Future-proofing industry

Table grape growers Australia-wide will soon have access to a national extension service.

The Australian Table Grape Association has secured the first major Australiawide extension project for the industry, which will assist with the adoption of industry best practice, innovation for production and post-harvest capabilities for table grape growers in all major growing regions.

The three-year project, Extension of technologies and best management practice to the Australian table grape industry, was funded by Hort Innovation using the table grape research and development levy and funds from the Australian government.

It will involve hiring two new ATGA staff members – an industry development manager (IDM) and an industry development officer (IDO) – conducting workshops, field days and forums, and producing content to help develop greater information-sharing across the industry. ATGA CEO Jeff Scott said the project announcement was “exciting news” for the industry, and looked forward to the project kicking off formally when, it is anticipated, events could be held in-person, in early 2021. “These sessions will be very similar to the very successful InnoGrape program the ATGA conducted a few years ago,” Jeff said. “It is hoped to provide industry with best practice and innovation for production and post-harvest capabilities for all table grape growers. In turn this will drive domestic and export market development and access through increased industry knowledge and awareness.

Alison MacGregor, who provides consultancy services to viticulture and also works part-time for Citrus Australia, delivered a number of the well-received InnoGrape field day sessions (pictured overleaf) in 2015/2016. Alison said the role of an IDO would provide an essential representation for Australian table grape growers on practical issues.

“The Australian table grape industry has been incredibly successful in developing export markets, ensuring quality of fruit and introducing and adopting new varieties,” Alison said.

“With that increasing focus on export markets comes an ever-increasing need for all growers to have access to information and support. The CEO represents industry at a national and international level, but the industry also needs people on the ground, working with and representing growers on more practical issues, for example, biosecurity, MRLs, harvest labour or other issues where the whole industry needs to share in a solution.

“Those are the issues that should be supported by an IDO.”

Alison said she didn’t see the role of an IDO “overlapping” with the work of

privately contracted agronomists, but instead “supporting growers on issues that commercial agronomists don’t tend to address, and providing that support to the whole industry”.

The project will be delivered by the ATGA with the support of the regional table grape associations. They will use their local industry connections, knowledge of regional issues and established relationships to help facilitate the delivery of the project, to ensure the outcomes and benefits are tailored.

Sunraysia Table Grape Growers Association president Dominic Sergi said that “any help (growers) could get would be great”.

“Every year there are more challenges facing growers and anyone in their corner to help with potential challenges is a huge benefit,” he said.

“We have learnt this year that the world’s markets are very fragile. To have someone that could potentially help with market access issues or any other issue is invaluable.

“(An IDM/IDO) would definitely be one of the missing links, having someone seeing the industry as a whole and visiting different growers would paint a picture as to what is working in the industry and what isn’t.”

The project aligns directly with outcomes of the Table Grape Strategic Investment Plan 2017–2021, particularly the overarching goal of “improved capability across the industry to implement improvement in supply and quality”.

Each year, ATGA will conduct four workshop and field day sessions to inform growers of relevant new technologies and best management practices.

Regional forums will be hosted in Mildura, Robinvale, Swan Valley, St George, Emerald and either Carnarvon or Mundubbera, consisting of a combination of presentations, demonstrations, and interactive engagement.

Three industry tools will be developed to facilitate adoption and adaption of research outcomes and extension of technologies, which could be spreadsheets, manuals or videos.

ATGA’s communications project, also funded by Hort Innovation, will link in with the extension project to ensure ATGA can deliver information in a timely way through a number of communications channels – this will include technical articles written by the IDM and IDO in the Vine and Pick of the Bunch.

A number of new fact sheets will be developed and made available to industry. Videos recapping and promoting field days as well as informative content will further enhance the ATGA’s delivery of information.

At a foundation level, these outputs, as well as the on-the-ground support

from industry development staff, aim to build growers capacity to adopt best management practices.

On a higher level, the outcomes aim to facilitate greater informationsharing across the industry to ensure sustainability through cohesion, and long-term profitability.

“Growers learn heaps from other growers, and an IDO needs to facilitate that sharing of know-how between growers,” Alison said.

“Prioritising the topics or issues that growers want most support on is always a challenge. Some industry members will want a quick fix on a particular topic, but at the same time there are large issues looming that will affect all growers if we are not ready with strategies in place to deal with them.

“The IDO will have to balance their effort between working on big picture strategies while also maximising opportunities for table grape growers to learn from each other about practical production.”

ATGA board member and Robinvale grower Nick Muraca said the role of an IDO will be vital for long-term industry sustainability.

“It’s a bit hard to do research into market maintenance when you don’t even know what you’ve got in the ground,” Nick said.

Nick said while many growers were already established and receiving practical advice from agronomists, he believed greater benefits would be in collating information for growers which could be used as a tool in the decision-making process.

“There is always a sense of nervousness at times when we’re going to be audited and an IDO could be a conduit to run some training or workshops on audits etc., bringing growers up to speed,” Nick said.

“The other thing is, I think growers that need that assistance always receive that assistance more if it’s at home than if it’s at a meeting. Not everybody’s confident enough to get up and speak at a meeting but if you’re sitting around your kitchen table or in the smoko room or down the block, it’s a different story.”

Whether it’s on-farm assistance to growers, hosting field days or presentations, or facilitating information delivery through communication channels, landing the much-needed three-year project will assist in the overall plan to futureproof Australia’s table grape industry. v