News Looking back on industry project

Looking back on industry project

June 2021 brought to an end the latest Hort Innovation-funded DFA extension program.

After finishing the final report on the three years of this three-day a week project, I thought I should share with you the summary of what this grower-funded project has delivered. The primary aim of the project was to work with dried grape producers in promoting and exchanging leading and emerging research and knowledge on production techniques to assist with productivity improvements. Three key delivery elements of this project were: 1. Workshop – Reducing pruning labour

This workshop, back in June 2017, looked for ideas to reduce the cost of winter pruning dried grapes. Pruning is the biggest cost activity in dried grape production, as documented in the project’s benchmarking program, but more of that later. The workshop included leading dried grape growers, processors, national and international robotics experts and local machinery and electrical experts. The workshop identified three key areas for detailed investigation.: a. How well can the physiology of the swing arm production system adapt to mechanised pruning? b. Designing an efficient and effective cutting system that can prune up to five acres a day leaving only a small amount of hand pruning. c. Making incremental improvements to current pruning systems. The detail behind these concepts was developed into a report for the Hort Innovation dried grape Strategic Investment Advisory Panel (SIAP), recommending consideration of nine areas of investment associated with the issue.

DFA, with support from individual growers, has continued this work into a new project with the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre (MRIC) and La Trobe University, with funding support from the Federal Government to develop a prototype mechanical pruning system. 2. Delivery of technology transfer events

Through the project we ran 34 on-site or online technology transfer events incorporating 42 separate information presentation sessions. In addition to this we conducted four non-site specific technology transfer activities, including the development of a Certificate IV in Horticulture for the dried grape industry, a twoyear trial program on the use of chlormequat sprays to meet European MRL requirements in currant production, a revision of the content and layout of the industry Best Practice Guides and coordination of a development program to fund, build and trial a mechanised vine pruning system as mentioned above. Evaluation data from the on-site and online technology transfer events show that the participants intended to use much of the information shared during the events. Analysis of the 42 presentations evaluated over the life of the project show that the average intent to use the information in participants’ farm business was scored 4.4 on a 5-point scale, where 5 was the strongest intent to use.

The project’s 18 online videos recorded at the technology transfer events have had just over 4500 views and will remain as an information source on DFA’s YouTube channel. Over the three years of the project, attendance records show there were 449 attendances at events from 120 individual participants. This indicates significant return business by participants and that nearly half of the estimated 250 growers in the industry participated in these events. 3. Benchmarking production systems The project has delivered annual benchmarking on 12 sites over three seasons across the Sunraysia region. Key elements of the program have involved capturing viticulture activities during the year with a particular focus on time “spent on” and “timing of” activities and inputs on all key activities during the year. Each of the sites has been mapped and data collected across three seasons looking at all cultural activities, including pruning, nutrition, disease control, weed control, canopy management, irrigation, wetting, cutting and harvesting. The program also demonstrated the financial and labour saving benefits of the minimal pruning system, which reduced pruning costs by 28 per cent. You can see a report on the last three years of data in this issue of the Vine. v

Stuart Putland Dried Fruits Australia field officer 03 5023 5174 projects@driedfruitsaustralia.org.au