoR.

MICoR has limitations • MICoR does not provide export documentation • MICoR does not provide export advice • MICoR can answer the overwhelming majority of search requests but it is not 100% complete; it can only search the information uploaded into it and not every possible commoditycountry combination has been tested

All prescribed goods must demonstrate they meet the ICRs before they can be legally exported from Australia.

Be aware importers are not able to change the ICRs, they are set government-togovernment and not usually varied for individual importers or shipments.

Fresh horticultural produce is legislatively defined by the Australian Government as a ‘prescribed good’. All prescribed goods must demonstrate they meet the ICRs before they can be legally exported from Australia. It is important to note there is a distinction between fresh and processed goods.

Only a fresh product is a prescribed good and must comply with ICRs; processed products are non-prescribed goods and do not need to comply with

• Gaps in information in MICoR exist because either the NPPO has not provided the Australian Government with formal advice or because no one has ever sought to request export permission for a particular commodity-country combination.

How do I learn to use MICoR

• The information on MICoR should be supplemented with information contained in the Plant Export Operations Manual (PEOM) www.agriculture.gov.au/ export/controlled-goods/ plants-plant-products/ plantexportsmanual and specific commodity-country workplans which are available through a password protected area on MICoR (you must be an Australian exporter to register with the Department of Agriculture for access this information) • It is also valuable to subscribe to the Department of Agriculture's ‘Industry Advisory Notices’ so you can receive regular updates on changes to ICRs or registration periods for exports to certain markets. You can subscribe at www.agriculture.gov.au/ export/controlled-goods/ plants-plant-products/ian • First-time exporters can also refer to the Exporting plants and plant products: A stepby-step guide for Australian exporters www.agriculture. gov.au/export/controlledgoods/plants-plant-products/ exportersguide • The other very useful source of information for exporters is their peak industry body, they support exporters to grow their business and can help you understand how to interpret the above sources of information.

To learn how to use MICoR, please visit our webinar How to use MICoR for a detailed demonstration of the search function within the MICoR database (https://youtu.be/vrd7fUosMAI).

MORE INFORMATION For more information contact Manus Stockdale on (08) 9486 7515 or email manus.stockdale@vegetableswa.com.au.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government.

For more information on the fund and strategic levy investment visit horticulture.com.au

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UNDERSTANDING SOIL PH IN COMMERCIAL VEGETABLE PRODUCTION — VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION

Hiểu biết độ pH đất trong canh tác rau màu

VÕ THẾ TRUYỀN CHUYÊN VIÊN KHUYẾN NÔNG VIỆT NAM, HIỆP HỘI RAU CẢI TÂY ÚC

Một tài liệu về độ pH đất và ảnh hưởng của độ pH đối với dinh dưỡng cây trồng đã được đăng trong ấn bản mùa hè 2015 của tạp chí chuyên ngành của Hiệp hội rau cải. Tài liệu này trình bày các kiến thức căn bản về độ pH đất và tác động của độ pH lên dinh dưỡng cây trồng chũng như các biện pháp canh tác làm thay đổi độ pH trong đất canh tác.

Gần đây nông dân trồng rau màu ở khu vực phía bắc Perth phản ánh một số trường hợp ghi nhận ph đất xuống thấp gây ảnh hưởng đến sinh trưởng, chất lượng sản phẩn rau màu và dường như gia tăng thêm bệnh trên cây trồng.

Bài viết này một lần nữa giúp ôn lại kiến thức căn bản về độ pH đất và tác động của pH đất đến sự phát triển của hoa màu trên trang trại thương mại.

Kiến thức căn bản về độ pH đất Trong thuật ngữ chuyên môn độ pH đất là giá trị đo đếm độ a-xít hay độ kiềm

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của đất mà trong dân gian hay gọi là độ chua. Độ pH có giá trị trong khoảng từ 0-14. Giá trị 7 là trung tính (không chua không kiềm). Giá trị càng giảm về 0 thì độ chua càng cao.

Như trình bày trong biểu đồ, ở điều kiện pH đất trong khoảng a-xít rất nhẹ 6,5-7,0 thì hầu hết các nguyên tố dinh dưỡng đều đạt ngưỡng hửu dụng cao cho cây trồng.

Điều quan trọng cần nên biết là giá trị độ pH tăng giảm 1 số thì độ chua tăng giảm 10 lần.

Nếu xem xét từng nguyên tố, chẳng hạn chất lân (phosphorous — ký hiệu là P), độ hửu dụng của P cho cây trồng cao nhất khi độ pH đất trong khoảng 5,5-7,5 và suy giảm khi Ph thấp dưới 5,5. Điều này có nghĩa rằng nếu bón cùng một lượng P trên 2 loại đất có độ pH khác nhau thì lượng P cây có thể hất thu được trong đất có độ pH 6,0 sẽ cao hơn lượng P cây có thể hấp thu được trên đất có độ pH dưới 5,5. Tương tự như vậy, bởi vì độ hửu dụng của chất Molipdate (ký hiệu la Mo) cao khi pH đất hơn 6,5 cho nên hiện tượng cây trồng thiếu Mo chỉ thường xảy ra trên đất có pH thấp và bón vôi để gia tăng pH đất củng giúp điều chỉnh độ hửu dụng của Mo.

Ảnh hưởng của độ pH đất đến dạng tồn tại của các chất dinh dưỡng mà cây trồng hấp thu được Ý nghĩa của độ pH đất trong nông nghiệp chính ở chổ yếu tố này ảnh hưởng đến độ hửu dụng của các chất dinh dưỡng trong đất mà cây trồng hấp thu được.

Chất dinh dưỡng trong đất nếu hiện diện dưới dạng cây trồng không hấp thu được thì cho dù phân bón vẫn được cung cấp bình thường vẫn có thể xảy ra hiện tượng thiếu dinh dưỡng hoặc vấn đề ngộ độc do dư thừa dinh dưỡng khi độ pH đất thay đổi đột ngột.

Biểu đồ dưới đây là dạng trình bày kinh điển trong rất nhiều tài liệu về mối liên quan giửa độ ph đất và mức độ hửu dụng các nguyên tố dinh dưỡng trong đất cho cây trồng.

Độ pH của đất nông nghiệp tiểu bang Tây Úc Tài liệu Độ pH đất và sức khỏe cây trồng do Bộ Nông nghiệp và Lương thực Tây Úc báo cáo rằng các dạng đất đặc trưng trên tiểu bang có độ pH dao động từ 4 dến 8,5. Trong khu vực dân cư các loại đất có pH kiềm ở nơi gần bờ biển đá vôi. Đất những vùng sâu vào nội địa và hầu

YOUR PRODUCTION

pH CHUA 0

1

2

3

TRUNG TÍNH 4

5

RẤT CHUA

6

7

KIỀM

8

9

10

KHOẢNG pH TỐI HẢO CHO CÂY SINH TRƯỞNG

11

12

13

14

RẤT KIỀM

Nitrogen

PH đất ảnh hưởng đến sự hấp thu dinh dưỡng trong vùng rể vì nó làm thay đổi đặc tính của cấu tử đất (các hạt trong đất). Khi pH đất quá thấp các cấu tử đất mang điện tích dương sẽ hút chặt các nguyen tố dinh dưỡng như lân gay tình trạng thiếu hụt cho cây trồng (mặc dù hàm lượng lân trong đất cao). Tuy nhiên, khi pH đất cao thì gây ra tình trạng thiếu sắt, kẽm, măng-gan trên rau màu.

Phosphorus Potassium

Thiếu hụt các nguyên tố đa lượng

Sulphur Calcium Magnesium Iron Manganese

Thiếu hụt các nguyên tố vi lượng

Boron Copper & zinc Molybdenum

HÌNH 1 Biểu đồ tương quan giửa pH đất và độ hửu dụng của các nguyên tố dinh dưởng cho cây hết các vùng đất nông nghiệp đất chua hơn (pH dưới 7).

Các vùng đất nông nghiệp đất nguyên thủy không chua khi phát hoang trở thành đất chua do quả trình áp dụng phân bón liên tục. Đo đạt pH trong hàng cà ở các trang trại phía Bắc Perth cho giá trị 5,0-6,5, thường thấp hơn pH đất giua các hàng cà. Hiện tượng trên củng dược quan sát trên các trang trại trồng zucchini, cà tím, đậu, dưa leo.

Trong các trang trại trồng cây trên mùn cưa như dưa leo trong bịt và rau muống trong nhà nóng, dộ pH có thể thấp hơn 4,5 do sự sản sinh a-xít hửu cơ của mùn cưa mục và rể cây chết.

Trong tài liệu Hướng dẫn thực hành nông nghiệp tốt cho nông dân Carnarvon thì đất khu vực này có pH trong khoảng 6,8–7,8 và được xếp vào hạng đất trung tính hoặc kiềm nhẹ. Dưới điều kiện như vậy, độ hửu dụng của các nguyên tố phân bón vi lượng như mangan (manganese — ký hiệu Mn), kẽm (zinc — Zn) and đồng (copper — Cu) suy giảm nhanh chóng.

Khi pH bắt đầu tăng đến hơn 8,5, độ hửu dụng của lân, sắt, đồng, kẽm vad mangan giảm nhanh chóng, có thể phải phân tích mẩu cây trồng thường xuyên để xác định nguy cơ thiếu dinh dưỡng các nguyên tố này.

Ảnh hưởng đến sự hấp thu dinh dưỡng trong vùng rể

Tác động của pH đất đến sự phát triển của hoa màu trên trang trại thương mại Ảnh hưởng của độ pH đất đến hình thức hiện diện của các loại dinh dưỡng trong đất: độ pH đất quyết định mức độ hòa tan và và độ khả dụng của các nguyen tố dinh dưỡng trong đất.

Ảnh hưởng đến sự ngộ đôc kim loại trên hoa màu về căn bản ngộ độc kim loại xảy ra khi độ pH đất thấp hơn 5.0 các kim loại như nhôm, sắt, đồng, măng-gan hòa tan rất mạnh gây ngộ đọc cho cây. Trường hợp dễ thấy nhất là trên đất phèn. Thường đề tránh tình trạng này thì nông dân bón thêm vôi để tăng đô pH. Ảnh hưởng đến bệnh cây có nguồn gốc từ trong đất Một số mầm bệnh hại trong đất có tuuwowng quan chặt chẽ đến pH đất. thí dụ như bệnh rể chum/chùn rể trên các loại hoa màu họ thập tự (các loại cải) gây ra do nấm Plasmodiophora brassicae. Khi pH đất thấp dưới 5.7 thì bệnh này có nguy cơ phát triển mạnh.

Nhưng bệnh suy giảm khi pH đất tăng lên khoàng 5.7-6.2 và biến mất khi pH đất tăng lên 7.3.

14 loại dinh dưỡng cho cây trồng trong đất gồm có đạm (N), lân (P), kali (K), Can-xi (ca), Ma-nhê (Mg), Kiểm tra và điều chỉnh độ pH lưu huỳnh (S), sắt (Fe), kẽm đất.

(Zn), đồng (Cu), Mang-gan Một số loại bệnh cây Nông dân có thể tự kiểm (Mn), Bo (B), Chlorine (Cl), do mầm bệnh trong tra độ pH đất trong đất Mo-lip-đen (Mo) và Ni-ken đất có liên quan đến độ bằng cách sử dụng các (Ni). Các chất này thương pH đất. công cụ đo pH có bán tại hiện diện dưới dạng kết các điwwrm cung cấp vật tư hợp với các chất khác nông nghiệp. Ngày nay các thành các hợp chất và hòa loaị máy đo pH kỹ thuật số rất tan trong nước thanh các phần phổ biến và dể áp dụng. tử mang điện tích (ion) thì cây trồng mới hấp thu được. Chính độ pH đất tác Tuy nhiên điều chỉnh độ pH đất là việc động đến sự hình thanh hay phân giải làm đòi hỏi có trình độ hểu biết nhất cũng như hình thức tồn tại của các hợp định về các chất cải thiện độ pH, trường chất này trong đát và trong vùng rể hợp nào nên áp dụng và cách tính toán cây. Khi pH đất dưới 5.0 thì hàm lượng liều lượng áp dụng. Nên tham vấn các sắt, đồng, kẽm, măng-gan hòa tan cao. nhà nông học để có được các khuyến Ngược lại khi pHcao hơn 7.0 thì nhôm, cáo phù hợp. ma-nhê hòa tan nhiều hơn, vì vậy chúng kiềm giử lân dưới dạng không tan làm THÊM THÔNG TIN cây trồng không hấp thu được. Nói Truyen Vo, truyen.vo@vegetableswa.com.au chung thì pH đất trong pham vi từ 5.5 or 0457 457 559. đến 7.0 là điều kiện tốt cho sự hòa tan của hầu hết các nguyen tố dinh dưỡng cho cây trồng.

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

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YOUR BUSINESS

HORTICULTURE SECTOR BRACES FOR CORONAVIRUS IMPACT — VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION

Ngành rau quả chuẩn bị đối phó tác động của vi-rút Corona Khi mà thông tin về vi-rút Corona (hay còn gọi là COVID-19) chiếm lỉnh các trang thông tin và gây ra hạn chế đi lại nặng nề, điều hết sức quan trọng nà nông gia nên được chuẩn bị, được thông tin, và hạn chế rủi ro đến mức tối thiểu.

Chủ tịch liên đoàn nông gia quốc gia Tony Mahar đã cảnh báo rằng tình thế càng xấu và càng nhiều quốc gia bị ảnh hưởng thì thách thức càng nghiêm trọng đối với ngành nông nghiệp Úc trong việc cung cấp thục phẩm cho người tiêu dùng.

Theo ông Tony Mahar một trong các quan ngại lớn hơn nữa cho ngành nông nghiệp là khả năng đảm bảo lực lượng nhân công khi đối mặt với hạn chế di chuyển ngày càng gia tăng do sự lây lan của vi-rút Corona. Ông nói: “Một tỉ lệ lớn trong ngành nông nghiệp bao gồm các ngành rau quả, thịt heo và ngủ cốc sử dụng lao động thời vụ hoặc lao động du lịch để thu hoạch sản phẩm”. Ông cũng phát biểu rằng hạn chế di chuyển và vận chuyển tại các nước bị ảnh hưởng đã làm suy giảm nhu cầu tiêu dùng, đặc biệt là các loại đặc sản chất lượng cao của Úc. “Hạn chế di chuyển còn ảnh hưởng đến chuổi cung ứng khi cảng biển và sân bay được thắt chặt”.

Bộ trưởng Bộ Nông nghiệp và Lương thực , bà Alannah MacTiernan MLC, đã phát biểu rằng ngành (nông nghiệp) phải chuẩn bị cho tác động của COVID19. “Trung Quốc là bạn hàng lớn nhất chiếm 28% trong tổng xuất khẩu sản phẩm nông lâm nghiệp 2,35 tỉ đô la mỗi năm”. “Tuy vậy, ảnh hưởng của sự lây lan vi-rút Corona vượt ra khỏi Trung Quốc — chúng ta lường trước nhu cầu thực phẩm ở các nước châu Á giảm do cư dân và khách du lịch tránh đi lại”. “Chúng ta cũng lường trước ảng hưởng đối với xuất khẩu đến các quốc gia đang bị ảnh hưởng đó, đặc biệt là các ngành co sản phẩm mau hỏng và lệ thuộc sâu vào thị trường Trung Quốc”.

Trung tâm tập huấn ARC về An toàn thực phẩm trong ngành thực phẩm tươi đã phát hành tờ thông tin về vi-rút Corona trong đó nhấn mạnh rằng vi-rút hầu như không lây lan qua đường sản phẩm tươi cũng như nhấn mạnh rằng

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WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

các biện pháp đơn giản có thể được áp dụng để hạn chế rủi ro.

Tác giả của tờ thông tin, tiến sỹ Hayriye Bozkurt, cảnh báo rằng vi-rút có thể tồn tại đến 3 giờ trên các bề mặt phi sinh vật và nhiều giờ trên bàn tay, các mô, và các bề mặt khác. Bà khuyến cáo rằng để giảm thiểu rủi ro ngành nên áp dụng các biện pháp vệ sinh các nhân cùng với các biện pháp thực hành canh tác tốt.

Sau đây là một sơ ý chính trong tờ thông tin của tiến sỹ Hayriye Bozkurt Vi-rút corona gần như không lây qua sản phẩm tươi.

Vi-rút corona là gì?

Vi-rút corona là mộjt họ sieu vi khuẩn thường là gây ra bệnh về hô hấp. Chúng bao gồm các loại vi-rút gây ra bệnh cảm thông thường và bệnh cúm theo mùa cũng như các loại bệnh nghiêm trọng hơn như Hội chứng hô hấp cấp (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — SARS) và Hội chứng hô hấp Trung Đông (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome — MERS).

Vi-rút corona có sống ngoài cơ thể, trên thức ăn hay các bề mặt khác không?

Hầu hết các chủng vi-rút trong các bệnh phẩm hô hấp (như corona, corona, coxsackie, influenza, SARS or rhino virus) có thể tồn tại trên các bề mặt một vài ngày. Mặt dù cần them nhiều dữ liệu để xác đinh vi-rút corona có thể sống bao lâu trên các bề mặt, chúng tôi biết rằng vi-rút có thể tồn tại đến 3 giờ trên các bề mặt phi sinh vật và nhiều giờ trên bàn tay, các mô, và các bề mặt khác. Tuy nhiên thòi gian tồn tại thay đổi tùy theo loại bề mặt, nhiệt độ và ẩm độ tương đối.

Vi-rút có lây qua các sản phẩm tươi không?

Vi-rút corona được cho là lây lan qua các hạt lỏng li ti thoát ra trừ hệ hô hấp, tiếp xúc với dịch phẩm bệnh, truyền qua các dịch từ mủi miệng. Chúng ta đã có kinh nghiệm từ các trường hợp Hội chứng hô hấp cấp (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome — SARS) và Hội chứng hô hấp Trung Đông (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome — MERS) rằng người ta không bị lây bệnh các loại vi-rút này qua các sản phẩm tươi và vi-rút 2019-nCoV gần

như không lây qua sản phẩm rau quả tươi. Cũng như các chủng vi-rút khác, vi-rút corona cần phải có sinh vật ký chủ (là động vjật hay con người) đề sinh trưởng, vì thế chúng không thể sinh sản trong rau quả tươi. Hiện vẵn chưa rỏ liệu người ta có bị nhiểm bệnh khi tiếp xúc bề mặt rau quả tượi có vi-rút COVID 19 trên đó rồi đưa tay lên mặt mủi mắt hay không. Giử vệ sinh và thực hành nông nghiệp tốt luôn luôn là khuyến cáo thực tế cần được áp dụng nghiêm túc.

Khả năng chịu đưng của vi-rút corona khi bị bất hoạt trong điều kiện nhiệt độ nóng, lạnh thế nào?

Mặc dù chưa có số liệu khẳng định vi-rút corona sẽ bất hoạt trong điều kiện kết hợp thời gian và nhiệt độ nào, nấu kỹ có lẻ đủ để đạt mục đích giảm thiểu vi-rút. Đối với biện pháp xử lý lạnh, như nhiều loại vi-rút, chúng có thể sống nhiều tháng, nhiều năm trong nhiệt độ dưới điểm đông đá. Chúng ta biết rằng các biện pháp đông lạnh sản phẩm hình thức công nghiệp hiện nay ít có hiệu lực làm giảm thiểu vi-rút. Người tiêu dùng nên nấu chín thức ăn đông lạnh trước khi dùng.

Cách giảm thiểu rủi ro?

Người bốc xếp sản phẩm rau quả tươi có thể làm nhiểm vi-rút lên sản phẩm khi ho, hắt hơi hay tiếp xúc trực tiếp sản phẩm, trừ khi họ tuân thủ nghiêm ngặt qui định vệ sinh cá nhân cùng với qui định thực hành nông nghiệp tốt.

Tổ chức Y tế thế giới WHO khuyên rằng các khuyến cáo tiêu chuẩn dể giảm thiểu tiếp xúc hay lây truyền một loạt các loại bệnh nên được duy trì. Các biện pháp này bao gồm: • Rửa tay đúng cách • Thực hang các biện pháp che chắn đúng cách khi ho, sổ mủi • Thực hành các biện pháp nông nghiệp tốt • Tránh tiếp xúc gần (khi có thể) với bất kỳ ai có triệu chứng bệnh hô hấp như ho, sổ mủi.

THÊM THÔNG TIN Để cập nhật thông tin về hiện trang vi-rút corona, vui lòng vào trang thông tin của Tổ chức Y tế thế giới WHO www.who.int/ health-topics/coronavirus

YOUR PRODUCTION Permits

Permits

Current Minor Use Permits can also be searched by specific crop or pest types at https://portal.apvma.gov.au/permits Permit No. Description

Crop

Reason for use

PER10677

Propyzamide

Chicory & endive

Grass and broadleef weeds

Expiry date 30-Apr-23

PER10918

Imidacloprid

Carrot, leafy lettuce, silverbeet & spinach

Greenhouse whitefly and aphids

31-Dec-23

PER10938

Imidacloprid

Snow peas and sugar snap peas

Greenhouse whitefly and green peach aphid

31-Jan-25

PER10976

Bentazone

Snow peas and sugar snap peas

Broadleaf weeds

31-Mar-25

PER11127

Nufarm filan fungicide

Peppers celery

Sclerotinia rot

30-Jun-23

PER11440

Sumiclex 500 (procymidone)

Peppers

Sclerotinia rot

30-Nov-24

PER11441

Propachlor

Radish, swede, turnip

Grass and broadleaf weeds

31-Oct-24

PER11747

2,2-dichloropropionic acid

Carrot crops (for seed)

Promotion of bolting and grass weed control

2-Dec-22

PER11764

Spiroxamine

Snow peas & sugar snap peas

Powdery mildew

31-Dec-21

PER11935

Triadimenol

Parsnips, radish, swede & turnip

Powdery mildew

30-Jun-22

PER12221

Petroleum oil

Specified vegetable crops

Specified insect pests

30-Nov-22

PER12506

Dimethoate

Eggplant

Queensland fruit fly & Mediterranean fruit fly

31-Aug-23

PER12565

Scala fungicide

Capsicum and lettuce (protected crops only)

Botrytis rots

30-Sep-22

PER12847

Abamectin

Cultivated mushrooms

Mushroom mites and nematodes

30-Jun-22

PER13088

Success neo insecticide (spinetoram)

Specified root vegetables, specified alliums & celeriac

Various insect pests

31-Mar-22

PER13114

Prometryn

Celeriac

Grass weeds listed on label

31-Mar-22

PER13119

Diazinon

Onions

Onion thrips

31-Jul-20

PER13147

Lontrel

Cauliflower

Capeweed and clover

30-Sep-24

PER13154

Dual gold herbicide

Brassica leafy vegetables

Various broadleaf and grass weeds

31-Mar-22

PER13322

Success neo (spinetoram)

Specified leafy vegetables

Potato moth

31-May-22

PER13367

Linuron

Leeks & celeriac

Grass and broadleaf weeds

30-Apr-25

PER13496

Linuron

Celery

Range of weeds

30-Apr-22

PER13607

Spinnaker herbicide

Adzuki bean

Weeds

30-Sep-23

PER13626

Metolachlor

Spinach, silverbeet, spring onions, shallots, green beans and navy beans

Various broadleaf and grass weeds

30-Jun-22

PER13653

Maldison

Leeks, spring onions and shallots

Onion thrips

28-Feb-23

PER13695

Ecocarb fungicide

Various vegetables

Powdery mildew

30-Sep-20

PER13696

Trifluralin

Parsnips

Wintergrass

31-Mar-23

PER13698

Phosphorous

Lettuce (leaf+hydro), parsley, coriander fennel and bulb (allium) vegetables

Downy mildew

30-Sep-22

Cercospora leaf spot & rust

30-Jun-24

PER13752

Tebuconazole

Faba beans & broad beans

PER13778

Various herbicides, insecticides & fungicides

Carrot, onion & brassica seed crops

PER13795

Agpro propazine 500

Carrot crops

Nightshade, fat hen & wireweed

31-Mar-23

PER13901

Glyphosate (shielded sprayer)

Capsicums, snow peas & sugar snap peas

Annual and perennial grass and broadleaf weeds

30-Jun-24

30-Jun-23

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

115

YOUR PRODUCTION

permits (cont.)

116

Permit No. Description

Crop

Reason for use

Expiry date

PER13902

Phorate

Sweet potatoes

Aphids, thrips, jassids and organophosphate susceptible twospotted mite and wireworm

31-Mar-23

PER14033

Lambda-cyhalothrin

Snow peas and sugar snap peas

Pasture webworm, cutworm, Rutherglen bug and thrips

31-May-23

PER14036

Bupirimate

Eggplant

Powdery mildew

28-Feb-23

PER14045

Mancozeb + metalaxyl

Brassica leafy vegetables, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, chicory, endive, radicchio, rocket, carrots and parsnip

Various fungal diseases

31-Mar-22

PER14046

Mancozeb

Cucumbers

Grey mould

31-Mar-23

PER14047

Methidathion

Peppers and eggplant

Rutherglen bug

31-May-23

PER14051

Iprodione

Broccoli seed treatment

Rhizoctinia

31-Mar-23

PER14127

Pendimethalin

Brassica leafy vegetables & rocket

Weeds

31-Aug-23

PER14142

Ioxynil

Spring onions, shallots & welsh onions

Broadleaf and grass weeds

31-Mar-21

PER14184

Phosphorous (phosphonic) acid

Beetroot, carrot, parsnip & brassica leafy vegetables

Damping off and downy mildew

30-Jun-22

PER14186

Success neo (spinetoram)

Eggplant

Melon thrips

30-Sep-21

PER14210

Acramite miticide

Lettuce

Two-spotted (red spider) mite

30-Sep-21

PER14318

Metalaxyl-m

Lettuce

Damping off

30-Sep-22

PER14351

Dc-tron plus

Lettuce

Various bugs

31-Mar-21

PER14352

Metalaxyl-m (apron xl 350) and fludioxonil (maxim 100)

Broccoli (seed treatment)

Damping-off and rhizoctonia

31-Jan-24

PER14430

Azoxystrobin (amistar 250 sc)

Lettuce

Bottom rot

30-Jun-22

PER14431

Rizolex liquid

Lettuce

Bottom rot

30-Jun-22

PER14432

Pendimethalin

Brussels sprouts

Grasses and broadleaf weeds

30-Jun-24

PER14457

Alpha-cypermethrin

Chicory, leeks, spring onions, shallots

Red-legged earth mite, onion thrips

30-Jun-24

PER14470

Mancozeb & dimethomorph

Snow peas

Downy mildew

30-Apr-22

PER14471

Lambda-cyhalothrin

Shallots & spring onions

Various pests

31-May-24

PER14473

Dimethomorph & mancozeb

Leeks, spring onions and shallots

Downy mildew, purple blotch & botrytis rots

30-Jun-23

PER14479

Propiconazole

Various vegetable crops

Various pests

30-Nov-24

PER14496

Metolachlor

Adzuki beans & mung beans

Certain annual grasses & broadleaf weeds

31-Mar-24

PER14505

Pyrimethanil

Snow peas and sugar snap peas

Grey mould (botrytis)

30-Jun-24

PER14536

Abamectin

Sweet corn, chillies, paprika, spring onions and shallots

Two-spotted mite

31-Dec-23

PER14583

Chlorpyrifos

Various vegetable crops

Various insect pests

31-Oct-21

PER14584

Imidacloprid

Brassica leafy vegetables

Aphids, whitefly and thrips

31-Jan-24

PER14596

Chlorpyrifos

Brassica vegetables

Vegetable beetle adults

30-Sep-29

PER14602

Boscalid, iprodione & chlorothalonil

Onion (bulb & seed)

Botrytis neck-rot

30-Sep-23

PER14604

Lambda-cyhalothrin

Garlic

Selected insect pests

31-Mar-22

Two-spotted mite

28-Feb-23

PER14650

Paramite (etoxazole)

Melons

PER14694

Vectobac wg biological larvicide

Protected cropping â&#x20AC;&#x201D; capsicum, cucumber, eggplant, herbs, & lettuce

PER14695

Ridomil gold 25g (metalaxyl-m)

Parsnips

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

30-Jun-24 Pythium spp. and Phytophthora spp.

30-Jun-24

YOUR PRODUCTION

Permit No. Description

Crop

Reason for use

Expiry date

PER14696

Abamectin

Head lettuce

Two-spotted mite

31-Dec-23

PER14703

Tramat 500 sc selective herbicide (ethofumesate)

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea only) & silverbeet

Various weeds

31-Jul-24

PER14726

Raptor wg herbicide

Adzuki and faba beans

Grass and broadleaf weed control

30-Sep-24

PER14765

Hexythiazox (calibre 100 ec miticide)

Cucurbit vegetables, fruiting vegetables, potatoes, snow and sugar snap peas

Tomato spider mite, two-spotted mite, broad mite, tomato russet mite

30-Sep-23

PER14773

Basagran (bentazonesodium)

Onions

Broadleaf weeds

31-Jan-23

PER14839

Zineb

Eggplant, spinach & silverbeet

Anthracnose (Colletotrichum spp.)

30-Sep-24

PER14840

Bupirimate

Cucurbits & peppers

Powdery mildew

30-Sep-24

PER14842

Copper oxychloride, cuprous oxide or cupric hydroxide

Spring onions and shallots

Downy mildew

30-Sep-24

PER14843

Indoxacarb (avatar insecticide)

Celery

Heliothis, lightbrown apple moth, lucerne leaf roller and vegetable weevil

30-Sep-24

PER14858

Pendimethalin

Parsnip

Grasses and broadleaf weeds

31-Mar-25

PER14886

Pendimethalin

Garlic

Grass & broadleaf weeds

31-Jan-25

PER14890

Methomyl (lannate-l)

Spring onions and shallots

Western flower thrips

31-Oct-24

PER14891

Trifloxystrobin

Beetroot

Alternaria leaf spot

30-Sep-29

PER14896

Bentazone (basagran)

Green peas (processing)

Broadleaf weeds

30-Sep-24

PER14906

Triadimenol

Leek, chives, shallot, spring and Chinese onions

White rot (sclerotium)

31-Oct-24

PER14907

Emamectin

Brassica leafy vegetables

Various pests

30-Nov-24

PER14936

Haloxyfop

Adzuki bean

Grass weeds

30-Jun-24

PER14958

Dimethomorph & mancozeb (acrobat fungicide)

Brassica leafy vegetables, leafy lettuce & other leafy vegetables

Downy mildew & other diseases

31-Dec-22

PER14959

Haloxyfop

Leafy (salad) vegetables, mizuina, green elk

Storksbill

30-Nov-24

PER14964

Chlorothalonil

Lettuce seedlings

Antracnose (shot hole)

30-Nov-22

PER7909

Pyrimethanil fungicide

Cucumber

Botrytis rot

30-Sep-22

PER80060

Frontier-p

Bulb onions

PER80100

Sumitomo samurai systematic insecticide

Fruiting vegetables, excluding cucurbits

Mediterranean fruit fly & Queensland fruit fly

30-Sep-23

PER80101

Sumitomo samurai systemic insecticide

Fruiting vegetables, cucurbits

Cucumber fruit fly

30-Sep-23

PER80169

Metribuzin

Carrots

Grass and broadleaf weeds

30-Apr-24

PER80210

Pyrimethanil

Protected tomatoes

Botrytis

30-Jun-23

PER80219

Apollo miticide (clofentezine)

Tomatoes (protected)

Two-spotted mite

30-Apr-24

PER80282

Alpha-cypermethrin

Onions

Onion thrips

30-Nov-20

PER81136

Switch fungicide

Lettuce

Anthracnose

30-Sep-21

31-Jul-21

PER81244

Fluazifop-p-butyl

Specified vegetables & herbs

Annual grass weeds

30-Jun-22

PER81876

Abamectin

Brassica vegetables, bulb vegetables, fruiting vegetables

Leaf miner

30-Apr-24

PER82039

Bifenthrin

Cabbage, Chinese cabbage and cauliflower

Symphyla

30-Sep-23

PER82124

Filan

Adzuki beans

Sclerotinia

31-Mar-22

PER82460

Paramite selective miticide

Cucurbits, Asian cucurbits

Two-spotted mites and red spider mite

31-Jul-23

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

117

YOUR PRODUCTION

permits (cont.)

118

Permit No. Description

Crop

Reason for use

Expiry date

PER83765

Maxim xl

Spinach and silverbeet

Damping off

30-Sep-20

PER84142

Fontelis fungicide

Protected hydroponic tomatoes

Powdery mildew

31-Aug-22

PER84261

Admiral insect growth regulator (pyriproxyfen)

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower

Silverleaf whitefly

31-Oct-20

PER84531

Methoxyfenozide

Sweet corn

Lepidopteran pests

31-Oct-20

PER84708

Agri-fos 600 systemic fungicide

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)

Pythium root rots and Phytophthora root rots (suppression only)

31-Aug-22

PER84734

Verdict (haloxyfop)

Onions

Storksbill

31-Dec-24

PER84743

Sulfloxaflor

Fruiting vegetables

Tomato potato psyllid

31-Oct-22

PER84757

Spinetoram

Fruiting vegetables other than cucurbits & root and tuber vegetables

Tomato potato psyllid

30-Nov-20

PER84805

Cyantraniliprole

Fruiting vegetables, root and tuber vegetables

Tomato potato psyllid

31-Dec-22

PER84808

Ethofumesate (tramat)

Onions

Broadleaf and grass weeds

28-Feb-23

PER84878

Switch fungicide

Protected and field grown capsicum

Botrytis & sclerotinia

30-Nov-22

PER84890

Pyriproxfen

Beans

Silverleaf whitefly

31-May-21

PER84955

Iprodione

Green beans, carrots, spinach & silverbeet

Sclerotinia, black rot & grey mould

28-Feb-23

PER85003

Ranman 400 sc fungicide

Spinach and silverbeet

Pythium damping off

28-Feb-23

PER85076

Peratec plus fungicide

Tomatoes

Fusarium wilt

28-Feb-21

PER85103

Nufarm nuprid

Green beans

Silver leaf whitefly

30-Sep-22

PER85127

Phosphorous acid

Processing tomatoes

Phytophthora root rot

31-Mar-23

PER85152

Pirimicarb

Adzuki bean, mung bean and soybean

Cowpea aphid and soyabean aphid

31-Jul-23

PER85163

Pyriproxyfen

Cropping areas: fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs and spices

Red imported fire ant

30-Apr-21

PER85232

Tau-fluvalinate

Carrot for seed production only

Rutherglen bug

30-Sep-23

PER85291

Prosulfocarb

Carrot for seed production only

Annual ryegrass

31-Mar-23

PER85352

Pendimethalin

Peas

Grass and broad-leaved weeds

30-Jun-20

PER85363

Fulfill insecticide

Faba beans

Green peach aphid and faba bean aphid

31-Aug-21

PER85402

Flumioxazin

Carrot for seed production only

Cleavers

30-Jun-23

PER86245

Veritas fungicide

Sweet corn

Maize rust

31-Dec-23

PER86428

Serenade opti

Cucumber

Bacterial spot

30-Jun-21

PER86443

Pirimicarb

Sweet potato, spring onion

Various aphids

30-Jun-23

PER86530

Status herbicide

Beans

Annual rye grass & winter grass

31-Aug-21

PER86551

Pyrethrins

Organic green beans

Bean podborer

30-Apr-24

PER86599

Bifenthrin

Celery

Red-legged earthmite

31-Dec-23

PER86665

Fipronil

Carrots

White fringed weevil and symphylids

31-Jan-22

PER86723

Various herbicides

Garlic

Broadleaf and grass weeds

30-Sep-21

PER86732

Various herbicides

Garlic

Various weeds

30-Aug-21

PER86750

Lambda-cyhalothrin

Garlic

Insects

30-Sep-23

PER86751

Various fungicide

Garlic

Various disease

30-Sep-23

PER86799

Tebuconazole, mancozeb, metalaxyl, metalaxyl-m

Garlic

Fungal diseases

30-Sep-23

PER86800

Lambda-cyhalothrin

Garlic

Insects

30-Sep-23

PER86815

Versys

Tomato

Silverleaf whitefly

31-Dec-21

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

YOUR PRODUCTION

Permit No. Description

Crop

Reason for use

Expiry date

PER86849

Imazamox, imazapyr

Faba beans

Annual broadleaf and grass weeds

30-Apr-22

PER86865

Ioxynil

Onions

Annual broadleaf weeds

31-Aug-21

PER86959

Hydrogen peroxide (49.5%),

Tomato

Agrobacterium

30-Sep-20

PER87005

Abamectin

Garlic

Bulb mite

30-Sep-24

PER87012

Ioxynil

Garlic (allium sativum) (fresh market and seed)

Broadleaf weeds

30-Sep-21

PER87013

Various products

Garlic

Various diseases

28-Feb-24

PER87014

Various products

Garlic

Annual grasses and broadleaf weeds

28-Feb-24

PER87015

Lambda- cyhalothrin

Garlic

Various pests

31-Aug-22

PER87051

Durivo insecticide

Various vegetables

Various pests

28-Feb-24

PER87065

Dimethoate

Melons including watermelons (postharvest)

Various fruit fly species

28-Feb-24

PER87113

Chateau

Garlic

Various weeds

31-Oct-22

PER87114

Axiom plus

Garlic

Downy mildew, purple blotch

30-Jun-22

PER87185

Benevia insecticide

Tomato

Suckling pests

31-Jul-24

PER87200

Starane advanced herbicide

Bulb onion

Weeds

31-Aug-24

PER87208

Torque

Tomato

Two-spotted mite

30-Apr-22

PER87276

Applaud

Tomatoes

Bemisia tabaci and Trialeurodes vaporariorum

30-Jun-20

PER87376

Switch

Garlic

Black mould

30-Nov-21

PER87552

Various herbicides

Garlic

Various weeds

30-Apr-24

PER87563

Warlock insecticide

Brassica vegetables

Liriomyza leafminers

30-Jun-24

PER87619

Entrust sc naturalyte

Tomato

Various thrips

31-Aug-24

PER87630

Serenade opti biofungicide

Brassica leafy vegetables

Bacterial spot

30-Jun-22

PER87631

Coragen insecticide

Spinach & silverbeet

Cabbage leaf miner

30-Jun-24

PER87670

Xentari wg bta biological insecticide

Brassica leafy vegetables

Diamond back moth, cabbage white butterfly, helicoverpa & vegetable looper

31-Jul-24

PER87754

Folicur

Garlic

Orange rust

31-Jul-22

PER87773

Devrinol-c 500wg herbicide

Brassica vegetables

Broadleaf and grass control

31-Aug-22

PER87865

Stomp xtra herbicide

Sugar snap pea

Annual grasses and broadleaf weeds

30-Sep-22

PER87878

Delegate insecticide

Snow peas, sugar snap peas

Liriomyza leafminers

28-Feb-23

PER87914

Nufarm maya herbicide

Onions

Broadleaf weeds

31-May-21

PER87918

Pestech py-bo

Zucchini

Ants, aphids, caterpillars, earwigs, leafhoppers, thrips and whitefly

30-Apr-22

PER87929

Transform

Tomato

Greenhouse whitefly

30-Jun-20

PER88032

Serenade opti biofungicide

Eggplant

Early blight, botrytis grey mould, powdery mildew, bacterial spot

31-Oct-22

PER88066

Emamectin

Celery

Helicoverpa, lightbrown apple moth & cluster caterpillar

31-Aug-24

PER88171

Biopest paraffinic oil

Rockmelon, honeydew melon and zucchini

Aphids and thrips

31-Jul-20

PER88179

Propargite

Sweet corn

Two-spotted mite

31-Dec-22

PER88567

Outlook

Bulb onions

Amaranthus

30-Nov-20

PER8930

Phorate

Eggplant, peppers, shallots and spring onions

Aphids, jassids, mites, thrips and onion maggot

30-Nov-24

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

119

What's on

what’s on...

Upcoming important events!

2020 Freshcare training WHEN Every month WHERE West Perth Office Run every month in the West Perth office, this training commences at 9am and goes through the entire Freshcare certification.

For more details contact Joel Dinsdale (joel. dinsdale@vegetableswa.com.au) or see the Events page on the website www.vegetableswa. com.au/events

Pacific Labour Scheme & Seasonal Worker Program Information Session WHEN Tuesday 24 March, 4.30pm-6.30pm WHERE DPIRD Conference Room, 20 Gregory Street, Geraldton, WA Looking for a stable and reliable workforce that returns year after year? The Federal government has two schemes available to help growers and employers access workers. You may be eligible.

Contact Melissa Denning, t: 0477 477 044 or e: melissa.denning@vegetableswa.com.au

Syngenta 2020 Australian Melon Conference & Field Day

Vegetable Leaf Miner Project/Farm Biosecurity/Tomato potato psyllid

WHEN 30 March, 2020 WHERE Pan Pacific Perth, WA The event will feature field trials of the latest melon varieties. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn and socialise with growers and industry people. Don't miss it!

WHEN 29 March – 9 April, 2020 WHERE Albany, Manjimup, Bunbury, WA Further details will follow.

For more details visit www.eventbrite. com.au/e/syngenta-2020-australian-melonconference-field-day-tickets-69389316313

Area Wine Management Project WHEN 29 March – 9 April, 2020 WHERE Wanneroo, WA Further details will follow.

Contact Sam Grubiša, t: (08) 9486 7515 or e: sam.grubisa@vegetableswa.com.au

AUSVEG Biosecurity

Contact Sam Grubiša, t: (08) 9486 7515 or e: sam.grubisa@vegetableswa.com.au

Soil Wealth/Integrated Crop Protection Project — Cover Cropping WHEN 6 April 2020 WHERE Manjimup, WA Further details will follow.

Contact Sam Grubiša, t: (08) 9486 7515 or e: sam.grubisa@vegetableswa.com.au

Water Use Efficiency Field Day WHEN 16 April 2020 WHERE Carabooda, WA Further details will follow.

WHEN 29 March – 9 April, 2020 WHERE Carnarvon, WA Further details will follow.

Contact Sam Grubiša, t: (08) 9486 7515 or e: sam.grubisa@vegetableswa.com.au

Contact Sam Grubiša, t: (08) 9486 7515 or e: sam.grubisa@vegetableswa.com.au

WA Grower advertiser contacts Name

Website/Email

Address

Contact name

Contact no.

Achmea

achmea.com.au; nick.coombes@achmea.com.au

Level 3, 263 Adelaide Terrace, Perth, WA 6000

Nick Coombes

0409 330 881

Madec

www.harvesttrail.gov.au; cmooney@madec.edu.au

126-130 Deakin Avenue, Mildura, VIC, 3500

Carmelina Mooney

(03) 5025 4093

Rivulis

https://rivulis.com

Corteva 1800 558 009

Frig Tech (Effective Marketing) frigtech.com.au; info@frigtech.com.au

120

(08) 9932 6436

WorkCover WA

www.workcover.wa.gov.au; tayla.toutountzis@workcover.wa.gov.au 2 Bedbrook Place, Shenton Park, WA 6008

Bon Electrics

www.bon-electrics.com.au; kaela@bon-electrics.com.au

Lot 4, Bullsbrook Road, Bullsbrook, WA 6084

Kaela Bonomi

Tiger International Solutions

www.go2tigers.com; jason.radford@go2tigers.com

2 Tarlton Crescent, Perth International Airport, WA 6105

Jason Radford

DiMuto

www.dimuto.io; huimin@dimuto.io

HuiMin Lee

+65 6275 1611

Bankwest

www.bankwest.com.au; ben.coman@bankwest.com.au

Ben Coman

(08) 9420 5135

WA Grower AUTUMN 2020

(08) 9388 5611 (08) 9479 0308

Unlocking the true power of water and electrical technology for WA growers.

At BON, we’ve been working across the unique WA horticultural landscape for over 30 years with growers in every corner of the state.

As a family owned and run business, we take a proactive approach to identify and solve your electrical, water and refrigeration needs. We can bring your vision to life through the design and install of new infrastructure, partnering with you along the way to keep things running as they should.

We pride ourselves on doing the right thing by our customers, providing you with end-to-end solutions through dependable service.

Pictured in the photo, left to right: Brandon Southern (Project Manager), Frank Bonomi (Company Director), Ben Bonomi (Technical Director).

Electrical Back Up Power Solutions | Packing Floor Custom Design Automation | Horticultural Climate Control General Electrical Maintenance | Programmable Logic Control Systems | Energy Efficient Lighting Solutions Energy Harvesting Solutions | Refrigeration Systems and Solutions

Water Comprehensive Irrigation System Solutions | Pump Systems and Associated Controls | Filtration Systems and Solutions | Automated Fertigation and Water Control | Maintenance of your entire water supply system Water Measurement Technologies

“Over the past 20 years BON Electrics have been our electrical contractor of choice. We have worked with them on numerous projects and they continually support our business with ongoing maintenance. We recommend BON Electrics without hesitation, they’re efficient, knowledgeable and consistently deliver the high quality of work required by WA Corn Growers.”

- Jim Trandos, Trandos Farms

If you’re looking for a partner with knowledge and experience in the WA horticulture industry, book your free consultation with BON today.

www.bon.com.au

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Watch Lawrence’s Story Scan the QR Code with your phone or visit ZorvecLeafyVeg.corteva.com.au

GROWING REPUTATIONS. Zorvec® Enicade® provides an unmatched combination of consistency and long-lasting control for Downy Mildew to achieve a better crop, even under challenging environmental conditions.

For more information about how Zorvec® Enicade® can improve your crop protection strategy, contact your Corteva Agriscience™ representative or call 1800 700 096.

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