Cover story 10 Tonne Project grows

10 Tonne Project grows

Dried Fruits Australia’s 10 Tonne Project will continue for another year to put all the pieces of the high-yield puzzle together.

The project aims to demonstrate that, with the right tools, consistently producing 10 tonnes per hectare is achievable.

The first three years of the project monitored aerial imaging, fertiliser, disease and moisture monitoring data across a number of sites.

“It’s important that the industry believe that this is achievable,” DFA field officer Stuart Putland said.

“While not everybody is achieving it at the minute, it is achievable.

“Before this, it could happen every now and then, but people weren’t convinced that you could do it consistently.

“So if people believe that it can be done, that’s a really big shift for the industry.” Pillars to success

The 10 Tonne Project has focussed on four key areas to help growers lift their yield consistently: soil moisture monitoring, aerial imaging, fertiliser inputs and disease monitoring.

“What we can see now through aerial imaging is that patch management has to be spot on,” Stuart said.

“You need it all producing for it to be able to work. You need to work out what’s happening in those weak spots.”

Stuart said identifying the poorest producing spots was where the aerial imaging had proved particularly useful. “That aerial imagery has allowed a couple of even the smaller growers, who knew they had some problems in patches, to realise they needed to manage to the weakest point,” he said.

“If you lift the weakest point, it’ll lift the whole lot.

“And for the bigger guys, having more data is helping them identify problems and also monitor recovery.”

Stuart said it had become accepted that soil moisture monitoring was now a basic need in vineyard management tools.

“It’s quite obvious that all of these people that are in the high production areas are watering their vines well – they’re on top of this stuff and they know exactly what’s going on,” he said. The final piece of the puzzle

The fourth and final year of the 10 Tonne Project will continue the work already established, but will also include yield monitoring for the coming season.

Stuart said monitoring yields would provide the final piece of evidence that aerial imagery, moisture monitoring, fertiliser programs and disease monitoring were highly valuable.

He said the data from aerial imaging and yield monitoring could be overlaid to give a clear indication of yields compared to plant health.

“If we can now accurately measure what tonnage of grapes is coming off, we can then overlay that with our aerial imagery to see if that’s matching what the plants are doing,” he said. “That’s where we start to confirm that’s how these tools work.”

Stuart said it had become clear that consistent monitoring of the four pillars was important for consistent and continued success.

“We know from experience that when you chuck those tools away, things get out of kilter again,” he said.

“If you want to get 10 tonnes, you water it right, you fertilise right, you manage canopy right and you keep disease out.

“What I’m suggesting now is that any new harvester built should have yield monitoring on it to keep track of how each patch is performing.” Measuring up

Red Cliffs grower John Hunt has been involved with the 10 Tonne Project from the beginning and said it’s proved that consistent high yields are achievable.

John grows Sunglo, Sunmuscat and currants and said while it was important to select varieties that provided a good yield, managing the vineyard thoroughly and implementing a fertiliser program made a big difference to his bottom line.

He said being a part of the 10 Tonne Project, in particular seeing the aerial imaging and moisture monitoring data, put a spotlight on the weakest spots of his vineyard.

“I probably knew already, but it does confirm it and help me to see where they are,” he said.

“I’ve got dead vines through some patches and it’s showing exactly where those patches are.

“There’s no hiding it.” Using the data, John now plans to shift some of his water monitors to underperforming patches to help lift the yields in those areas. Early indications from the data collected during the most recent harvest showed yield monitoring was matching what was seen on aerial imaging. “I’m normally averaging five tonnes to the acre (12.35 tonnes to the hectare) – this year is an exception – and that’s quite achievable without too much effort,” John said.

“It can be done quite easily if you’re prepared to put the effort into it. A lot of people sit back and say ‘I can’t afford this’ or ‘I can’t afford that’, but if you put the input in, you can. “You start with a little bit and work your way up. “I think a lot of it is about the varieties of vines you’ve got in. Don’t work with vines that aren’t doing the job and be willing to look at what someone else is doing – it can be done.”

Project extension supports industry

The continuation of the 10 Tonne Project into its fourth year will not only develop data for industry use in the long-term, it will again deliver information direct to growers this season. The extension of the project will mean GrowCare disease alerts and modelling will again be made available industry-wide for the coming season. “Disease modelling is really important and it’s providing the industry with guidance as well,” Stuart said. “That’s what this project has allowed us to do. It’s not just the participating sites that have benefitted from that. GrowCare information has been able to be shared with the whole industry and that will continue for the coming year.” The 10 Tonne Project, funded by the Australian Government's Murray— Darling Basin Economic Development Program, will be finalised after harvest next year. v

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