Australian Berry Journal - SPRING 2021 - Edition 8

AUSTRALIAN

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C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S MIFFY GILBERT

A R E YO U R O D E N T R E A DY ?

LEVY FUND U P DAT E

N E W VA R I E T Y CHOICES

Industry

Industry

Rubus

Strawberry

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PROFILE: CHI DO

MANAGING BLUEBERRY RUST

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R U B U S

S T R A W B E R R I E S

B L U E B E R R I E S

OzGroup backs Fair Farms

Levy Fund Update

Role of Pollination

Levy Update

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New Varieties: UC Davis

Minor Use Permits Update

Diversification Case Studies: Hillwood Berries, Westerway Raspberry Farm, Tasmanian Berries

Replanting Considerations

22 Are you Cyber Savvy?

26 IPM Notes: Tackling TSM

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Pollination impacts of flower shape

Grower Profile: Meet Tinaberries

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Latest Marketing News

Grower Profile: Meet Chi Do

DIY On-Farm Research

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Biological Control of European Blackberry

Substrate Workshop

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Quality Forum Learnings

37 Understanding the R&D Tax Incentive

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Season Marketing Activities

115 Managing Blueberry Rust

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E-Tongue Taster Tool

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E D I TO R

C O N T R I B U TO R S

Jane Richter

Jane Richter Rachel Mackenzie Peter McPherson Simon Dornauf Jonathan Shaw Richard McGruddy Melinda Simpson Dr Angela Atkinson Suzette Argent Celeste Cook

TERES Communication 0431 700 258 jane@teres.com.au

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New Varieties: ASBP

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ADVERTISING Aileen Reid Helen Newman Dr Christopher Menzel Jenny Van de Meeberg Jodi Neal Katie O’Connor Jonathan Turner Lorraine Spohr Dr Sophie Parks Jen Rowling

Zac McLeod Marsha Aralar Rupert Hargreaves Leanne Davis Madlen Kratz Brigid Veale Hayley Vo

For all Advertising & Partnership Enquiries Wendy Morris 0491 751 123 | admin@berries.net.au All advertising and advertorial material is subject to review and approval prior to publication.

DESIGN Sama Creative www.samacreative.com.au

Wherever you see this logo, the initiative is part of the Hort Innovation Blueberry, Strawberry and Raspberry and Blackberry Fund. Like this publication itself, it has been funded by Hort Innovation using the Blueberry, Strawberry and Raspberry and Blackberry R&D levy and contributions from the Australian Government.

Some projects also involve funding from additional sources.

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Executive Director's Report Rachel Mackenzie | 0408 796 199 | rachelmackenzie@berries.net.au

The last three months has certainly been a rollercoaster. It felt like COVID–19 was disappearing in the rear-view mirror and then Delta came roaring back into view.

Organisations like the National Farmers’ Federation Hort Council, the Australian Fresh Produce Alliance and Growcom along with Agriculture Minister David Littleproud need to be acknowledged for their efforts in making this visa a reality. Now it is up to the industry to show that they can make it work on the ground.

As I write this, 70% of the Australian population is in lockdown along with growers in NSW and Victoria.

The state borders have been slammed shut and we all nervously wait for the daily case number updates.

As the situation changes so quickly, I urge you to check the Berries Australia website or contact me or your IDO with any questions.

I am aware that this is becoming a difficult season for growers. Changes in consumer behaviour due to lockdown seems to be having a large impact on demand as well.

Through the ABGA’s marketing program (funded through voluntary levies) we are looking at different ways we can get consumers to add berries to their shopping list rather than just grab them on impulse as they walk past. We have also had some good coverage of the strawberry industry with lots of recipes and practical suggestions on how to use strawberries beyond just snacking.

On a more positive note, an Ag Visa looks like it will become reality. This is something I have personally been advocating for over many years. My strong belief is that good growers need to have access to good workers who want to work in agriculture. Those who exploit workers need to be squeezed out of the system through restricted access to markets and workers. It is also important to state up-front that this will not be like the working holiday maker visa and there will be high bar to access these workers.

I do hope you enjoy this edition of the journal; it is jam packed with articles that are hopefully relevant to you and your business. I am pleased that we have been able to provide three articles for strawberry growers in both English and Vietnamese in recognition of the large number of growers we have from a Vietnamese background. I encourage any of you with even a passing interest in export to read the article produced by Jenny Van de Meeberg on PAGE 24. It is great to have our own export expert so please sign up to the Export Hub and contact Jenny with any questions.

Industry associations are currently negotiating with government about the specifics, but the requirements may include having an ethical sourcing program like Fair Farms or SEDEX in place. We are keenly aware that the ability to move workers between farms is critical to the success of the program but that this needs to be balanced against oversight and protection of the workers.

This is an enormous change in the visa arrangements for Australia and we need to make sure there are no unintended consequences that make it unpalatable to the broader community in the longer term.

For Rubus growers please have a good read of the article relating to the proposal to reduce the Rubus levy on PAGE 49. Once we have finalised this process we will also be looking at reviewing the strawberry levy.

DISCLAIMER: Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this journal, the information contained is necessarily of a general nature and should not be relied upon as a substitute for specific advice.

The advice and opinions in the articles published in Australian Berry Journal are essentially those of contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Berries Australia or the Editor. The advice is at the reader’s own risk, and no responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of the material presented. Inclusion of an advertisement in this publication does not necessarily imply endorsement of the product, company or service

by Berries Australia or the Editor. Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (Hort Innovation) makes no representations and expressly disclaims all warranties (to the extent permitted by law) about the accuracy, completeness, or currency of information in Australian Berry Journal. Reliance on any information provided by Hort Innovation is entirely at your own risk. Hort Innovation 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 Hort Innovation or other person’s negligence or otherwise from your use or non-use of Australian Berry Journal or from reliance on information contained in the material or that Hort Innovation provides to you by any other means. Copyright © Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited 2020 Copyright subsists in Australian Berry Journal. Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (Hort Innovation) owns the copyright, other than as permitted under the Copyright ACT 1968 (Cth). Australian Berry Journal (in part or as a whole) cannot be reproduced, published, communicated or adapted without the prior written consent of Hort Innovation. Any request or enquiry to use the Australian Berry Journal should be addressed to: Communications Manager, Hort Innovation, Level 7 | 141 Walker Street, North Sydney 2060, Australia | E: communications@horticulture.com.au | P: 02 8295 2300

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Chairman's Report Peter McPherson | 0418 666 651 | peter.mcpherson@costagroup.com.au Whilst it is very difficult to untangle all of the different drivers, it would seem that online shopping or a single large weekly shop means buyers are purchasing a single punnet per week rather than picking one up every time they go in to get milk. We know that impulse buys make up an important component of overall purchases of berries and we are really losing out due to decreased foot traffic.

As an industry veteran I thought I had experienced the full extent of what mother nature could throw at us, but the ongoing challenge of COVID-19 continues to be a curve ball.

I won’t go into the ins and out of the COVID-19 situation as it changes so quickly and will most likely be completely different by the time you read this.

I also know that the Berries Australia team works hard to ensure the website is up-to-date and you are informed of relevant changes as they arise.

In addition, we are receiving anecdotal feedback that for strawberries in particular consumers like to choose their punnet so go with brands they know. This has meant known premium brands have held their price.

So where does all this leave us? At Berries Australia we continue to push for expanded export pathways, and I hope that we will get real progress on this soon for blueberries and strawberries. The ABGA is investing in marketing and will pivot their focus toward attracting the online shopper.

The Australian Berry category continues to increase with volumes up 7.9% over the rolling 12-month period. Raspberry production has been strong with growers increasing production post the Northern NSW drought issues of 2019 / 2020. Blackberry production has been low with growers looking forward to the commencement of the new season crop in early Spring.

We are also in discussions about a national strawberry marketing campaign using royalty funds held by Hort Innovation, but this will take time to progress.

In relation to Rubus, the move to reduce levy is a tangible way to put money back into growers’ pockets and I urge you to engage in that process.

In more recent months a return to a cold and wet winter in most of our northern growing regions has resulted in a later and slower start to the strawberry and blueberry harvests than prior seasons. This resulted in strong retail prices in late Autumn and early Winter.

The berry industry is one of the success stories of Australian fresh produce and whilst I know this year is challenging, I have no doubt that we will come out of it with a renewed focus on quality ready to attract those impulse buyers when they come back into the shops.

The strong prices have not held as we move into late winter as the compressed nature of the strawberry season coupled with the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behaviour has resulted in a perfect storm – a huge increase in supply coupled with a drop in demand.

This will more than likely be replicated in the blueberry category in weeks to come.

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President's Report Jonathan Shaw | 0418 758 268 | president@abga.com.au is far outweighed by the enormous damage to the industry as a whole – and ultimately to those growers who sell that fruit. As an industry we need to take pride in our product and remember that a buyer who has a bad experience will not purchase again for at least six weeks - so anyone who is making money from poor fruit now is taking money out of their own pocket as well as the rest of the industry down the track.

This season is already a tough one for growers – difficult growing conditions, labour shortages and lockdowns dampening consumer demand. Why then would some growers make things worse by sending rubbish quality fruit to their markets?

Putting poor fruit out into the marketplace pulls our whole industry down.

The Queensland table grape industry addressed this issue head on by setting up a network of early season producers and wholesalers who established a quality standard and agreed not to sell fruit too early in the season. By doing so they were able to lift everyone’s profits over the whole season and turn around the poor consumer perception of Queensland table grapes. This is something we are considering at the ABGA.

I regularly conduct my own market research during the season which involves going into the local Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and a fruit and veg shop where I check the blueberry stock on sale and check prices, varieties and quality. I usually buy several punnets to have a closer look. My most recent visit was extremely disappointing.

Fortunately, it seems from discussions I have with friends who buy berries regularly, consumer awareness of varieties and brands is growing. That is also confirmed by the market research I receive which indicates increasingly consumers are going to brands they trust. The Association has endeavoured in the past to encourage growers to focus on quality and once again I urge growers to recognise that high quality works to everybody’s interest.

At a time when 60% of the population is in lockdown, fewer people are going into stores, are limiting their shopping to 1-2 times per week and sales volumes are down on last year (as at 17 August 2021, down 60% on the same week in 2020), several punnets I bought ($4–4.50 / 125g punnet) had berries which were a disgrace – mouldy, wrinkled, red and small. Any one of those attributes should have seen the fruit rejected prior to packing. Yet there they were, on sale so that an unsuspecting customer will pick them up, be upset for being ripped off on a poor product, not buy blueberries again for several week and turn their attention to other berries, and probably tell their friends as well about their bad experience.

Members will by now be aware that Victoria is no longer considered free of blueberry rust. The ABGA has been working to support Victorian growers and there is an article on PAGE 120 which discusses managing rust in cooler climates. This is a disappointing outcome for Victorian growers and please contact Melinda Simpson or Angela Atkinson to discuss your options.

I do understand that agents and retailers are clamouring for product, but the instant revenue from selling volumes of rubbish quality even at good prices

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President's Report Richard McGruddy | 0408 763 804 | richard@berryq.com.au At the time the levy was raised, more than 70% of Rubus growers grew less than half a hectare of fruit and were not large enough to undertake their own marketing and R&D activities nor to create the economies of scale to do these activities through some form of grower co-operative effort.

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes. And whilst that statement is as true today as it was in the 18th century, I can say that RABA is progressing well with their efforts to reduce the Rubus levy (which is a form of tax).

As outlined above the industry has changed dramatically since then. It has seen a 12-fold increase in tonnage and 21-fold increase in value. In 2019/20, total raspberry and blackberry production was 9,932 tonnes. Household penetration for raspberries has doubled to 41% and blackberries also now have 29% household penetration.1

By the time this journal reaches you, the Committee will have determined what the proposed levy rate will be based on forward projections of income and industry priorities. We certainly do not want to leave the industry short, but we want to get the balance right in terms of how much goes to the levy and how much stays in grower’s pockets. Please refer to PAGE 49 for more detail on the process and how to have your input.

The industry has also changed in other important ways, namely that most of the varietals now grown in Australia use proprietary genetics and the size of individual farms has grown significantly. In real terms the industry has moved from being primarily made up of many small individual growers to a sector dominated by a few large enterprises and marketing companies.

The genetics now available have also significantly increased the geographic footprint of the sector.

At this point, the levy is a major financial burden on the growers and does not deliver a corresponding benefit.

In the 2020/21 financial year more than $1million was collected in levies and whilst we are seeing more beneficial projects being funded, there is far more in the fund than could ever be reasonably spent.

Whilst the success of the industry cannot be solely attributed to the levy, it certainly has played some part and that is something to be celebrated. It is also fair to say that all of the original objectives of the levy have been met. That said, the levy as currently stands is no longer fit for purpose and the funds are accruing at a rate that cannot be meaningfully spent.

The process of reviewing the levy has provided a useful opportunity to reflect on how far the industry has come since the introduction of the levy in 2006. In the 2003-04 season, the estimated Australian production of Rubus fruit was approximately 800 tonnes, with a gross value of production of around $10 million. Imported frozen Rubus fruit during the same period totalled 2,400 tonnes with an estimated value of $9 million. At that point, market penetration for fresh Rubus was 20%.

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Harvest to Home https://www.harvesttohome.net.au/ fruitmushroomnuts/latest-highlights/blackberries

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Chairman's Report Simon Dornauf | 0408 681 206 | simon@hillwoodberries.com.au the industry to reflect on the tampering incident and capture these learnings. Although somewhat intangible, it is probably the ultimate measure of this particular project’s success and its importance to the sector, and these learnings were not confined just to the strawberry industry but benefited the entire berry category.

With COVID-19 continuing to throw up challenges for our industry, it may be a good time to reflect on how far the industry has come in terms of responding to and managing crisis situations.

Some of the key project outcomes also include:

It‘s been three years since the Australian strawberry industry was blindsided by a crisis that no one could have predicted….a needle found in strawberries. This incident escalated quickly, crippling the Queensland strawberry industry and becoming a major national emergency. With the global attention that the incident attracted, there were also serious implications for Australia’s horticultural exports.

• T he engagement of Jenny Van de Meeberg (VDM Partners) to develop a market access strategy for strawberries including the identification of four new market access priorities and submission of two market improvement applications for NZ and Thailand.

• R isk management workshop held in Tweed Heads to examine the issue of reputation protection in the berry industry attended by over 50 growers and key stakeholders.

The scale of the crisis was driven largely by social media and the copycat behaviour of a large number of attentionseeking individuals. It also highlighted issues within industry, and state and federal government departments which impacted on the severity of the event.

• A strategic planning workshop for SAI held in May 2021 which included propagators with the aim of building on a collaborative approach to strawberry production and the sustainability of the industry.

In April 2019, Berries Australia received an Australian Government grant under the International Agricultural Cooperation Program, to work closely with Strawberries Australia to build capacity and resilience to allow the strawberry industry to better respond to crises.

• A thorough review of the current levy structure and royalty funds held by Hort Innovation.

• S WOT Analysis, constitution review, formalisation of SAI committee including key roles and responsibilities, review of fee structure and establishment of a consistent and effective peak industry body for strawberries.

Since the incident in 2018 and receipt of the Australian Government grant, the strawberry industry has made enormous gains in terms of industry professionalism and capacity to manage crisis. The Strawberries Australia committee is now a functional representative body that meets bi-monthly to address key industry issues and feed them through to Berries Australia.

Whilst the needle tampering crisis was a dreadful time for all, and it was disappointing to see that no charges were eventually laid, we were able to create some positives from the situation. Our industry is now considerably more cohesive and prepared for crisis situations with strong communication networks and protocols in place to manage whatever might be thrown at us next.

Berries Australia received significant recognition for its response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This response can be directly attributed to the lessons learnt during the tampering incident and the capacity building project funded by the Australian Government that enabled

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Industry Development Team, Strawberries & Western Australia, Agricultural Produce Commission

Weather

option for strawberry runner supply into WA next season with JCLM Farming Pty Ltd in Tasmania receiving approval to export runners to WA. They have some new temperate varieties from the QLD breeding program on offer for trialing including ‘Summer Song’ and ‘Scarlet Silk’, which are reported to have excellent flavour.

It has been a wet start to the growing season in the South-West Land Division. Rainfall during May was 31% above average at many sites, the wettest May since 2005. Rainfall in June was generally below average, except along the south coast where extensive flash flooding damaged properties in Albany. Rainfall in July was 50% above average across the region, and there were just three dry days in the entire month.

July also saw multiple severe weather events with damaging winds, heavy rainfall, hail, and flooding in growing regions. Damage to both high polytunnels and low cloches was seen and there were some reports of plastic shortages. With the above average rainfall in May and July came slightly warmer than average temperatures and much reduced sunshine.

Industry events The Agricultural Produce Commission Strawberry Producers Committee voted to undertake a Strategic Planning Process for the WA industry with matching funding from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development for the initiative.

The process is due to start in October 2021 and will involve consultation across the WA supply chain.

WA berry growers have taken up the opportunity to participate in a range of professional development and training opportunities over the last quarter including:

The crop Wetter and darker conditions have slowed crop growth and plants have been later to produce this season. Wet conditions have also made it difficult for open air berry growers to apply fungal sprays.

• A usChem training sessions, with a session specifically for Vietnamese-speaking growers thanks to Truyen Vo from Vegetables WA • C old chain optimisation webinars with further professional development and financial support for WA growers interested in improving their coldchain practices

From a strawberry perspective, the combination of a later crop and fewer plants in the ground this season has seen market prices for good-quality strawberries remain buoyant. Fruit not meeting the requirements of major buyers has remained difficult to sell, with discolouration, green shoulder, and fruit breakdown causing problems. Growers that held onto Fronteras for second-year fruit have been particularly hard-hit as the variety produces poor-coloured fruit and has earlyseason yields that are significantly lower than secondyear Festival and Red Rhapsody. Growers with first year Red Rhapsody appear to be doing well in export markets and growers with superior-tasting varieties such as Fortuna and Albion are doing well domestically.

• I nformation sessions to help all berry growers access the Seasonal Worker Program and Pacific Labour Scheme in WA • N ationally delivered berry industry webinars on nutrient management in substrate, piece rates, robotics, and strawberry disease and resistance management • T he ‘WA Strawberry Quality Forum’ (see article on PAGE 97 for more details) • A n on-farm workshop on transitioning to substrate for strawberry growing (see article on PAGE 91 for more details)

Harvest labour availability is currently stable and sufficient; however, shortages are expected as more fruit crops come online in spring. There will be an additional

Please contact us if you would like any information or would like to participate in any of these initiatives.

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Victorian Strawberry Industry Development Committee

Berry Industry Development Officer, Strawberries – Victoria & South Australia Dr Angela Atkinson | 0408 416 538 | ido@vicstrawberry.com.au On the evening of 9 June, a once in 100-year storm hit large parts of Victoria including the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges, Gippsland, and the Macedon and Hepburn regions. In Gippsland and low-lying areas of the Yarra Valley there were severe floods, while in other areas winds of up to 130km/hr uprooted thousands of trees, bringing down powerlines and crushing houses and other infrastructure. In the Yarra Valley, many berry growers with tunnels sustained considerable damage, with winds ripping off covers and twisting steel tunnel structures. Many homes and businesses were without power for up to three weeks, and the clean-up and recovery is still ongoing in many parts of the state.

to growers under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. Meanwhile affected growers have had to begin repairs to their infrastructure to prepare for the coming season. COVID-related delays in supply and shipping of materials from overseas are also ampering recovery efforts.

Agriculture Victoria, with the help of affected growers, has collected data on the extent and severity of the damage, and the Rural Assistance Commissioner visited farms to see the damage firsthand. At the time of writing, the state and federal governments are considering what support can be made available

On 17-18 June a workshop on Shaping Victoria’s Biosecurity Future was held online, and brought together experts from industry, community and government to identify opportunities to strengthen Victoria’s biosecurity system. The workshop was built around findings from an online survey held earlier this year which invited views on biosecurity from farmers, businesses, industry groups and community members, as well as a series of one-on-one interviews conducted

by RM Consulting Group on behalf of Agriculture Victoria.

The framing paper for the workshop and the report can be accessed at https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/ protecting-victoria/strengthening-victorias-biosecuritysystem-program

Significant damage caused to tunnel covers Photo credit: Dean Chapman, Fairview Hill

Winds of sufficient strength to bend the steel tunnel supports Photo credit: Dean Chapman, Fairview Hill

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Overwhelmingly, feedback from participants in the workshop indicated a need for more collaboration and engagement with community and industry, increased funding for biosecurity, more ‘feet on the ground’ in the regions to engage with stakeholders and better relationships between government, industry and community.

The first of these was run as a webinar on 29 July, in collaboration with Berries Australia, and featured presentations from Dr Joe McGee (Harvest CROO Robotics, USA), Prof. Salah Sukkarieh (Australian Centre for Field Robotics), Liam Burns (AlterraTech) and Alistair McLean (Powerplants). The webinar showcased robotic harvesting, spraying and weeding technologies and automated irrigation control. If you missed it, you can watch it now at out our YouTube channel https://youtu.be/MJVZvPrJqNI

Continuing with biosecurity, since the last berry journal Victoria’s Fruit Fly Strategy 2021-2025 has been approved and funding secured. The strategy has three main areas of activity: maintaining Victoria’s freedom from exotic fruit fly species (including Med Fly), contributing to national systems and research that protect Australia and Victoria from exotic fruit fly and facilitate market access, and support for industry and community led management of Queensland Fruit Fly and strengthening of industry surveillance capability.

The coming harvest season is likely to be more of the same in terms of labour shortages, with borders still closed internationally and the ongoing prospect of state border closures and movement restrictions. In addition to ongoing support to encourage workers to jobs in horticulture, the Victorian government has funded around a dozen industry organisations to support growers through grants under its Seasonal Workforce Industry Support Program (SWISP). Agribusiness Yarra Valley is the recipient of one of these SWISP grants and is creating a Seasonal Employment Hub where growers can post jobs and workers needed, and job seekers are able to register and connect with employers. The program will be supported from early September by an extensive media campaign to engage with potential employees, as well as ongoing support for both businesses and workers.

Importantly for the berry industry, particularly in the Yarra Valley, this includes supporting the area-wide management of QFF through funding the Regional Coordinators and Governance Groups (Yarra Valley, Goulburn Murray Valley and Sunraysia) for the life of the Strategy. More information about the Fruit Fly Strategy can be found at https://bit.ly/agvic-ff On 15 July a face-to-face workshop was held in the Yarra Valley for strawberry industry committee members and growers entitled ‘Running Brilliant Meetings’.

The workshop was supported by the remainder of a Commonwealth government Leadership in Agriculture Fund (LIAF) previously awarded to Strawberries Australia and focussed on participants understanding communication styles and group behaviours in order to develop strategies to ensure meetings work well.

The workshop was to be run by Cynthia Mahoney in conjunction with Dr Kristy Howard from Inspiring Excellence, and in true COVID form, Kristy ran the workshop alone as Cynthia had been at the football and was in isolation, with the workshop finishing just in time for participants to get home before Victoria went into lockdown #5. The workshop was well-attended and was very interactive and thought-provoking, and will hopefully ensure our grower committee meetings are effective and enjoyable moving forward.

Finally, at the end of July industry was made aware of changes to Victoria’s area freedom status for Blueberry Rust. Blueberry Rust (BBR) was found on a number of properties in the Yarra Valley and Gippsland, and declared not feasible to eradicate by Agriculture Victoria. For more information and to read the industry notice, go to https://bit.ly/Agvic-BBR. The change means that Victorian producers sending blueberry fruit or other BBR host material to a sensitive interstate market must ensure consignments meet the entry conditions set by those markets.

At the time of writing, market access for Victorian blueberries into Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia is being negotiated, and work is under way to create a protocol for organic and isolated growers that will be accepted by those states. Negotiations are also underway for protocols to send blueberry plants and ornamental host plants interstate.

The VSGA secured funding through AgriFutures Australia’s Producer Technology Uptake Program to run a series of workshops to introduce and encourage uptake of new technology solutions for berry growers.

For more information about how to identify and manage BBR in colder climates see the article on PAGE 120 in this journal edition.

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Berry Industry Development Officer, Strawberries & Queensland Suzette Argent | 0438 752 177 | berryido@qldstrawberries.com.au The virtual tour included pre-recorded videos of the team undertaking the whole breeding journey and a hands-on walk through the field trials of the more advanced varieties soon to be released. The videos will be shown as Jodi and the DAF breeding team visit the key growing regions in the coming months.

DAF also had two of the new varieties being released soon on display. Check out the article on PAGE 76 in this edition introducing the new varieties from the DAF breeding program.

A wet and cloudy start to the season along with cooler maximum temperatures slowed the early winter strawberry production.

Some warmer and sunny days in late July has helped to push the second flush of fruit to kick the season off. The silver lining to the slower start to the season has been most farms have been able to manage with the limited labour force available, however, labour supply is still the major concern for the peak of the season.

I met online with Rupert Hargreaves from Global Plant Genetics, based in England, who has exciting news including the release of five new varieties coming to Australia; three are day-neutral and two are short-day types. More information can be found in the article on PAGE 72.

COVID-19 has changed how we go about our daily business. As I write this Queensland is coming out of an eight-day lock down. The industry has embraced several lock downs, border closures and ever-changing restrictions. I have been impressed with how adaptable the industry has been. Staying on top of changing restrictions and providing timely updates to the industry has been a key task in recent months. It is important that businesses do stay up-to-date and ensure your health management plans are current and being used.

I have been out meeting growers and undertaking site visits with Apollo Gomez learning about plant health and disease management in the Moreton and Bundaberg regions. Tina from Tinaberries gave me some extra time during my visit to share her experiences with agritourism, and her insights can be found in an article on PAGE 80. I am planning a trip to the Stanthorpe region in late October/early November as the summer season starts. Katie O’Connor from the DAF breeding team is hoping to join me on this trip.

We held the first COVID-safe Berry Industry Fair and virtual field day on 8 July. The presentations and exhibits covered a range of topics from IPM, disease management, substrate production, new sensor technology, irrigation, labour options and other business-related topics.

COVID-19 uncertainty made preparing for the event challenging and ultimately lead to lower numbers of growers attending the day which is unfortunate. Those who did come embraced the mask wearing requirements and didn’t let this stop them from networking and absorbing the breadth of information on offer.

I am in the process of determining what workshops and activities we will run in QLD from November 2021 to September 2022 next year.

If you have anything specific or would like to provide feedback, please get in contact with me as I am open to ideas that will help you and your berry industry.

These events are delivered for the growers benefit so it is important to let us know what you information and events you want to attend.

To assist with being COVID-friendly we developed a virtual field tour of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries strawberry breeding program based in Nambour.

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03 5829 3600 (Select Option 2) harvestshepparton@madec.edu.au Upcoming events

08 8565 8708 harvestnuriootpa@madec.edu.au

Sandstone Point Strawberry & Dessert Festival is planned for Saturday 18 September from 2pm – 8pm.

We have growers supporting the event along with The Common Good putting on the genuine EKKA strawberry sundaes. All proceeds from the sale of the EKKA sundaes will be going back to the PCHF as a token of thanks for the support they gave the strawberry industry.

The Queensland Strawberry Growers Association Annual Dinner and Awards night is planned for Saturday 30 October.

SWAN HILL 186-188 Beveridge Street, Swan Hil VIC 3585 03 5033 0025 harvestswanhil @madec.edu.au

Sponsorship opportunities are still available, and you can now order your tickets online at https://bit.ly/QSGA-dinner21 .

RENMARK 8 Ral Ral Avenue, Renmark SA 5341 08 8586 1900 (Select Option 2) harvestrenmark@madec.edu.au

The inaugural Stanthorpe Berry Festival will be held at Weeroona Park on 13 November from 10am-5pm and will give strawberry growers the chance to show off their produce on the regional stage. Visitors can get involved in a huge range of events at the festival including tastetesting, eating competitions, a strawberry jam cooking competition, meet the farmers, and more.

Bundaberg Riverfest Strawberry Festival will be held this year for the first time on Sunday 12 September from 11am – 7pm. The region's strawberry farmers, lovers, adorers and bakers will give you a family funday of strawberry-licious delights and fun!

COFFS HARBOURworkers?

DEVONPORT Need a hand finding

103-105, 24 Moonee StWe reet, can 3/help.

59 Best Street, Contact your MADEC Harvest Trail Office or Coffs Harbour NSW 2450 Devonport TAS 7310 Contact the Harvest Trail Information Services on 1800 062 332 02 6648 2300 03 6420 3900 harvestcoffsharbour@madec.edu.au harvestdevonport@madec.edu.au

MILDURA 126-130 Deakin Avenue, Mildura VIC 3500 03 5022 1797 harvestmildura@madec.edu.au

GRIFFITH Shop 3, 104 Yambil Street, Griffith NSW 2680 02 6963 2200 harvestgriffith@madec.edu.au

ROBINVALE 68-72 Herbert Street, Robinvale VIC 3549 03 5051 8080 harvestrobinvale@madec.edu.au

BUNDABERG 35 Electra Street, Bundaberg Central, QLD 4670 07 4339 3100 harvestbundaberg@madec.edu.au

SALE 2/424 Raymond Street, Sale VIC 3850 03 5169 7300 harvestsale@madec.edu.au

CABOOLTURE 2/77 King Street, Caboolture QLD 4510 07 5294 7000 harvestcaboolture@madec.edu.au

SHEPPARTON Suites 1 & 4 461 Wyndham Street, Shepparton VIC 3630 03 5829 3600 (Select Option 2) harvestshepparton@madec.edu.au

NURIOOTPA 45 Murray Street, Nuriootpa, SA, 5355 08 8565 8708 harvestnuriootpa@madec.edu.au

RENMARK 8 Ral Ral Avenue, Renmark SA 5341 08 8586 1900 (Select Option 2) harvestrenmark@madec.edu.au

COFFS HARBOUR 103-105, 24 Moonee Street, Coffs Harbour NSW 2450 02 6648 2300 harvestcoffsharbour@madec.edu.au

Harvest Trail is a no-cost service funded through the Australian Government and managed by MADEC, a not-for-profit organisation.

DEVONPORT 3/59 Best Street, Devonport TAS 7310 03 6420 3900 harvestdevonport@madec.edu.au

SWAN HILL 186-188 Beveridge Street, Swan Hill VIC 3585 03 5033 0025 harvestswanhill@madec.edu.au

1800 062 332

*1800 number s are free to c332 al in Australia from landlines and mobiles.

1800 062 *1800 numbers are free to call in Australia from landlines & mobiles.

www.madec.edu.au/harvest-services/harvest-trail-services

facebo k.com/MADECHTS

www.madec.edu.au/harvest-services/harvest-trail-services facebook.com/MADECHTS

Harvest Trail is a no-cost service funded through the Australian Government and managed by MADEC, a not-for-profit organisation.

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Berry Industry Development Officer, Rubus & Tasmania Celeste Cook | 0400 100 593 | ido@fruitgrowerstas.org.au Two workshops in Tasmania were also delivered by FGT under the Berry Project MT18020. The two-part workshops were held by Lauren Taylor from Taylor Made Change. These were on strategic planning and leadership development and were very well attended.

A webinar based on the activities and feedback during the workshops will soon be available to all growers.

These will be available on the FGT and Berries Australia websites.

The Tasmanian winter has been wetter and generally warmer across the state than the average year. Apparently, we can blame something called an IOD or Indian Ocean Dipole negative affect. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the IOD is responsible for bringing above-average winter spring rainfall to southern Australia, so Tasmanians can look forward to a wet spring as well (except maybe western TAS).

A third workshop on blueberry rust (BBR) was held on 25 August in Campbell Town. This workshop aimed to inform growers on identification of BBR, the latest research for organic growers and on farm biosecurity actions that growers could employ on their own farm.

Growers heard from presenters from Biosecurity Tasmania and the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture on the day.

Over the past couple of months, I have been able to get out and start meeting berry growers around the state. This has given me a chance to start gathering information that I can use to inform future workshops and field days to match industry needs.

Save the dates: Currently I am prepping for a field day on 9 December which will feature Bitwise Agronomy providing an on-farm demo and presentation of their crop mapping software. This will be hosted at Hillwood Berries. If you would like to get involved or have some input into the field day, please get in touch.

On 10 December we will also have a workshop with Jodi Neale,Co-leader of the Australian National Strawberry Breeding Program from QDAF, who will be presenting the new temperate strawberry varieties to growers at Berried in TAS.

Meeting the berry growers of Tasmania has been really enjoyable for me. Everyone that I have met so far has been very welcoming. I have been impressed by the way berry growers have embraced best management practices on farm and possess an attitude of continual improvement toward their businesses, embracing new technology and the chance to be involved with the rest of industry to share information.

The annual FGT conference in June saw two Tasmanian berry growers receiving awards as Grower of the Year– Robin Dornauf from Hillwood Berries and Professor Robert Clark AM from Westerway Raspberry Farm.

The conference also featured several presentations for berry growers in its program. Presentations included Laurie Adams on UK & EU trends for berry growers, Dr Jodi Neal on the Australian temperate strawberry breeding program and more.

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If you haven’t yet had me call in to meet with you and would like to get in touch, please feel free to give me a call and I will tee something up. Otherwise, I will continue to work through the database of growers that I currently have and will be out to see you soon.

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Berry Industry Development Officer, Blueberries & New South Wales Melinda Simpson | 0447 081 765 | melinda.simpson@dpi.nsw.gov.au 4. Local government plays a crucial role in regulating agricultural land use but can be risk-averse and as a result can struggle to deliver broader NSW Government objectives to promote investment and jobs growth.

At the time of writing, NSW has just recorded over 478 cases of COVID-19 in a single day and the entire state has gone into lockdown in response to the continuing rise in numbers around Sydney and its spread into the regional areas.

The Agriculture Commissioner developed an Options Paper which proposed a range of options that be included in a strategy to address the above policy problems. This paper was put out for public consultation and has now been reviewed by the Commissioner; he has then developed and submitted a report to the Minister who is in the process of reviewing it.

Recently there has been blueberry rust detected on four blueberry farms in Victoria. Agriculture Victoria has announced a revocation of area freedom for Blueberry rust effective immediately. This means NSW growers are no longer required to consign blueberries under ICA-31 treatment and inspection for blueberry rust where the destination is Victoria.

I have been working with industry to develop a Coffs Harbour Intensive Horticulture environmental program (CHIEP) through the Clean Coastal Catchments project funded through the Marine Estate Management Strategy. This program aims to utilise a partnership based, collaborative approach to incentivise adoption of enhanced on-farm land management practices. The CHIEP will be a voluntary or “opt-in” program that empowers local growers with financial and technical assistance to affect meaningful change, and provide a mechanism where growers are rewarded for their efforts in delivering biodiversity and sustainability services that benefit farms, the environment and the broader community. I have also been providing support and technical advice for the development of information resources for local government on agriculture and land use conflict.

Certification under ICA-31 for blueberry rust is still required for movement into Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania.

As you know, the NSW Agriculture Commissioner was put on to lead the next phase of the NSW Government’s right to farm reforms with a focus on agricultural land use planning. The Commissioner’s first priority was to conduct a review of the NSW Right to Farm Policy.

The Review has found four policy problems that warrant further consideration: 1. T here is no definition, identification or development protections for State Significant Agricultural Land which is leading to this land being lost to non-agricultural uses; 2. There is no simple, accessible and impartial mechanism for farmers to resolve land use conflict regarding their operations;

I would like to take this opportunity to wish growers all the best with harvest this year. The next few months will be trying times as COVID-19 continues, and with worker numbers drastically down whilst harvest is ramping up. As always, I’m here if you need anything and most importantly stay safe.

3. The planning framework does not reflect the needs of agriculture; and

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I N D U S T R Y

National Farmers Federation Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program 2021 Angela Atkinson, Berry Industry Development Officer - Vic & SA

The Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program (DiALP) is a mentoring opportunity designed for aspiring female leaders, 25 and over, with a passion for agriculture, and has been running since 2018.

I am so thrilled to be selected to be part of this program. Every participant is already so impressive in their own right and the alumni of the DiALP program are also amazing in what they have gone on to achieve. My leadership journey began in the nursery and garden industry, moved to FMCG, and now I feel like I am really thriving amongst a great group of strawberry growers who appreciate what I add to the conversation.

The program matches successful applicants with a mentor who they work with from May to October. With their mentor, each mentee establishes their leadership goals, outlines steps to achieving these goals, and puts in place steps to measure progress towards these goals.

According to NFF President Fiona Simson, the Program is making a difference, creating the pathways and networks needed to ensure gender parity in the roles that would shape the agriculture of tomorrow. DiALP graduates have gone on to hold industry board positions and to be changemakers within their sectors and communities.

The program is supported by leading agriculturefocussed organisations who have joined with the National Farmers Federation (NFF) in committing to make meaningful change towards gender diversity within the leadership ranks of their industry.

A cohort of 12 skilled, talented and ambitious women, professionals in areas as diverse as station management, animal science and international trade were selected from over 100 applicants, to make up this year’s NFF DiALP. These women have embarked on an intensive one-on-one mentoring program, to help them set their leadership goals and identify the role they want to play in the future of Australian agriculture.

The 2021 Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program cohort were welcomed to Canberra in June for an introductory retreat, where they met each other and their mentors, and heard from inspiring speakers.

“Like in previous years, the Program attracted a high volume of very high calibre applicants, and I am left in no doubt that the future of our sector’s leadership is bright, if as an industry we continue to foster the development of our people,” Ms Simson said.

“I congratulate this year’s group and I look forward to getting to know these 12 outstanding women and supporting them on their leadership journey.”

Miffy Gilbert, one of berries’ own representatives, and CEO at AusBerry Farmers in the Yarra Valley, is among those selected in the 2021 group. Miffy sits on the industry-based boards of the Victorian Strawberry Growers Association and Strawberries Australia Inc.

Miffy said, “Having commenced the mentoring component of the program, I would highly commend the program to aspiring women leaders and those trying to consolidate some early runs on the board.”

The Diversity in Agriculture Leadership Program is a flagship initiative of the NFF, supporting the NFF’s goal to double the number of women in agriculture leadership by 2030, based on a 2018 benchmark.

Miffy Gilbert.

Photo credit: Denise Wisken Photography

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Milestone 30th Annual Fruit Growers Tasmania (FGT) Conference celebrates growers' success Julie Inglis, Communication Officer, Fruit Growers Tasmania

June marked a milestone for FGT, when it hosted the 30th Annual Conference in celebration of all the hard work done by fruit growers in Tasmania. Officially opened by the Premier of Tasmania, the Hon. Peter Gutwein MP, the conference - held in the Tailrace Centre in Launceston - saw fruit producers from all sectors of the industry represented.

An array of industry professionals and leading presenters were on hand to help growers to stay on top of the latest research findings, production techniques, emerging technologies, opportunities and challenges relating to fruit production in Tasmania. The Conference and Industry Awards dinner also offered an excellent opportunity for networking. The award winners celebrated at the Industry Awards Dinner, included two representatives of the Australian berry industries:

Laurie Adams from Burlington Berries presenting at the conference. Photo credit: FGT

• Y oung Grower of the Year – Nigel Bartels from Hansen Orchards • G rower of the Year #1 – Robin Dornauf from Hillwood Berries • G rower of the Year #2 – Professor Robert Clark AM from Westerway Raspberry Farm • Memorial Roll of Honour – Don Bulman The Minister for Primary Industries and Minister for Trade, the Hon. Guy Barnett MP, was the keynote speaker at the awards dinner. Thanks to all involved in the conference, your support is much appreciated, and we look forward to seeing you all at our annual conference in 2022!

Simon Dornauf, Hillwood Berries accepting the award on behalf of his father Robin Dornauf. Photo credit: FGT

Article courtesy of Fruit Growers Tasmania

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True Blue Certification: Fair Farms all the way Marsha Aralar, Fair Farms

Boosting the horticulture industry’s reputation is a priority for growers who undertake Fair Farms certification. Delivered and developed by Growcom, the Fair Farms program is a certification process that provides a mechanism for growers to demonstrate that they are ethical employers.

Fair Farms is a certification that complements the existing structure of a grower’s business, through online self-assessments, audits and training. Within the berry industry, the Fair Farms certification program continues to build momentum.

It’s this understanding - Mr Akau putting himself in the shoes of the grower – that’s proving to be the shining light in uptake of the program, once growers understand the possible incentives that come with Fair Farms certification.

With 150 berry growers spread across northern New South Wales, the OzGroup Co-op needed to come up with a solution to demonstrate their business standards. Enter Josh Akau, who joined OzGroup in late 2020 as the WH&S and Compliance Manager. He and his team work hard to help berry growers in the Co-op on their path to Fair Farms certification.

“If you know the rules around wage payments, including allowances and Workplace Health and Safety requirements, then you’ll avoid a penalty from a regulator,” Mr Akau said. “It may help in retaining staff in the future too.”

Mr Akau said that as understanding legislation can be vexing and open for interpretation; the Fair Farms process acts as a guide for berry growers to navigate the complex nature of meeting supermarket and consumer requirements. Mr Akau said Co-op berry growers understand the importance of being able to show their business benchmarks to consumers, through Fair Farms certification.

“When I started in December 2020, only seven of the 150 growers were registered with Fair Farms,” Mr Akau said.

While some of the growers were Sedex-certified already, Fair Farms, with its Australian focus, helps berry growers understand the ins and outs of Federal legislation and where their operation is positioned against WH&S and HR requirements.

“That’s definitely important – they [consumers] are quite conscious these days – they know what they’re buying, and they look at who they are buying from, where it is coming from.”

It’s a system that supports Australian standards and is fit for use. As a result of Mr Akau’s strong belief in the Fair Farms program, OzGroup growers are now turning to it too.

Besides consumer attitudes, Mr Akau is frank about the initial phase of bringing growers into line with Fair Farms. He said for the growers, who often rely on their native Punjabi to communicate, the process initially seemed daunting because they didn’t know what kind of compliance the Fair Farms program would demand of their businesses.

“By March 2021, 99 growers had registered and completed the online self-assessment component of the Fair Farms certification process.”

“At the end of the day this is their farm, not our farm,” Mr Akau said. “Fair Farms registration is easy and not overly complicated.”

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Mr Akau and his team sensed this and subsequently put together special guidance, visiting growers individually and providing in-language resources.

“Farmers are receptive, but the main challenge is the unknown,” Mr Akau said, who proactively nips this challenge in the bud. “Fair Farms has not come out with anything different [business beliefs]; it’s based on normal business obligations and requirements and that’s what we communicate to growers: If you function as a business you just need to meet these requirements in general.

“My goal is to get everyone in the OzGroup to meet the Fair Farms standard, I’m sold on the Standard.”

Fair Farms National Program Manager Marsha Aralar said that a lot of businesses shudder at the thought of the auditing process, but chances are the business is operating at a standard that conforms.

With Fair Farms certification, growers will be able to show their commitment to fair work practices — and this will mean greater access to a talented pool of workers who want to work for a good boss,” Ms Aralar said.

“By reaching certification with Fair Farms, a farm stands a far greater chance of attracting and retaining motivated and reliable staff.”

Josh Akau, WH&S and Compliance Manager, said he is sold on the Fair Farms standards.

Photo credit: OzGroup

With Fair Farms certification, growers will be able to show their commitment to fair work practices — and this will mean greater access to a talented pool of workers who want to work for a good boss,” Ms Aralar said. “By reaching certification with Fair Farms, a farm stands a far greater chance of attracting and retaining motivated and reliable staff.”

Fair Farms recently celebrated its second anniversary.

For more information on this Growcom-incubated program product, visit www.fairfarms.com.au.

Blueberries being picked at an OzGroup member farm Photo credit: Jane Richter

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A D V E R T O R I A L

C O N T E N T

Need a hand finding workers?

The MADEC Harvest Trail Service can help!

MADEC Harvest Trail Services is a federally funded government initiative available to meet seasonal labour market needs. We supply labour to major harvest areas seeking large numbers of harvest workers to supplement local labour supply.

All services are provided to employers and workers at NO COST. We have found harvest workers are attracted to and are retained best where workplaces offer some or all of the following: • Quality onsite accommodation at minimal or no cost • Hourly rates or clearly defined piece rates • Supportive work environments • Transparency of job role and work environments • Assist with providing transport from nearby towns for workers without vehicles

From single placements through to large workforces, the MADEC Harvest Trail team sources workers with legal work rights when and where you need them. The MADEC Harvest Trail Service can support you to bridge the gap within your current workforce.

Closures of international borders as a result of the COVID19 pandemic has seen profound impacts on the horticulture workforce, with no new working holidaymakers arriving in the country. It’s not an understatement to say that targeted workforce planning is now critical to secure a suitable workforce to meet your labour demands.

ADV-MADEC

Our team will meet with you to identity seasonal workforce needs. We actively promote harvest vacancies locally and nationally, and screen workers to ensure eligibility and suitability.

MADEC provides all year round Harvest Trail Services Harvest Trail Service staff liaise with growers, industry leaders and associations to keep up with regional trends and industry needs.

We communicate with jobseekers outside the region to inform them of available facilities, transport and accommodation, and liaise with other labour services including the Harvest Trail Information Service. Our Harvest offices have established relationships with a wide range of potential labour sources including the general public, schools, universities, backpacker groups, itinerant workers, local workforce and community groups.

AgMove Relocation Reimbursement is available for some participants, see basic outline for workers below: • www.madec.edu.au/harvest-services/harvest-trailservices/hts-incentives/ • www.dese.gov.au/harvest-trail/agmove Contact our harvest office to find out more.

NB: Strict eligibility & documentary evidence requirements apply.

REGISTER YOUR VACANCIES

HARVEST OFFICES CAN PROVIDE NO COST SERVICES SUCH AS: • Source workers to meet your labour requirements • Complete Immigration Checks • Promote harvest vacancies locally and nationally • Work Entitlements Cards • WHS, commodity-specific & workplace-specific inductions (MADEC Card with QR scanning technology)

Madec. We can help. Find an office near you: S P R I N G 2 0 21 AUSTRALIAN www.madec.edu.au/harvest-services/harvest-trail-services or

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CALL OUR HARVEST TRAIL CONTACT CENTRE TO SPEAK TO OUR TEAM TODAY

FREE-CALL 1800 062 332 (8AM – 8PM, MONDAY TO FRIDAY) 18

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WITH US EARLY

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DISCLAIMER: Whilst every care has been taken in the preparation of this journal, the information contained is necessarily of a general nature and should not be relied upon as a substitute for specific advice.

The advice and opinions in the articles published in Australian Berry Journal are essentially those of contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Berries Australia or the Editor. The advice is at the reader’s own risk, and no responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of the material presented. Inclusion of an advertisement in this publication does not necessarily imply endorsement of the product, company or service

by Berries Australia or the Editor. Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (Hort Innovation) makes no representations and expressly disclaims all warranties (to the extent permitted by law) about the accuracy, completeness, or currency of information in Australian Berry Journal. Reliance on any information provided by Hort Innovation is entirely at your own risk. Hort Innovation 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 Hort Innovation or other person’s negligence or otherwise from your use or non-use of Australian Berry Journal or from reliance on information contained in the material or that Hort Innovation provides to you by any other means. Copyright © Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited 2020 Copyright subsists in Australian Berry Journal. Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (Hort Innovation) owns the copyright, other than as permitted under the Copyright ACT 1968 (Cth). Australian Berry Journal (in part or as a whole) cannot be reproduced, published, communicated or adapted without the prior written consent of Hort Innovation. Any request or enquiry to use the Australian Berry Journal should be addressed to: Communications Manager, Hort Innovation, Level 7 | 141 Walker Street, North Sydney 2060, Australia | E: communications@horticulture.com.au | P: 02 8295 2300

I N D U S T R Y

We hope you’ll find Infopest berry helpful What is Infopest?

Do you need to keep up with the latest permits issued by APVMA?

Infopest is Growcom’s flagship online database for agricultural and veterinary pesticides. Whether you grow bayberries or young berries or anything more mainstream in between, Infopest has the A-Z of berry chemical uses covered.

They are easy to find in Infopest with versions being updated as they become available. It is also easy to check whether the permit is available to you in your State or Territory by selecting those fields to display in your data search results.

A one-stop shop of accurate, So up-to-date how does one gain access information for to this helpful tool? the effective control of weeds, Visit www.infopest.com.au and subscribe — pests, and diseases wide Infopest is great value at only $55in perayear. range of crops andyou livestock.

If you are a Growcom Grower member, will be sent

As berry growers, there are a number of ways that you could find Infopest helpful. Infopest allows subscribers to search for products and permits approved for use in your crop and which pests you can use them to control. Once you’ve determined what products are available for your berry crop, you can look at the mode of action for each product to determine a basic resistance management plan for pests. This is also handy to identify gaps in the chemical groups available to apply for suitable off-label permits to enable better resistance management practice in the industry.

a free access code at the time of becoming a member or renewing your membership with Growcom. Otherwise, for less than some would spend on coffee in a month, Infopest is not only berry helpful, but berry economical!

Infopest is also handy at audit time when you need to Infopest helps you find Agvet products that: source safety data sheets for your compliance with • can be used on a particular host (crop, animal or • are registered by a par Check out the September edition of industry WHS. There are more than 500 safety data sheets other situation) e-newsletter the burst for your •chance to win for products registered for use on berries stored contain a certain active one of two annual subscriptions to infopest. in Infopest, which makes•the job easierto than canmuch be used control a particular pest (weed, • have a particular produ tracking them down on the web. disease, insect and other)

A one-stop shop of accurate, up-to-date information for the effective control of weeds, pests, and diseases in a wide range of crops and livestock.

Corporate available Infopest helps you find Agvet discounts products that:

CORPORATE DISCOUNTS

be used on a particular host (crop, animal or er situation)

•

www.infopest.com.au

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are registered by a particular company (dealer)

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I N D U S T R Y

Minor Use Permit — Updates over the last 6 months Melinda Simpson, Berry Industry Development Officer, NSW Department of Primary Industries

New Products/Label Registrations Product name

Active Constituent

Chemical Group

Miravis® Prime

Pydiflumetofen + Fludioxonil

7+12

Kenja® 400 SC Fungicide

Isofetamid

Flute®

Cyflufenamid

Botector®

Aureobasidium pollulans DSM 14940 & DSM 14941

Serenade® Opti

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens QST 713

Avatar® Evo

Indoxacarb

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Pest/Disease Grey mould

Further Info Can be used in open field and protected cropping

Strawberries

Powdery Mildew

7

Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries

Grey mould

U6

Strawberries

Powdery mildew

Unclassified

Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries

Grey mould and Suppression of: Anthracnose Fruit Rot Phomopsis Fruit Rot Rhizopus Fruit Rot

Field and protected cropping situations

BM02

Strawberries

Grey mould

Field and protected cropping situations

22A

Strawberries

Garden Weevil

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Strawberries in both field and protected cropping situations and runners and plug plants

DO NOT apply more than 2 applications in any one cropping cycle

EDITION 8

New Permits Permit Number

Active Constituent

Chemical Group

PER90208

Sulfoxaflor (Transform®)

4C

Blackberries, Green Peach Aphid, Cottonseed Bug, Raspberries Green and Brown Mirids, Greenhouse Whitefly, Suppression of Scale, Apple Dimpling bug and Suppression of Rutherglen bug

Blueberries taken off and additional pests added to this new permit

PER90178

Afidopyropen (Versys®)

9D

Blackberries, Aphids Including Green Peach Raspberries Aphid, Greenhouse Whitefly suppression only

Field and Protected use

PER89214

Flonicamid (MainMan®)

29

Strawberries

DO NOT spray any plants in flower where bees are foraging

Crop

Pest/Disease

Further info

Mirids, Jassids/leafhoppers, Aphids, Greenhouse whitefly and Suppression of Green vegetable bug and Rutherglen bug

Surrendered Permits Permit Number

Active Constituent

PER87141

Sulfoxaflor (Transform®)

PER14424

PER84970

Chemical Group

Crop

Pest/Disease

Further info

4C

Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries

Cotton Seed Bug

Permit surrendered, replaced with PER90208 for Raspberries and Blackberries and a separate permit application has been made for blueberries

Fenhexamid (Teldor® 500 SC Fungicide)

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Rubus and Rubus Hybrids

Grey mould

Permit surrendered because Rubus and Rubus hybrids are now on the Imtrade Fenhexamid 500 SC product label

Azoxystrobin (Amistar® 250 SC Fungicide)

11

Rubus spp

Anthracnose, Botrytis, Cladosporium

Permit surrendered because Rubus is now on Amistar® 250 SC label

All efforts have been made to provide the most current, complete and accurate information on these products & permits, however we recommend that you confirm the details at the APVMA website: https://portal.apvma.gov.au/permits

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Pathways to export – not everyone needs to be an exporter!

Jenny Van de Meeberg, Export Manager, Berries Australia

Industry is constantly being told that export is the pathway to a profitable industry but what does that actually mean for an individual business? This article will take you through the benefits and disadvantages of becoming part of an existing export supply chain. We are also shortly launching an online export education course to help demystify how export works and explain all the component parts – sign up to the new Berries Australia Export Hub (bit.ly/BA-Export) to stay in the loop.

In horticulture, we can simplify market entry into three basic pathways:

sized business. On the other hand, if you work with existing export supply chains, the partners in the supply chain are there to help you succeed and will manage many of the day-to-day export functions.

1. You can become a direct grower-exporter who manages the entire export supply chain within your own business, 2. You can work through a trader/ consolidator/marketer, 3. You can work through a large, branded grower-exporter company.

For many small-medium growers, it can make good business sense to work with others whilst you learn the export landscape. In the future, you might transition to becoming a direct exporter but equally you might be content to remain part of a larger export supply chain so your business can concentrate on other goals like growing volume or diversifying into new varieties or crops.

Most growers consider moving into export because they want to diversify their customer base and not be at the mercy of the domestic supply chain. What is often not realised is that you can do this by becoming part of an existing export supply chain rather than taking onboard all the complexities of becoming a direct exporter.

Turning every grower into a direct exporter has sadly, in many cases, led to growers having a very poor firsttime experience of the export game and consequently exiting the export space altogether, which is a damaging outcome for the industry in the long run.

Whilst it is true that direct exporters reap most of the rewards of a successful contract, they also carry all the risk should things go wrong. For many businesses, the trade-off whereby they receive a more modest return in exchange for lowering the risks is a reasonable compromise.

Success in export typically requires either volume or genuine uniqueness (which might be exclusive rights to a variety, a seasonal window, or a great story around your production or business model). You need one of these two attributes if you want to influence the market and be able to set the price.

Becoming a direct exporter involves taking charge of the entire export supply chain from regulatory requirements to commercial relationships in other countries.

When you have both volume and uniqueness you get a powerhouse export brand and there is no better example than Zespri™ Kiwi Fruit. On the other hand, without either volume or uniqueness you are likely to

The complexity, cost and time required to undertake this task is a sizeable commitment for a small-medium

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become a price-taker and have reduced yourself to commodity or bulk trading. This is a commercially unviable position for most Australian berry growers as we are one of the most expensive producers in the world and need to achieve a premium on our export product.

the industry whilst also fostering more positive export experiences for small-medium sized growers.

The most successful export-focused horticulture industries globally have mature export supply chains capable of moving large volumes of fruit. To reach this level of maturity it is important we encourage exports through all pathways; some in the industry will be suited to direct exporting but many more will be better suited to supplying the export supply chain. Both are important and both are required to ensure the longterm profitability of the industry.

In the Australian context, it is not uncommon for small-medium sized growers to have neither of these key attributes – they are not dominant in scale nor truly unique in their offering. This is not a barrier; it just means these growers need to choose their market entry strategy wisely and direct exporting is likely to be a very hard road.

It is exceptionally difficult to create uniqueness, but it is very possible to create volume. The swiftest way for a small-medium sized grower to find scale is to become part of an existing supply chain where you grow fruit for an established export relationship thereby combining your volume with others to create market opportunity.

For more information email Jenny de Meeberg: export@berries.net.au If you want to stay in touch with what is happening in the berry export space, then join the Berries Australia Export Group at the new Export Hub on our website at bit.ly/BA-Export

Collaboration through working with other like-minded businesses, under commercial arrangements, can be a productive means to boost total export volume for

TO FIND OUT MORE, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH growers@aussiefrozenfruit.com.au 03 5964 8101 aussiefrozenfruit.com.au

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I N D U S T R Y

Cyber Security & the Agricultural Industry Zac McLeod, IT Security Consultant, Cleared Security

It’s late Friday afternoon, well past his intended knock-off time, and Managing Director Anthony is having to make a phone call he’d rather not be making. Instead of going home to his family for the weekend, he’s having to call a contact of his within the Cyber Security industry and explain that his farm’s IT systems appear to have been hacked. Several hundred thousand dollars has been transferred to a variety of unknown bank accounts within a short space of time, and worse yet, it’s the second time within 12 months something like this has happened.

The above is a true, and very real scenario. If it’s not one your business has experienced yet, you are in the lucky minority. ABS statistics show agriculture as the fifth most likely industry to suffer a data breach in 2020, and despite this, ABS data also indicates that agricultural business were the fifth least likely of ANY industry to invest in cyber security updates.

Unfortunately, as is consistent with the history of humanity, there are always those that wish to abuse and exploit others for their own personal gain.

If faceless foreign adversaries are willing to cripple hospitals around the world in order to make a few bucks, then the comparatively inconsequential agricultural industry is ripe for the picking (pun intended).

So, what exactly is cyber security?

At its core, cyber security is an organisation’s ability to defend against and respond to malicious IT based threats. A common misconception around cyber security is that every IT employee or IT provider is capable of doing it and doing it well. In the same way that farming technology has advanced, and specialist knowledge is now required, it’s no longer enough to just be good at computers in general.

Cyber security experts are experienced and highly trained, with a deep understanding of not only how to employ best practise security, but also what the current threat climate is, what the common attack trends are, how to respond to an active cyber security incident, and most importantly, how to get the most bang for buck when it comes to improving your security.

The sad fact is, with the modernisation of the world, in particular agriculture, that while technology has raced ahead and we have adopted its benefits with enthusiasm, the security around that same technology has been an afterthought. As the agricultural industry continues to innovate and find new and exciting ways to leverage technology, it is now more crucial than ever to ensure systems remain online and functioning, and do not fall victim to cyber threats.

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Cyber security threats can come in many forms

Highly sophisticated attacks require a significant time and financial investment that is often associated with government sponsored hacking groups. These attackers are often not motivated by money, rather they are seeking information itself, often in the form of intellectual property or sensitive research data.

Industry experts classify threat actors into one of several categories, and typically this will indicate the level of sophistication they employ in their attacks.

Low sophistication attacks, whilst not always, are

At Cleared Security, we understand that most business owners in the agricultural industry do not want to have to worry about the world of cyber security and the threats that it poses, they just want their IT to work.

often typical of financially motivated criminal groups.

These are commonly opportunistic and rely on large quantities of attacks with a small percentage of success.

Examples include emails that attempt to steal usernames and passwords from the recipient or take control of the user’s device, emails that contain malicious software that encrypts data and demands payment to release the data, or even randomised password guessing attacks that are capable of millions of guesses per hour.

We know that it’s definitely not something you want to have to budget for, and most importantly, we have seen the effects of what happens when your IT providers aren’t capable, or choose not to, provide you with the security necessary in today’s day and age.

PE EXP ST AN RA DE NG D E

If you would like to know more about how Cleared Security may be able to help you, visit cleared.io

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I N D U S T R Y

Mr ‘Mice’ Guy says be on the lookout for mice activity Suzette Argent, Berry Industry Development Officer, Queensland

The first half of 2021 has seen mice plagues throughout the grain growing regions and caused the Wellington Correctional Centre in Western New South Wales to be evacuated due to mice damage.

Will the current winter be cold and dry enough to kill the majority of the population to prevent an early spring outbreak?

Why are mice a perfect pest?

Mice are breeding machines which allows the population to increase quickly when conditions are favourable. A mouse can start breeding from 6 weeks of age and continue to produce a litter every 3 weeks; they are effectively in constant pup production.

Over winter survival is important. Wetter winters, milder temperatures, or adequate shelter to reduce exposure to cold weather coupled with a good food supply create perfect conditions for mice to survive over winter. If mice manage to survive the colder months through suitable shelter and food supply, they are quickly able to take advantage of the warmer days and increased food supply in the spring allowing populations to rapidly boom into plague proportions.

What should berry growers be doing?

Be on the lookout for mice activity regularly, even in your off season as keeping on top of populations is really important. Look for signs of mice activity in and around the paddocks and farm infrastructure. Check to see if there are active burrows or damage to plants and fruit.

Mr Mice Guy, Steve Henry from CSIRO Photo credit: Peter Brown, CSIRO

Around handling sheds and farm infrastructure try to create unfavourable conditions for the mice by keeping the areas both clean and free from clutter, plus slash and maintain grass around the property to reduce spots where they can live, hide and feed. Ensure all potential food sources and waste fruit are disposed of and not left accessible. Being tidy is unfriendly for mice.

Steve Henry, aka Mr ‘Mice’ Guy, is a scientist at CSIRO who has been studying mice within the grains sector for over 10 years. Here he provides some insight into the characteristics of this pest and some simple management methods the berry industry can consider.

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Key things to do:

The Mouse Alert App was developed to help get data on mice populations. When neighbours and communities all use the App you can get regional insights for populations and management needs.

Another monitoring idea includes placing a fine powder of some kind around potential burrows and check in the morning to see if activity is present.

• M onitor for rodent activity regularly, not just in the peak of your season

KEY THINGS TO DO:

Monitor for rodent activity regularly, • M • inimise sources of food not just in the peak of yourdispose season of (good weed and grass control, waste keep farm of and sheds tidy)weed • Mcrop, inimise sources food (good and grass control, dispose of waste crop, • M inimise sources of shelter (control weeds, farmfarm, andfence shedslines tidy) adjacent to crops) grasskeep around Minimise sources of shelter • A • ctively manage populations (bait or trap) (control weeds, grass around using only registered products andfarm, always fence adjacent to crops) follow labellines directions • S • ecure baits appropriately and dispose of trap) Actively manage populations (bait or any carcasses using only registered products and always

follow label directions • S ecure baits appropriately and dispose of any carcasses

The Mouse Alert App is part of the FeralScan Pest Mapping program.

For more information & additional resources, please visit: PestSmart provides best practice information on how to plan,manage and improve pest animal control programs in Australia. www. pestsmart.org.au

MouseAlert is a free resource that farmers can use to record and report the prevalence of mice before they become a major issue. MouseAlert can help you to notify producers in your region about changes in mouse activity. Information you enter, can be used to alert local biosecurity authorities and other people about changes in mouse populations, which can help everyone reduce the problems they cause. www.feralscan.org.au/mousealert The Mouse Alert App can be downloaded on the Apple App Store or from Google Play.

Photo credit: CSIRO

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IPM Notes 1.0 Two-Spotted Mites (TSM) (Tetranychus urticae) Celeste Cook, Berry Industry Development Officer, Fruit Growers Tasmania

As promised in the Winter edition of the Australian Berry Journal, we feature the first of our IPM Notes on Two-Spotted Mites.

Larva

There are many elements that comprise a successful Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program, with regular and well-structured crop monitoring being one element that is a necessity for early detection, identification and treatment of pests and disease.

Recording the results of that monitoring provides a database of farm pest and disease issues, that when analysed can inform producers to enable the prediction of crop pest and disease for future growing periods.

Larva is pale green and has six legs.

Nymphal stages There are two nymphal instars; protonymph and deuteronymph. Nymphs are pale green with darker markings and have eight legs.

Adults

Elements that make Two-Spotted Mite (TSM) difficult to manage include its fast development from egg to adult, high reproduction rate and propensity toward resistance to chemicals. Early detection of TSM through crop monitoring allows for the early introduction of biological organisms for control, and the reduction of chemical use through spot spraying.

(Figure 1)

The adult female is 0.6 mm long, has eight legs, is pale green or greenish-yellow with two darker patches on the body, which is oval with quite long hairs on the dorsal side. Overwintering females are orange-red in colour. The male has a smaller, narrower, more pointed body than the female. (Figure 3)

Life Cycle6

Identification of TSM4

From egg to adult TSM takes about 1-2 weeks, dependant on the temperature. Populations are more likely to build up to damaging levels during warm, dry conditions.

To be able to implement an IPM program it is important to be familiar with the identifying features of the organism at all stages in its lifecycle. The following provides descriptions of TSM at different stages of growth. (Figure 7)

How do they spread? 6 & 3 Two-spotted mite spread via: • c rawling along cropping structures and along touching plants,

Eggs Two-spotted mite eggs are 0.13 mm in diameter, globular and translucent. Eggs are not visible to the naked eye but can be seen with a x10 hand lens.

• wind, • introduction of infected plants, • tools, clothing and machinery.

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1. Close-up view of two-spotted mites Photo credit: Frank Peairs, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org

2. Californicus eating TSM adult Photo credit: Nigel Cattlin, Alamy Stock Photo

3. TSM and their eggs Photo credit: David Cappaert, Bugwood.org

4. TSM damage on pumpkin leaves Photo credit: Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org

5. T. occidentalis adults Photo credit: Washington State University

6. Persimilis eating TSM egg Photo credit: BioBest

7. The lifecycle of Mites. Photo credit: Agriculture WA

I N D U S T R Y

Monitoring for TSM6 & 3

Persimilis (Phytoseiulus persimilis)

Spider mites can be seen with the naked eye and are very easy to detect at a low population using the plant beating method. This is done by using a white bucket or container, beating the plant over the top of the container and then examining the organisms that are collected for identification.

Predator of TSM, prefers warm and humid environments.

Voracious feeder on all stages of TSM. Able to hunt out mites in dense foliage. Tolerant to some insecticides and most fungicides.

Predator of TSM and other mites Californicus prefer humidity of 60% or higher and a temperature range of 16-32°C. Californicus is able to survive well even at low prey densities due to their ability to use alternate prey and pollen as a food source. (Figure 2)

Damage to crops 6 Damage by TSM reduces photosynthesis through the damage caused to plant leaf cells. Yellowing or bronzing of leaves may also occur as can leaf and stem death.

Severe damage can reduce photosynthetic capacity and therefore yield and fruit quality. (Figure 4)

Predator of TSM Predatory mite which feeds on all stages of TSM. Does well in deciduous fruits and vegetables in drier conditions. (Figure 5)

Chemical management 4

Cultural management 6 & 3

The best way to ensure that you choose an appropriate registered chemical for your crop and a specific pest or disease is either by consulting the Australian pesticide and veterinary medicine authority’s (APVMA) Public Chemical registration information system (PUBCRIS: https://portal.apvma.gov.au/pubcris). This database provides the latest information on permits, chemicals and their registration for use.

Cultural management options can be implemented to assist control of pest and disease, improving farm hygiene. Some of these include: • C ontrol of weed species which harbour pests, in the case of TSM solanaceous weeds are of particular importance • I nspection or quarantine of new plant material to the farm

Alternatively, you can purchase an annual subscription to Infopest – find out more on PAGE 21

• R eduction of staff movement through known infestations

TSM is well known throughout the world for becoming resistant to chemical control. According to the “Insecticide Resistance Action Committee”, worldwide data, shows TSM has been found resistant to the following chemicals:

• A djustment of growing conditions from hot and dry to more humid through overhead watering if possible • R egular monitoring using past records to identify problem areas and times of year

• Carbamates – Group 1A • Avermectins, Milbemycins – Group 6

Biological organisms1

• Clofentezine, Hexythiazox, Diflovidazin – Group 10A

There are a number of biological control options for the control of TSM. These are best released at the first sign of infestation. Before releasing any biological organism consult with your provider to get information on release rates, compatibility, with chemicals and recommendations for your farm.

• Oganotin miticides – Group 12B • Acequinocyl – Group 20B • METI acaricides & insecticides – Group 21A • Unknown or uncertain MoAs – Group UN

Be aware that all chemical applications to the crop will have an impact on the efficacy of biological control organisms. This can include chemicals that have been applied in the crop’s past, so it is good to be aware of the crop history when planning to use beneficial organisms.

(Figure 6)

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Resistance management5

Applications are often arranged into MoA spray windows or blocks that are defined by the stage of crop development and the biology of the pest species of concern. Local expert advice should always be followed with regard to spray windows and timings. Several sprays may be possible within each spray window but it is generally essential to ensure that successive generations of the pest are not treated with compounds from the same MoA group. Metabolic resistance mechanisms may give cross-resistance between MoA groups, and where this is known to occur, the above advice must be modified accordingly. IRAC provides general recommendations for resistance management tactics regarding specific MoA groups.

The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) is prolonging the effectiveness of insecticides, acaricides and traits by implementing insecticide resistance management strategies, countering the development of resistance in traditional Crop Protection as well as Plant Biotechnology and Public Health.

Effective pesticide resistance management strategies seek to minimise the selection of resistance to any one type of pesticide. In practice, altersnations, sequences or rotations of compounds from different Mode of Action (MoA) groups provide sustainable and effective resistance management for acarine (mite) pests. This ensures that selection from compounds in the same MoA group is minimised, and resistance is less likely to evolve.

SEQUENCE OF ACARICIDES (MITICIDES) THROUGH SEASON

MoA w

MoA x

MoA y

MoA z

MoA w

MoA x

Example of alternations of Modes of Action (MoA) Credit: IRAC, www.irac-online.org

References 1. Australasian Biological Control http://www.goodbugs.org.au/index.html 2. CABI invasive species compendium: https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/53366 3. Herbivorous mites: A pest management plan for production nurseries file:///C:/Users/celeste/Downloads/Pest%20Management%20Plan%20-%20Mites.pdf 4. Insecticide Resistance Action Committee - Tetranychus urticae: https://irac-online.org/pests/tetranychus-urticae/ 5. Insecticide Resistance Action Committee - Acaricide Mode of Action Classification: A key to effective acaricide resistance management: file:///S:/FGT%20Inc/Berries/Articles/ ABJ%202021/Spring%2021%20Journal/Two-spotted%20mite/moa_miteposter_v4.1_15Jan19.pdf 6. Managing two-spotted mite in production nurseries file:///C:/Users/celeste/Downloads/Pest%20Factsheet%20-%20Two%20Spotted%20Mite%20(2012)%20(1).pdf

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I N D U S T R Y

Looking to diversify your farm business?

Box Hill Institute is here to help Angela Atkinson, Berry Industry Development Officer, Vic & SA For farming businesses looking to diversify, particularly into the agritourism sector, there are many factors to consider, and new skills required. These include promotion and marketing of the business, product development, legal obligations and compliance, to name a few, as well as the potential for exposing their operations to new risks, such as biosecurity threats.

The Diploma/Advanced Diploma of Agritourism Operations aim to address these knowledge gaps for individuals and businesses looking to diversify, and provide students with the skills needed to plan, develop and manage a successful agritourism enterprise. The online components of the courses include interviews with agritourism businesses from Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales to create ‘virtual mentors’ to share their experiences, both good and bad, in the agritourism sector.

Box Hill Institute in Lilydale, Victoria, in collaboration with industry, has identified a gap in training resources specifically targeted towards the agritourism industry and diversified agricultural businesses. In response to this, Dr Mick Blake (Director, Biosecurity Centre of Excellence, BHI) and his team have developed two new online courses, a Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Agritourism Operations.

For an overview and tour of these courses, go to studentweb.bhtafe.edu.au/agritourism The qualifications have been designed to allow students the freedom and flexibility to learn in a place and time that suits them through blended delivery of online and/ or face-to-face teaching. Students can complete the courses completely online and remotely, making them accessible to those outside of Victoria.

Mick explains that one of the key drivers for developing these courses were concerns from industry that new agritourism ventures needed to consider things such as biosecurity risk to their businesses. Additionally, for those wanting to diversify from a purely agricultural enterprise to a public-facing agritourism business it is not just as simple as ‘throwing open the gates to the farm’. There are many other issues to consider, such as compliance and legislative requirements, and public safety and liability.

Box Hill Institute has also delivered a fully online Undergraduate Certificate in Biosecurity Science, in association with the Institute’s Biosecurity Centre of Excellence during 2020-2021. This certificate is a ‘micro qualification’ designed to increase understanding of biosecurity science and regulation, and also provides a pathway into the Bachelor of Biosecurity Science.

The Undergraduate Certificate focuses on the skills necessary to

These courses have been designed to suit people interested in setting up an agritourism business on their farming property, agritourism business operators who would like to further develop their skills, and those interested in a career in agritourism and wanting to gain relevant qualifications.

• P rotect our farms, livestock and crops from pests and diseases • I mplement biosecurity surveillance and monitoring methodologies • P repare and communicate plans for emergency response to biosecurity threats

The courses cover broad areas such as: • Transition planning for diversification/agritourism

This certificate is currently delivered online, over 13 weeks, allowing students flexibility in their learning, and will hopefully continue after 2021.

For more information on these courses go to www.boxhill.edu.au

• P romoting and developing agritourism products and marketing • A gritourism risk, biosecurity awareness and compliance processes

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BERRIES AUSTRALIA

BerryQuest International

25–28 July 2022 Sea World Resort & Conference Centre Gold Coast, Queensland

The date is set, the venue is confirmed, and planning is underway!

Following on from the success of BerryQuest International in Launceston in 2018, the next event was planned for two years later in 2020. As we know, a little pandemic called COVID-19 put a stop to that so we postponed until 2021.

We are now pleased to confirm that BerryQuest International 2022 will be held from 25-28 July 2022 at the stunning Sea World Resort and Conference Centre on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

We are looking forward to once again welcoming berry growers and industry associates from across the country to join us for what we are sure will be another fantastic program of speakers and networking opportunities. And being Sea World, you can even bring the family!

We can’t wait to see you at the Gold Coast in 2022!

I F YO U H AVE A N Y Q U E ST I O N S , PL E A S E G E T I N TO U C H

Jen Rowling | Berries Australia | 0448 322 389 | jenrowling@berries.net.au

EARLY-BIRD TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE IN DECEMBER 2021 SPONSORSHIP PACKAGE DETAILS ARE CONTAINED IN THE INSERT POSTED OUT WITH THIS MAGAZINE AND ON OUR WEBSITE

berries.net.au/bqi2022

I N D U S T R Y

DIY Research on-farm Sophie Parks, Senior Research Scientist, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Lorraine Spohr, Statistician (retired), Helen Newman, Berry Industry Development Officer - WA, Agricultural Produce Commission

Doing your own on-farm trials is a low-risk way to evaluate how different practices, products and equipment perform in your growing system. Getting the trial design right before you start is crucial to getting valid, reliable results that are truly representative of what you can expect if you adopt the change on a large scale.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps you can take to create a successful trial on your farm. Doing this right will save you time, effort, and money in the long run.

Step 1: Determine the aim of your trial

Repeating the trial also provides replication; this also allows you to observe how the test treatment performs in different seasons.

What are you trying to find out? You may be interested in testing a new variety, plant density, growing medium, foliar spray, or root drench which may improve the marketable yield and/or help to prevent pests and diseases. Create a research question that is simple and easy to test and limit your investigation to just one factor. Do not be tempted to overlay another treatment or factor onto your planned trial. Otherwise, if you get an increase in yield, you will not know which treatment was the effective one.

In our hypothetical trial, we will include five (5) bags containing media which was used in a previous strawberry crop. Each bag is a replicate, making a total of five test treatment replicates.

Replicate your control Control treatments must also be replicated. It’s important to identify specific control treatments in the field to avoid bias. People tend to gravitate towards better looking plants or plants that suit their unconscious biases. If controls are selected ‘randomly’ during each sampling event this bias will alter the results of the trial.

In our hypothetical trial, our research question is: Do strawberries grown in used media bags produce less marketable yield than strawberries grown in fresh bags?

Step 2: Design your trial so that it’s free from bias and the influence of outside factors

In our hypothetical trial, there will be five (5) control replicates. The five bags containing fresh media (the control treatment) will be used as a comparison to the five used grow bags (the test treatment).

All plants in your trial must be treated the same with identical conditions except for the treatment being tested (e.g., age of the growing media). It’s a good idea to conduct the trial in the most uniform part of the crop, avoiding edge rows, ends and other sources of influence like walkways.

Randomise your test and control treatments It can be tempting to stick all your test treatments together in the same area, separate to the control treatment. This is not a good idea however, as variability in the growing area will influence the results. Randomising the placement of test and control treatments allows in-field variability to be detected and accounted for when interpreting results.

Replicate your test treatment Variability exists within all farming systems. Replication helps to account for this variability so that you can have greater confidence in your results. Start with a minimum of three test treatment replications to account for in-field variability, more if you can manage it.

Splitting a field in half, with controls on one side and treatments on the other, is not a sound way to conduct on-farm trials because there is no way to detect the influence of in-field variability.

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EXPERIMENTAL ROW

Figure 1. Polytunnel with single table-tops showing the chosen experimental row and placement of control (Orange) and test (Blue) treatments. Photo credit: Helen Newman, APC the number of affected plants, leaves or fruit with symptoms.

In our hypothetical trial, plants are grown in a north-south oriented polytunnel on single table-tops.

There are three rows of tabletops separated by a wider walkway. The central row on the eastern side of the polytunnel was chosen as the experimental row to keep away from the sides and the walkway (Figure 1).

Whatever you are measuring, make sure you have clear and objective definitions (e.g. what does marketable fruit look like) and take photos of the parameters you are measuring.

The coin toss method was used to randomly allocate test and control treatment bags in pairs down the experimental row. A roll of ‘tails’ meant a used media bag (test treatment) was placed first in line followed by a control treatment ( fresh media bag).

The first coin toss was ‘heads’ so a control treatment ( fresh media bag) was placed first followed by a used media bag (test treatment). This process was repeated until all bags were allocated.

In our hypothetical trial, we will count, weigh and class fruit according to marketability from each of the 10 trial bags for the entire season.

Supporting information is also good to collect such as growing conditions during the trial (temperature, humidity, feed and drain EC and pH), crop management activities and when they were conducted (e.g., removal of runners, release of bio-controls) and other important events (e.g., blackouts, storms, temperature extremes).

Determine what data to collect What you measure depends on the aim of your trial.

For example, if you want to see if the marketable yield has increased, you can count and weigh the fruit and record which fruit are marketable and which are not.

Pre-plan everything before you begin Have recording sheets or a book dedicated to the experiment for collection of data and other information and ensure that the data you collect is traceable.

If you want to evaluate the incidence of disease following a preventative treatment you may count

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Interpreting the Box & Whisker chart

In our hypothetical trial, each media bag and picking bucket will be labelled with a unique number ( from 1 to 10) to avoid any confusion in the crop or when weighing the fruit.

The blue box on the left summarises the used media data and the orange box on the right, the fresh media (Figure 4). Data is sorted from lowest to highest and separated into four quartiles. In each box, the cross represents the average (mean) total yield within each treatment. The box contains the middle two quartiles of the observations with the box ends representing the upper and lower quartile measurements for total yield.

The ends of the ‘whiskers’ indicate the highest and lowest measurements, while the horizontal line in the box is the median (middle) measurement for total yield.

Our recording sheets have individual columns for media bag number, treatment/replicate number, marketable fruit count, marketable fruit weight, unmarketable fruit count, and unmarketable fruit weight (Figure 2).

Step 3: Collect, process and interpret your data In our hypothetical experiment, using the marketable fruit weights as our example, all harvests over the season were added together to obtain a total weight for each bag.

The total weights were then plotted in a graph giving a visual picture of how the test treatment yield compared to the control yield. You can create a graph (Box and Whisker chart) to see the data within a Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet. If you are unfamiliar with Excel, open the program and select a tutorial to get started.

In general, the fresh media appears to have performed better than the used media treatment. The plants growing in the used media also have more variable yields, as the box and whiskers are longer compared with the fresh media, which in itself may be valuable information. This graph alone may be enough to help you make decisions about using a particular treatment that you have tested in your experiment. However, if desired, and since the experiment was designed with randomisation and replication, a formal statistical method could be used to help confirm if the treatment was more effective than the control.

Using Excel, enter the data as shown in Figure 3, with the total marketable yields from each replicate recorded in separate columns according to their treatment type (‘Used media’ or ‘Fresh media’). Select rows 2 to 7 in column B and column C at the same time.

Include the title of the columns, ‘Used media’ and ‘Fresh media’ in your selection. Select the ‘Insert’ tab, then from the drop-down menu tab as shown, select the ‘Box and Whisker’ option.

Date:

Time:

Bag Treatment/ No. replicate number

1

Control Treatment (Fresh Media: Replicate 1)

2

Test Treatment (Used Media: Replicate 1)

3

Test Treatment (Used Media: Replicate 1)

Staff Member: Marketable Fruit count (number)

Marketable Fruit weight (grams)

Un-marketable Fruit count (number)

Un-marketable Fruit weight (grams)

Figure 2. Example trial recording sheet. Make your recording sheet easy to use for the person taking and recording the measurements. Include a space for the date and the name of the person taking and recording the measurements.

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Figure 3. Visual display of how to enter data and create a ‘Box and Whisker’ chart in Excel.

Figure 4. Completed Box and Whisker chart with a chart title and legend added.

Difficult to DIY treatments

Other treatments difficult to replicate include greenhouse coverings and climate control regimes.

Not all potential treatments are appropriate to test in your own research. Pesticides must only be used according to the label instructions and must be registered for the crop you are growing in a greenhouse setting. So, modifying the method of application of a pesticide or testing it on an unregistered crop, or testing in the greenhouse when it is registered only for field use is not possible.

More information The Organic Farming Research Foundation has an excellent guide for on-farm research which you can download from bit.ly/ABJ-on-farm-DIY

Treatment evaluation can also be difficult in hydroponics if you want to test a solution additive or a new nutrient recipe, particularly if only one tank supplies the crop as replication is not possible. However, if the plants are in bags of media, some treatments could be applied to individual plants by manually applying the treatment solution (e.g. a microbial boosting solution) with a watering can and the control solution (i.e., water) supplied to other plants in the same manner.

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I N D U S T R Y

An introduction to the R&D Tax Incentive Jonathan Turner, R&D Consultant

What is the R&DTI?

What is the difference between eligible core R&D and supporting R&D activities?

The Research and Development Tax Incentive (R&D Tax Incentive or R&DTI) encourages research and development (R&D) activities that generate new knowledge. It is a way for the Australian Government to encourage business to invest in research and development that will benefit companies and the broader Australian economy.

Planned R&D is more likely to generate knowledge that is of benefit to the wider Australian economy, and your business is also more likely to benefit from such R&D. Yet, such research may be a risk for you and may not return a commercial benefit. The R&D Tax Incentive offers a tax offset to encourage you to conduct eligible R&D that you might not otherwise undertake.

There are key terms that you need to understand under the R&DTI.

Core R&D activities experimental activities are activities: (a) w hose outcome cannot be known or determined in advance on the basis of current knowledge, information or experience, but can only be determined by applying a systematic progression of work that: i. is based on principles of established science; and ii. proceeds from hypothesis to experiment, observation and evaluation, and leads to logical conclusions; and

The Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (the department), on behalf of Industry Innovation and Science Australia (IISA), administers the R&D Tax Incentive with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). AusIndustry is the Australian Government's specialist business program delivery division in the department. The R&DTI is a targeted tax offset program. It offers a refundable tax offset for R&D entities with an annual turnover under $20 million. A non-refundable tax offset is available to R&D entities with an annual turnover of more than $20 million.

You need to have eligible R&D expenditure of $20,000 or more to register and claim the tax offset unless you use a registered Research Service Provider (RSP) to conduct your R&D. Your activities must meet all of the requirements of the law for you to be eligible for the program.

(b) t hat are conducted for the purpose of generating new knowledge (including new knowledge in the form of new or improved materials, products, devices, processes or services).

Supporting R&D activities A supporting activity is one that is directly related to core R&D activities or, for certain activities, has been undertaken for the dominant purpose of supporting core R&D activities.

Activities that must satisfy the dominant purpose requirement are those that produce - or are directly related to producing - goods or services; or are excluded from being core R&D activities.

Who is eligible apply for the R&DTI? You need to:

Supporting (evidentiary) Documentation

• be incorporated under Australian or a foreign law • conduct or plan to conduct one or more eligible core research and development activities • have eligible R&D expenditure greater than $20,000 • if your expenditure is less than $20,000 you can still claim the tax offset by using a registered RSP to conduct your R&D.

Compliance activity by both AusIndustry and ATO is high. Therefore, complete and well-organised documentation which evidences the core and supporting activities being undertaken and which demonstrates the nexus between the activities and the expenditures being claimed is essential.

Not available to Trusts.

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If requested, AusIndustry will require documentation which demonstrates use of the Scientific Method – the process of forming a hypothesis, and proceeding to experiment, observation, evaluation and conclusion (think high school science experiment!). It will also require evidence to demonstrate what the current state of knowledge was when the R&D activities commenced, the purpose of doing the R&D, what the new knowledge sought was and why the outcomes of the activities could not be known in advance by a competent professional.

The ATO requires documentation which demonstrates that the R&D is being undertaken by the claimant company, or on its behalf, and that expenditures incurred have a clear nexus with the R&D activities being claimed.

Where staff or contractors are being claimed, it expects to see evidence of how any time spent working on the R&D activities is recorded and what those activities were.

Documents may include written contracts and agreements, invoices which clearly reference the R&D activities, time sheets, job cards, diary entries, and any apportionment methods used (where expenditures may be jointly on R&D and non-R&D activities).

Expenditures now need to be recorded at an activity, rather than project level.

Contemporary documents, generated at the time that the activities took place, such as R&D templates, web searches, expert opinion, experimental method/ plan (DoE), data gathered, reports, spreadsheets, photos, emails, meeting minutes, contracts, drawings, simulations/modelling, plus any other documents that are generated during the R&D activities, which are archived systematically and chronologically, are therefore essential to demonstrate this.

What R&DTI tax offset benefits are available?

For R&D undertaken before 30 June 2021

43.5%

REFUNDABLE TAX OFFSET

for companies with annual turnover less than $20 million

OR

38.5%

REFUNDABLE TAX OFFSET

for companies with annual turnover of $20 million or more

For R&D activities conducted prior to 1 July 2021, if your eligible expenditure exceeds $100 million for an income year, the tax offset is calculated using your company tax rate

New incentive benefits apply for R&D conducted from 1 July 2021.

You can receive a premium on top of your corporate tax rate.

Companies with an aggregated turnover of less than $20 million may receive a refundable R&D offset rate equal to your corporate tax rate plus an 18.5% premium.

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OR

Companies with an aggregated turnover of $20 million or more may receive a non-refundable R&D tax offset rate equal to your corporate tax rate plus an incremental premium.

Premium increments are based on the intensity of your R&D expenditure as a proportion of total expenditure for the year.

There are two premium increments: * R&D intensity up to 2% receives a tax offset equal to your company tax rate plus 8.5% premium. * Additional R&D intensity above 2% receives a tax offset equal to your company tax rate plus 16.5% premium.

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What is the process and timing?

From 1 July 2021, if your eligible expenditure exceeds $150 million for an income year, the tax offset is calculated using your company tax rate.

Identify R&D activities (ideally throughout the year as and when they commence).

Collect contemporary evidentiary documentation

What Expenditures can I claim?

Eligible R&D Expenditures can include those incurred on: • S alaries and Wages (including Super, Payroll Tax, workers compensation)

Prepare and lodge R&D claim with AusIndustry through the myGov portal within 10 months of year end (30 April for 30 June year end)

• Contractors • Sub-contracted work • Payments to Research Service Providers • Consumables used during the R&D activities • P ortion of the Depreciation of assets used during the R&D activities

Identify eligible R&D expenditures for each core and supporting activity

• CRC Contributions • P ortion of general business overheads (internet, electricity, rent, etc.)

Receive R&D Registration Number from AusIndustry

The R&DTI is a self-assessment program

Incorporate eligible R&D expenditures into income tax return – within amendment timings

Before you register to apply, you must decide whether your R&D activities are eligible according to the legislation.

You are responsible for ensuring your R&D activities meet legal requirements.

ATO processes claim and any refundable monies are paid

• R efer to the law when assessing whether your activities are eligible • Keep records to support your claim

Find out more at business.gov.au/rdti

• A usIndustry may review your registration to educate you on eligibility and to comply with the law

About Jonathan Turner Jonathan is a qualified engineer, registered tax agent and independent R&D tax advisor. Prior to forming his company in 2017, he was a tax partner at KPMG, heading up its Brisbane R&D practice. Before that he worked as an engineer in the defence, transportation and automotive industries in the UK, joining KPMG’s UK R&D team in 2005. Jonathan works collaboratively with his clients to assist with the preparation and lodgement of their R&D claims and calculation of allowable expenditures, as well as helping to put in place frameworks and processes for the contemporary recording of R&D activities and assimilation of evidentiary documentation.

He has experience of working across a broad range of industries, including agriculture, horticulture, software, engineering and manufacturing.

Jonathan Turner | j.turner7@outlook.com | 0408 371 717

43

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I N D U S T R Y

Are you export curious or a seasoned professional exporter?

• notifications from government agencies,

Please join the newly formed Berries Australia Export Group to receive email updates on trade-related issues and access to the ‘Export Hub’ on the Berries Australia website.

• information from our offshore trade networks, • o pportunities to enrol in online education and face-to-face workshops, • access to trade data, • o pportunities to participate in onshore and offshore trade events, and

Access to the Export Group is open to all berry growers in Australia as the project MT20004: Joint Berry Export Trade Development is an investment under the Hort Innovation Blueberry Fund, Raspberry and Blackberry Fund, and Strawberry Fund.

• n otification of export-related grants offered by state and/or federal bodies.

Apply to join the Berries Australia Export Group at berries.net.au/home/export

By joining the Export Group we will provide you with:

Jenny Van de Meeberg has extensive experience in the field of international trade having spent over 10 years in senior roles with Trade & Investment Queensland (TIQ), Austrade, and more recently Hort Innovation. She can be reached directly on

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R U B U S

Have your say on levy cut for raspberry & blackberry growers Rachel Mackenzie, Executive Director

The Raspberry and Blackberry Association (RABA) has formally initiated the process to reduce the overall levy burden on Rubus growers.

The committee is investigating options to:

Whilst it can be said that with the investment in the industry development and communications project delivered by Berries Australia there is an increased effort to invest the levy wisely, the rate at which it is accumulating far exceeds the RD&E needs of the sector.

• Significantly lower the research & development levy • S et a Plant Health Australia (PHA) & Exotic Plant Pest Response (EPPR) levy • Review the marketing levy

RABA is proposing to reduce the R&D levy significantly to set it at a rate that will allow the current level of investment to be maintained and ensure a significant buffer should new issues arise. In addition, RABA is seeking to change the split of the levy to be more reflective of the needs of the sector.

Once the committee has decided on the preferred levy split, then all levy payers will have a chance to give formal feedback on the proposal. The changes will only go through if the majority of growers support them.

For more information on the process of changing a levy please refer to: https://bit.ly/Ag-levy

The intention of this process is very much to reduce the levy overall, but RABA has also identified the need to set a PHA levy to repay the Australian government for our contribution to controlling exotic pests such as Varroa Mite and provide a mechanism to directly fund biosecurity activities. RABA is also proposing setting an EPPR levy at zero which can be activated in case of any major pest incursion such as spotted-wing drosophila.

Currently Rubus growers pay 10c/kg in research and development (R&D) levies and 2c/kg in marketing levies. In the 2020/21 financial year the R&D levy alone brought in more than $1million and there is more than $2million being held on behalf of the industry

by Hort Innovation. To put that in context, when the Rubus levy was established in 2006, the total income from the R&D levy was $90,000. The funds raised by the R&D levy are matched by the Australian government up to a cap of 0.5% of the gross value of production (GVP) of the industry, but the marketing levy is 100% grower funds.

The committee is also considering whether the marketing levy is still needed or whether these funds would be better spent by individual growers and brands.

It is well known that the Rubus industry has seen considerable growth in the last few years with a 12-fold increase in tonnage and 21-fold increase in value since 2004. Household penetration for raspberries has doubled to 41% and blackberries now have 29% of Australian households purchasing at least once a year*.

The fantastic growth of the sector is something to be proud of, but it is also important to take stock of things like the levy to make sure it continues to be fit-forpurpose and is not an undue burden on growers.

If you are a Rubus levy payer and would like to know more about the process or give preliminary feedback, please contact Rachel Mackenzie: rachelmackenzie@berries.net.au Please note that there will be lots of opportunities to provide input including video conferences and face-to-face meetings (if possible). * Harvest to Home Data for year ending 19 April 2020. www.harvesttohome.net.au/fruitmushroomnuts/latest-highlights/blackberries

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R U B U S

Business growth & stability through diversification Celeste Cook, Berry Industry Development Officer, Fruit Growers Tasmania

Tasmania is a tourist destination, no one Andrew Terry: Managing Director Tasmanian Berries, will argue with that. A substantial part Exton and Christmas Hills Tasmania of the tourism in Tassie is the agritourism You recently won an award for experience. Producers welcome tourists ‘Excellence in Diversification’ in the Kondinin Group and ABC Rural Australian Farmer of onto their property to sample their the Year Awards. What opportunities have produce and learn more about the you sought to diversify? land and farming activity. Rubus growers When we started the farming enterprise ten years ago, it was difficult to run the business and be profitable, here have embraced agritourism as a with the amount of land that we had and what we part of growing their business. I talked were trying to achieve, without economies of scale. to some of these growers who have Initially the farm was a beef grazing and cropping I started off purchasing bobby calves which diversified and found that agritourism is business.

I bucket-reared to build a herd. I grew crops of not the only tool that these businesses use vegetables, poppies and pyrethrum but once we had through these crops, I knew I had to diversify to reduce the risk of loss and enhance rotated to keep my business operational. profitability within their business.

My passion has always been intensive horticulture and in 2014, an opportunity to grow fresh berries came along, so I took the leap to ‘give it a go’. This gave me the opportunity to leave my full-time employment, be self-employed and focus on my own business.

HILLWOOD BERRIES

Since becoming a commercial berry producer, I have evolved that part of the business by initially producing in-ground strawberries and blackberries, to hydroponically grown berries, growing under protected poly tunnels and trialling production in a hot house.

TASMANIAN BERRIES

I currently produce strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and the business is in the early phases of in-ground blueberry production. The expansion of the berry side of the business has meant that the business has had to diversify further, by becoming an Approved Employer under the SWP and the PLS to provide a seasonal workforce to pick the crops. The business has had to invest in worker accommodation to house the seasonal workers and we currently provide both on-site and close by accommodation to 150 seasonal workers.

WESTERWAY RASPBERRY FARMS

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How did you get inspired to enter into these areas of business?

This makes the job attractive, particularly for those seasonal workers who travel from overseas as it makes the trip more lucrative.

The opportunity to do something new and innovative.

This can lead to many challenges that can be very rewarding and sometimes frustrating; but that’s what drives me to push the boundaries.

In turn, this then incentivises them to want to return to our business year after year. The prolonged season also helps us ride out market fluctuations to even out high and low price points over the season.

What were the risks to the berry production business that you had to manage?

What have been the primary benefits to Tasmanian Berries from diversifying the business?

Initially it was the financial risk. It was daunting leaving the security of paid employment to establish a new business. Then purchasing an established business, which despite having the benefit of experienced employees, was an immediate weekly cost to me during the middle of the off season when I had no income.

The business has been able to spread risk across the different commodities, to mitigate against weather events, market fluctuations and trialling new methods and varieties to improve efficiencies and production.

As time went on, expansion of berry production became the next risk. I would ask myself could I afford it?

Was it worth the financial investment? Could I afford not to expand if I wanted to stay in the game?

We were continually learning how to efficiently construct hectares of infrastructure, relying on international purchases and shipping to plant the annual crop on time and maximise the harvest season.

The diversification within the berry side of the business, has allowed the business to extend the traditional harvest season and therefore increase employment opportunities and risk mitigation in the markets.

Overall, the largest challenge, has always been labour.

In our first year, the business grew strawberries in the ground and after realising how hard it is to pick and having a large staff turnover during harvest season, it drove me to construct hydroponic tabletops in our second season. Our labour challenges are now impacted by COVID-19 and the restrictions on backpackers and seasonal workers entering Australia and Tasmania.

When considering change, set goals and plan for the business to achieve those goals, by undertaking thorough research.

What advice would you give fellow berry growers looking to branch out into a new area of business?

Once a plan has been determined, commit to the projects or task 100% and don’t be afraid to give it a go. If you fail, stop and learn from it, keep working out better ways and methods to achieve the goal.

What were the other considerations you had to evaluate before moving into other business spaces?

I am always thinking about where the market needs the produce, so that we are not saturating the market and diminishing the profitability of the business. I also need to ensure that labour is available if we want to drive production in new areas, so that the crop can be picked.

How has diversifying your business helped to minimise the risk of loss (financial or otherwise) and provide stable employment opportunities?

By diversifying berry production through growing three to four different berries and differing varieties of berries, as well as using new techniques to prolong the growing season, we are able to provide our employees with an 8 – 9-month harvest period.

51

Simon Dornauf: Hillwood Berries Farm Manager, Hillwood Tasmania

While the labour-hire side of our business has also developed through a necessity to keep our SWP workers happy and provide them with work opportunities to maximise their earning capacities whilst in Australia.

Hillwood Berries has a café that I know is popular in the area, what other opportunities has the business sought to diversify?

What were the risks to the berry production business that you had to manage?

Labour and production have been the two biggest risks to our business over the last ten years. In both cases we have been proactive rather than reactive in managing these risks.

We have diversified our business in several ways including the area of agritourism you mentioned with Hillwood’s café and PYO crops.

Within our berry operation at Hillwood Berries, we have utilised crop manipulations such as Long Cane Rubus production to diversify out of the natural cropping window for Rubus varieties.

We have been an Approved Employer for seven years because we identified a need within our business to self-manage our labour. This has allowed us to maintain a long-term relationship with our seasonal workforce, having well-trained pickers returning year after year.

We have also been able to extend our production to 12 months by purchasing a farm in Bundaberg, Queensland. These opportunities have assisted the business with better seasonal labour retention and stabilising our seasonal cash flow.

From a production sense we have tried to flatten our fruit supply for labour management purposes and to access better market opportunities. This also means that we have diversified risk throughout our season so sporadic weather events don’t necessarily harm all of a particular crop in that season.

Seven years ago, we became an Approved Employer for the Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) and decided to add a labour-hire arm to our business. This has helped to maintain the continuity of work for our SWP employees so they can pick other crops when we have less work available.

What were the other considerations you had to evaluate before moving into other business spaces?

What the implications could be on our current business at the time, such as cash flow and capital requirements, labour issues and growing conditions.

Becoming a labour provider also means we can provide assistance to other growers in our area that are unable to recruit their own SWP workers due to shorter harvest periods.

How has diversifying your business helped to minimise the risk of loss (financial or otherwise) and provide stable employment opportunities?

How did you get inspired to enter these areas of business?

Diversifying our crops into different growing windows, whether that was on the same farm or in a different state, was mainly motivated by wanting to provide stable employment opportunities.

The opportunity to add an agritourism arm to our business arose when the neighbouring PYO farm came up for sale.

We thought we could breathe some new life back into that business and use the facility to allow the local community to come and enjoy the fruits of our labour.

It also gave us a chance to add value, by using some of our fruit that would not meet fresh fruit specification.

Our primary focus was to maintain the motivation of our skilled pickers and our full-time workforce as well.

What have been the primary benefits to Hillwood Berries from diversifying the business?

The other opportunities to diversify were a natural progression within our business. Both the Long Cane programme, and Bundaberg opportunities came about because we had to find ways to adapt to ensure our staff remain engaged in and challenged by the business.

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Diversifying our business the way we have has helped manage risks that we considered to be crucial to the sustainability of our business and that would allow us to continue to expand production within our business.

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What advice would you give fellow berry growers looking to branch out into a new area of business?

It was only once the crop was planted and yielding that we then explored higher value markets including the fresh wholesale market, local IGAs, farmers markets, and a farm gate shop. We then broadened our customer base further by offering PYO three years ago after experimenting with designated ‘Open Days’ for a few years.

I would look at initially trying to understand what the major risks are to your business and then work on what are some sustainable ways to manage those risks.

For example, get involved in the SWP to alleviate labour issues, protect against weather with tunnels, overcome soil issues with hydroponics, or diversify the crop using a different berry type.

Other ways we have diversified our berry operation include selling individually quick-freezing berries in retail packs and to wholesale markets, a processing facility where we can puree and remove seeds from fruit, and working with Cascade to process our fruit into juice concentrates. We have also launched, in conjunction with local juice maker Juicy Isle, traditional syrups under our own ‘Westerway Farms’ brand.

All solutions will have different barriers to entry, but I have always looked at a barrier as door to open rather than a brick wall that you can’t get over.

Diversification is very important. We are always seeking out new markets to enter as there are customers whose demands change and new entrants and competitors entering our existing markets. We can’t do everything involving berries, and we like to grow slowly in an “evolutionary” rather than “revolutionary” manner.

Nevertheless, we cannot rest as we look for the next opportunity that suits the capabilities of our farm.

How did you get inspired to enter into these areas of business?

Almost every market or area of business my parents have entered has been under the safety net of a contract.

A customer comes to our family with a proposition, and we work out how to fulfil that requirement.

Richard Clark: Westerway Raspberry Farm, Lanoma Estate, Westerway, Tasmania

Once we have learned the new area of business and have delivered on the contractual arrangements we have committed to, we look for other ways to expand these activities to new customers in different ways.

Westerway Farm is popular for Pick Your Own (PYO) and providing fresh berries to the area, what other opportunities has the business sought to diversify?

It was a contract offered by Cascade in 1995 that encouraged my parents to plant blackcurrants and raspberries and invest in overseas mechanical harvesting technology to harvest this fruit at a cost that would make sourcing Tasmanian grown fruit viable for Cascade and make a fair margin for our farm.

PYO has actually been one of the more recent diversification activities on the farm. Our farm only had sheep when my mother and father purchased the first 50 acres in the late seventies. Then they bought a little more land and diversified into mint, seed crops, a forestry nursery and then, 25 years ago, into blackcurrants and then raspberries.

Once we were up and running, supplying Cascade reliably, we started to look at other opportunities and markets where we could leverage our fruit growing capabilities. Although challenging, berries can also be a fun and rewarding crop to grow and this helped inspire us to branch out and diversify into this area of the farming enterprise.

Interestingly, berries were planted with the goal of machine harvesting to supply the local juice manufacturer (Cascade Beverages).

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What were the risks to the berry production business that you had to manage?

cost of growing, harvesting and packing berries. This is made more challenging in a pandemic. Every business will argue that it is difficult to find suitable staff. But I would argue that trying to increase your workforce by a factor of 10-20 times in a 3–4-week harvest period, in regional Australia during a period where many other farms are also trying to do the same, makes berry harvesting particularly challenging.

Berry growing has as many risks as just about any other business – but there are a few interesting ones that affect us a little more acutely.

Firstly, berries are a very perishable product when compared with crops such as apples or grains which can be stored until the market price is more favourable.

In the berry industry, you must sell your fresh produce immediately to ensure it has enough shelf life to get it to market, then be purchased and consumed by the customer before it spoils.

We are fortunate in that we have machines that do much of the picking work for processing markets. But we still need upward of 120 seasonal workers in the week before Christmas. This task was made easier in previous years as there were a lot of working holiday makers traveling around the country following the harvest season, and they knew they could find good reliable work in the cooler Tasmanian summer.

This is a timeframe of days, not weeks, meaning that berry producers are subject to the prevailing prices in the market at that point in time. Unfortunately, most berry growers’ crops tend to peak at the same time of the year. The week between Christmas and New Year tends to be a “blood bath” for berries as supply is peaking but demand for groceries is low.

International students on summer holidays also helped our industry during its peak. With closed boarders and net migration to Australia turning negative for the first time in generations, our industry’s short term, seasonal labour options have dried up. It will take creative solutions on the part of individual farmers (and potentially government) to get their crops harvested in the coming year with the industry overall set to face massive shortages and the prospect of a lot of fruit remaining sadly, unpicked.

This is because Australian consumers have a full fridge of leftovers and don’t need to go to the supermarket at this time. This culminates in very poor prices at a time of the year where yield is at its peak.

The problem above can be solved by freezing berries to sell at other times of the year. The challenge here is that once a berry is frozen, it becomes a commodity that can be traded in global markets with no limitations on shelf life. This sounds like an opportunity, but our country has a competitive disadvantage in commodities which require high labour input.

On the other hand, berries face the same issues as many other businesses with weather, finance, regulation, insurance, transportation, product specifications, customers, suppliers, etc. But we produce tasty, beautiful berries at the end of the day which can make it all worthwhile.

Germany, for example, is a rich, first world country but has a minimum wage of 9.50 Euros/hour (~AUD $15/hr) compared with Australia $28.05/hr (incl. super). Now consider the labour costs of Chile, China, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, and other large exporters of berries. These countries can land shipping containers of frozen berries on to docks in Australia cheaper than we can even pick them for (let alone grow, process and transport them). So, in order to freeze a berry in Australia, you must have found niche markets requiring “Australian Grown” as a point of differentiation – and from experience these markets make up less than 10% of the national frozen berry market and are tough to find.

What were the other considerations you had to evaluate before moving into other business spaces?

I think the first, second and third thing to do is work out if there is a market to make any expansion activity worthwhile. The best way to do this is with a contract but of course this is not always possible. But doing lots of research, working out what other similar products there are, what international trends are and talking to customers and suppliers all help to decide if that market will be profitable. Then, once sure there is a market, make sure you have the capabilities or can locate and implement the resources required to produce the product that the market has demanded.

Aside from markets and prices, labour is a challenge in berries, and it makes up a considerable portion of the

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How has diversifying your business helped to minimise the risk of loss (financial or otherwise) and provide stable employment opportunities?

What advice would you give fellow berry growers looking to branch out into a new area of business?

It is vitally important. Once upon a time we had one large customer that took all the fruit we grew. It was relatively easy to organise and arrange as there was only one customer with one specification who needed to be supplied once a year and would make payment at a pre-arranged time. We took the opportunity while having one good reliable customer, to expand and diversify our product mix, our farm capabilities and our customer base.

Understanding the market you are branching into is key. Is the market a fad or a long-term trend? Is the customer going to provide some type of security to back the investment I am looking to allocate to this project? There are opportunities everywhere and customers often have big ideas but small wallets.

Aligning expectations on volumes, prices, quality etc., is vitally important between berry grower and customer and identifying real, long term and viable markets to branch into is key.

Seventeen years into the relationship with our original customer, they were involved in a merger, and we lost our contract to supply bulk juicing berries.

It was a painful moment losing our biggest customer.

But it would have been catastrophic and provided an unrecoverable situation had we not had other markets that we had diversified into during the good times rather than resting on our laurels.

I think knowing what your business is good at and what you enjoy doing is another of the most important things when looking to branch out. There is no point diversifying into a new market that you really don’t like (if you are not a people person, attending Farmers Markets isn’t for you). Taking measured risks when diversifying means that if the new business opportunity doesn’t perform as expected, you remain in business.

Customers come and go – even the good ones. Nothing stays the same. But diversifying your customer base and product mix as much as possible (to an extent that you are not overstretched or doing activities that are not profitable) means that the health of your business never relies solely on a single business or market.

Any opportunity to branch out and diversify that gets you closer to your final customer (I am thinking PYO here), reduces the possibility that your role in the supply chain can be cut out by competitors or changing purchasing decisions by manufacturers or retailers.

It is a great way of preserving your business continuity and ongoing viability.

What have been the primary benefits to Westerway Farm from diversifying the business?

Diversification isn’t easy. But it is necessary! I would never suggest pursuing a diversification approach without first carefully planning and researching as many aspects of the activity as practical.

My sleep. I sleep a lot better at night knowing that if a major customer calls me up tomorrow and tells me they have a new supplier or they are going out of business, our farm and business will continue. This gives my family security and our employees security as well.

Diversification has also allowed us to experiment in some different markets. We do this in a small way at first, to test the viability and profitability of a market.

By testing several diverse markets, we can determine which markets we should continue to pursue with our given capabilities, and which are either not suitable for us or that we cannot supply in a viable and profitable manner. Without seeking to constantly diversify, we would be more likely to continue in segments of the market that are not viable for our business in the pursuit of maintaining scale.

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Australian Raspberries & Blackberries Marketing Update — Mamamia Partnership Adele Nowakowska, Marketing Manager, Hort Innovation The partnership was negotiated to provide the brand with a total media value of $402,000 for a $90,000 investment – a 446% return on investment.

Included in the partnership were these services for Australian Raspberries and Blackberries:

The Australian Raspberries & Blackberries marketing campaign in 2020-21 encouraged families to eat the berries in everyday meals, with a special focus on breakfast meals. The key message of the campaign was to ‘Add some oomph’ with Australian raspberries and blackberries.

Online Content • C reation and posting of 3 x advertorials, or online sponsored articles

Key marketing activities to spread this message included the update of the creative branding, a strategic content partnership, social media activity and participation in the Good Mood Food campaign.

Social Media • C reation and posting of 15 x Instagram stories with popular social media influencers • C reation and posting of 6 x Instagram posts with popular social media influencers

Video and Audio Advertising • V ideo pre-roll advertising – this includes showing the Australian Raspberries and Blackberries video advertisement before videos play on the website

A key highlight of the campaign was the strategic content partnership with ‘Mamamia ’, a popular news and lifestyle website that appeals to the campaign’s target audience of ‘Creative Foodies’, female grocery buyers with families and household income of greater than $80,000.

• 2 weeks of sponsorship of the popular Mamamia audio podcast, The Spill • R un-of-network podcast advertising – this is Australian Raspberries and Blackberries advertising in other podcasts across the Mamamia network

Display Advertising • R un-of-network display – this includes Australian Raspberries and Blackberries being advertised across the Mamamia website • H igh impact display vertical takeovers - as the name suggests, this is advertising with high impact, with Australian Raspberries and Blackberries advertising across the Lifestyle homepage of the Mamamia website

Consumer Insights • Conducting a small consumer research study

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Advertorials 1. Breakfast Diaries (www.mamamia.com.au/ breakfast-ideas-healthy): Live from 19 January 2021 - Page views: 16,030 as of end of FY21

Three advertorials were created to demonstrate simple changes to breakfast, lunch, and dinner using fresh berries.

The tone of each article was light-hearted, and the suggested dishes were quick and simple, to portray the berries an easy addition to the readers’ routines.

2. Lunch Diaries (www.mamamia.com.au/worklunches): Live from 23 February 2021 - Page views: 16,453 as of end of FY21

The website advertorials outperformed key performance indicators (KPIs) by over-delivering on the number of times the webpages were viewed, by +7%, +10% and +8%, respectively:

3. Dinner Diaries (www.mamamia.com.au/dinnerrecipes-with-berries): Live from 09 April 2021 Page views: 16,230 as of end of FY21

Social Media Influencers Three social media influencers were enlisted to illustrate the benefits of Australian raspberries and blackberries. The influencers, @svpearce, @the_real_dads_of_Melbourne and @laurenbrant, have a combined following of over 200,000 followers.

Each influencer posted a mixture of Instagram posts and stories featuring themselves and their children using berries in easy to make snacks and meals.

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As part of the Mamamia package, selected posts from each influencer were boosted with paid advertising dollars to increase how many people the posts reached and to encourage online engagement with the post.

As a result, the social media influencers’ posts and stories reach approximately 750,000 social media users.

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AUSTRALIAN BLACKBERRIES

Video, Audio & Display Advertising

A summary of the key findings:

The new Australian Raspberries and Blackberries creative branding was advertised across the Mamamia network and was great exposure for the brand, delivering 1.6 million impressions for display and video.

• Attitudes: Those who saw the advertising agreed significantly more than the group who had not seen the advertising, that the berries were: healthy, Australian, easy to add into recipes, and good value for money.

Whilst awareness of Australian raspberries and blackberries was the priority of the digital activity, the ads generated 1,603 clicks through to brand’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/freshaussieberries), reflecting consumers’ intent to look for further recipe inspiration and suggesting purchase intent.

• Purchase intent: 77% of those who were exposed to the advertising were more likely to purchase the berries in future, compared to the baseline of 54%.

As for the audio advertising, there were the 177,900 audio downloads and opportunities to hear the messaging.

• Breakfast use: 74% of the exposed group were more excited to use raspberries and blackberries at breakfast, compared to the baseline of 65%.

Consumer Research A small consumer research study was conducted as part of the partnership, which surveyed 94 women on their attitudes towards the Australian Raspberries and Blackberries and the brand activity.

• Lunchbox use: 90% of the exposed group believed the berries could be a lunchbox item, compared to the baseline of 39%.

The research demonstrated that once the consumers had seen the brand advertising, they were more likely to feel positively towards the brand and more likely to purchase raspberries and blackberries. The content partnership with Mamamia was a success and the campaign messages resonated with the viewers.

The activity delivered on the strategic goals of bringing the berries to the top of consumers’ minds, encouraging consideration and encouraging consumers to put raspberries and blackberries on their shopping lists. The ‘Add some oomph’ with Australian creative campaign will continue in FY22 and continue to increase attitudes, consideration and conversion of Australian raspberries and blackberries.

• Likelihood to recommend: increased from 70% up to 84% for raspberries, and increased from 49% to 71% for blackberries • Better opinion: increased from 70% to 81%

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Brinkman Australia Pty Ltd | 18-20 Jarrah Drive, Braeside | Victoria 3195 | T 03 9587 2566 | info@royalbrinkman.com.au

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R U B U S

Berry Industry lends a hand to help researchers address an invasive prickly problem Dr Raelene Kwong, Senior Research Scientist Biological Control on Invasive Species, Agriculture Victoria

• Invasive European blackberries cost Australian farmers over $103 million per year in lost production and control costs.

• A natural enemy of blackberries in western Europe is being investigated as a biological control agent against weedy blackberries in Australia.

• Before a biological control agent can be released, it must undergo a rigorous assessment process to show that the risk associated with its release into the Australian environment is very low or negligible.

How is the berry industry helping to assess the risk of a new biocontrol agent?

Invasive European blackberries are a scourge to our natural environment, forestry and grazing industries, costing Australian farmers over $103 million per year in lost production and control costs.

With hundreds of commercial Rubus cultivars grown in Australia, it goes without saying that it is not feasible to include each and every one in the host specificity testing. Therefore, AgVic scientists reached out to key berry industry representatives for help in determining which cultivars should be included on the host specificity test plant list.

Through a new biological control project, researchers from Agriculture Victoria (AgVic) have reached out to the berry industry for their help. The project will investigate whether a cane-boring sawfly (Phylloecus faunus), a natural enemy of blackberries in western Europe, will make a suitable biological control agent against weedy blackberries in Australia.

Through an on-line meeting, AgVic scientists guided participants through a “cultivar selection tool” 1 to identify important criteria that could be used to prioritise the cultivar list, including a range of biological and economic attributes (Table 1).

But before it can be released, it must undergo a rigorous assessment process to show that the risk associated with its release into the Australian environment is very low or negligible. This will be done through a series of experiments known as “host specificity testing”, designed to predict the sawfly’s host range.

These criteria have been applied to assess blackberry cultivars and will soon be used to assess raspberry cultivars. The draft test list will be published on Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s website in September for industry and public comment (www.agriculture.gov.au/biosecurity/risk-analysis/ biological-control-agents/host_test_lists).

During these tests, the sawfly will be exposed to native and economically important plant species that are closely related to the predominant weedy species, Rubus anglocandicans to see if it is able to feed and live on desired plant species.

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Table 1: Key criteria Criteria

Biological

Economics

Sub-criteria

Description

Exposure to risk

Does the cultivar’s range overlap with the predicted range of the agent and co-occurs with the target weed? Is the agent likely to spread to areas where the cultivar grows through natural dispersal or an identified pathway? Is the cultivar grown in a habitat suitable for the agent?

Growth habits

Is the growth form or phenology of the cultivar suitable for the agent to maintain a viable population on?

Genetics

What information is known about the genetic makeup of the cultivars and can they be grouped according to their parentage or breeding lines? For host specificity testing it is ideal to select cultivars that represent the genetic diversity present within Australia.

Commercial Importance

Which cultivars are important based on area under cultivation, market share or segment, export value, cultural or heritage significance, or amenity value?

What do we already know about the sawfly from past studies?

In its native range, the cane-boring sawfly larvae tunnel through blackberry primocanes (first-year canes), leading to cane collapse and dieback, and reducing daughter plant production.

Preliminary host-specificity tests carried out in the late 1970s revealed that sawfly larvae were able to feed on several cultivated brambleberries and some garden rose varieties, but no attack was recorded on raspberry or four Australian native species2. Despite the attack on non-target plants under laboratory conditions, the sawfly Is not known to attack these species in its native range in Europe3.

This suggests that the results from early host testing may have been influenced by laboratory conditions, masking the real host preferences of the sawfly; a phenomenon not uncommon in laboratorybased experiments.

More recently, field surveys were conducted in Portugal, France and Italy using DNA barcoding to identify larval samples collected from the canes of blackberry and other closely related species. The study confirmed our suspicion that the sawfly has a more restricted host range than what previous laboratory studies had found. A video of this research can be seen here: https://youtu.be/BfQEZW60nC8

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Female blackberry cane-boring sawfly, Phylloecus faunus.

Photo credit: Vincent Lesieur, CSIRO

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What are the next steps?

Currently, the sawfly is being reared at the CSIRO European laboratories in France and will be imported into the AgriBio quarantine facilities in Melbourne later this year, where the host specificity testing studies will be conducted.

Key phases of the project involving the host specificity testing of the cane-boring sawfly, Phylloecus faunus in Australia

Stages involved in assessing the risk of a NEW biocontrol agent for blackberry Develop a host specificity test plan list

CONSULT WITH BERRY INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS

Blackberry cane-boring sawfly

Source & grow plant species to be used in testing against the sawfly

At CSIRO's European laboratory, develop a sawfly colony ready for shipment to Australia

Conduct host specificity testing in AgriBio's quarantine insectary

• NATIVE RUBUS • COMMERCIAL CULTIVARS

IMPORTATION OF SAWFLIES INTO QUARANTINE

RISK ASSESSMENT

Native raspberry, Rubus parvifolius

AgriBio's quarantine facility

References

Stay tuned for further articles as we keep you updated as the project progresses.

This project is funded by Agriculture Victoria and Meat and Livestock Australia.

1 Lefoe, G., Hauser, C.E., Steel, J., Slater, A.T., Kwong, R.M., Lubanga, U.K., Rumpff, L., 2021. Systematic cultivar selection for weed biological control risk assessment. In prep.

2 Bruzzese, E., 1982. The host specificity of Hartigia albomaculatus (Hym.: Cephidae] and its potential effectiveness in the biological control of European blackberry. BioControl 27, 335-342.

3 Sagliocco, J.L., Bruzzese, E., 2004. Biological control of Rubus fruticosus agg. (blackberry): is the leaf rust the only option for Australia? XI International Symposium on Biological Control of Weeds, pp. 141.

For further information contact: Dr Raelene Kwong Rae.kwong@agriculture.vic.gov.au

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S T R A W B E R R I E S

Buzz-bees and other pollinating insects can increase the yield of strawberry plants Christopher Menzel, Principal Horticulturist, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

• Bees and other insects pollinate strawberry flowers and can increase production • Further research is required to determine their importance across different growing areas in Australia Summary

Most pollinators are wild animals, including 20,000 species of bees. Bees are the most important pollinators in agriculture and visit 90% of the top 107 crops globally. About 12 managed pollinator species (all bees, including honeybees, bumble bees, solitary bees and stingless bees) are used in crop production.

Flies are the second most common visitors to flowers, with over 120,000 species globally. Hover flies (Family Syrphidae with 6000 species) are especially important.

Insects and other animals pollinate the flowers of many plants. The importance of insect pollination on the performance of strawberry in 53 studies was reviewed. The yields of plants not exposed to insects and dependent on gravity or wind for pollination were only 0.65 of those exposed to insects under natural conditions (open pollination). In contrast, the yields of plants exposed to additional insects such as beehives were 1.34 times those exposed to insects under natural conditions (open pollination). Insect pollination was better than self-pollination using gravity and wind.

Managed hives or additional wild bees were better than open pollination under natural conditions. Further experiments should be conducted to examine the importance of insect pollination in different cultivars and growing conditions. Management of pollination is likely to become more important in the future with the loss of pollinating insects under global warming.

Most modern strawberry cultivars are hermaphrodites which means that they have both female and male parts in each flower. The flowers are also fertile, with the anthers releasing viable pollen. Cultivars are mostly self-compatible and do not require cross-pollination.

Individual flowers can be fertilised by pollen released from within the flower through the assistance of gravity and wind. However, the arrangement of the stamens (male parts of the flowers) within the flower (often below the stigmas, female parts of the flowers) and the large number of stigmas in each flower (up to 500 or more per flower) can lead to inadequate fruit growth in the absence of pollinators. The role of pollinating insects in commercial production is unclear, with a range in the methods used across experiments and a range in the responses recorded.

Introduction Insects and other animals are important for the pollination of many plants. About 75% of the main agricultural crops rely at least to some extent on pollination for growth, quality or seed production. Crops vary in their dependence upon animal pollinators. Some crops can only be pollinated by animals, whereas others can be partly self- or wind pollinated. Pollinators are responsible for 5% of crop yields in developed countries and 8% in developing countries.

Common pollinators visiting strawberry include the Western or European honeybee (Apis mellifera), the Eastern or Asian honeybee (Apis cerana), other Apis spp., bumble bees (especially Bombus terrestris), stingless bees and hoverflies (Family Syrphidae).

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Calderone (2012) reported on the value of pollination for strawberry in the United States in 2010. The total value of the industry was US$2.245 billion, with pollination by honeybees contributing US$0.045 billion and pollination by other insects contributing US$0.404 billion. In other words, pollinating insects contributed to about 25% of the value of the industry in the United States. Wild insects were more important than honeybees. Lautenbach et al. (2012) indicated that the total value of pollination for strawberry in the topten producing countries was US$1.69 billion in 2009.

Pollination is likely to become more important in the future with a decline in the abundance and diversity of pollinating insects under global warming and loss of habitats affecting both crop and wild plants.

0.40 indicating that 40% of total yields were dependent on pollinating insects. The relative importance of managed and wild bees and other insects was not determined.

Agricultural crops vary in their dependence on pollinators for high yields. The dependence on pollinators (pollinator dependence or PD) ranges from zero (independent of pollinators) to one (completely dependent of pollinators). Values of pollination dependence for strawberry range from 0.10 to 0.60 and mostly from 0.20 to 0.30. Most of the cited values are based on a few original reports and many of these do not include data on yield. It can be concluded that the relationship between productivity and pollination in strawberry is unclear. It is not known if values of pollination dependence vary with cultivar, growing location or growing system.

Geitonogamy refers to the transfer of pollen from the stamen of one flower to the stigma of another flower on the same plant. This can occur through the assistance of gravity, wind or insects.

Terms used in pollination biology Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the stamens to the stigma, the receptive area of the female reproductive tissues. There are various modes of pollination that apply to strawberry: Autogamy or self-pollination usually refers to the transfer of pollen from the stamen to the stigma of the same flower. This can occur through the assistance of gravity or wind.

Anemophily refers to pollination by wind.

Plants can be partially or exclusively anemophilous.

Entomophily refers to pollination by insects, such as bees, wasps and occasionally ants (Hymenoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera), and flies (Diptera).

Connor and Martin (1973) examined the effect of different modes of pollination on fruit development in strawberry in Michigan in the United States. The results of their experiment indicate the importance of gravity, wind and insects on fertility. They found that self- and bee-pollination, self-, wind- and bee-pollination, and self-, wind- and all insect-pollination gave heavier fruit than self-pollination (gravity only) and self- and windpollination (Table 1). Wind, bees and other insects all increased achene (seed) development compared with self-pollination.

This article reviews the importance of pollination on the performance of strawberry. The main object of the study was to determine the relationship between productivity and insect pollination. The relationship between various indices of fertility and pollination was assessed by examining the performance of strawberry across 53 studies.

Gordon and Davis (2003) examined the importance of honeybee pollination on strawberry production in Australia. They used a pollination dependence value of

Table 1. Effect of pollination on average fruit weight and achene (seed) development in strawberry in Michigan.

Means in a column followed by a common letter are not significantly different by the Fisher’s least significant test at 5% level of significance. Data from Connor & Martin (1973).

Treatment

Fruit weight (g)

Percentage of achenes that were fully developed

5.5 a 5.8 a 7.2 b 7.2 b 7.3 b

51 a 62 b 68 c 71 c 80 d

Self-pollination (plastic screen) Self + wind pollination (netted cages) Self + insect pollination (plastic screen + bees) Self + wind + bee pollination (netted cages + bees) Open pollination (other insects + bees)

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Stigmas (Female flower part) Up to 500+per flower

Stamen (Male flower part) Filament holds up the anther (pollen sack)

Strawberry flower components. Photo credit: Roman Samokhin

Strawberry flowers are attractive to bees and other pollinating insects. Photo credit: Christopher Menzel, QDAF

High levels of pollination are required to produce acceptable fruit quality and marketable yields. Photo credit: Jane Richter

Role of insects in the pollination of strawberry flowers

These results indicate that insect pollination was generally better than pollination due to gravity or wind.

The importance of insect pollination on strawberry was assessed from the literature. Various indices of fertility were used to examine the importance of different modes of pollination, including yield, average fruit weight and the percentage of misshapen fruit.

Differences in the response across experiments are probably due to differences in the morphology of the flowers, with self-pollination more successful if most of the stamens (male parts of the flowers) are above the pistils (female parts of the flowers).

In the first analysis, yields achieved with self-pollination were compared with those achieved when the flowers were exposed to pollinating insects under natural conditions (open pollination).

The yields of the plants exposed to additional insects such as beehives were higher than those exposed to pollinators under natural conditions (× 1.34 ± 0.25, N = 19, P < 0.001). Average fruit weight was also higher (× 1.11 ± 0.22, N = 23, P = 0.031), while the incidence of misshapen fruit (× 1.12 ± 0.64, N = 10, P = 0.584) was similar in the two groups of plants.

In the second analysis, yields achieved with additional insects such as beehives were compared with those achieved under open natural pollination.

In the first set of experiments, the flowers were bagged to exclude insects, or the plants were grown under insect-proof cages or greenhouses. Two types of bags were used across the different experiments.

Paper bags prevented pollination by insects and the wind. Netted bags prevented pollination by insects but allowed pollination by the wind.

It is apparent that managed hives or the addition of wild bees or other insects can improve the productivity of commercial fields.

Implications for commercial strawberry production

In the second set of experiments, the flowers were exposed to pollinators under natural open conditions or supplementary insects introduced into the greenhouses, tunnels or field plots.

• T he results of this study show that the yields of strawberry were higher when the flowers were exposed to pollinating insects (open pollination) than when they were dependent on wind or gravity (self-pollination).

Two-sided t-tests were used determine if the ratio of yield, etc. (self-pollination/open-pollination and additional insects/open-pollination) was significantly (P < 0.05) lower or higher than one. This would mean that self-pollination had lower or higher yields than open pollination. It would also mean that plants given additional pollinators had lower or higher yields than those exposed to natural open pollination.

• E xposing the flowers to additional insects such as beehives, etc. also increased yields compared with those exposed to pollinators under natural conditions.

• T he benefits of insect pollination vary with the cultivar, growing system and environment.

• S upplementary pollinators are often beneficial when plants are grown under tunnels or in greenhouses.

The results showed that insect pollination was better than self-pollination (gravity and wind). Additional insects were better than open pollination under natural conditions.

• F urther experiments are required to determine the role of pollinating insects and bee management on the productivity of strawberry in different growing areas in Australia.

The yields of plants not exposed to insects were 0.65 ± 0.25 (SD or standard deviation, N = 47) of those exposed to insects (P < 0.001). Average fruit weight was 0.71 ± 0.22 (N = 53, P < 0.001), while the incidence of misshapen fruit was 3.27 ± 1.90 higher in the plants not exposed to insects (N = 38, P < 0.001).

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The Queensland Government funded the research through the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Many thanks to the Florida Strawberry Growers’ Association (FSGA) for financial support.

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A D V E R T O R I A L

C O N T E N T

Managing fungicide resistance keeps future options open Berry growers are being urged to carefully consider the use and rotation of different fungicides to ensure options are viable into the future.

Certain fungi can become resistant to different fungicide groups over time thus reducing their effectiveness in controlling the disease.

In any fungal population, there are likely to be some individuals that have a degree of natural resistance, making them less susceptible to fungicides. The continual use of a fungicide, or fungicides from the same mode of action (MoA) group, can lead to an increase in the number of resistant individuals and can make the fungicide ineffective against the target disease.

For this reason, CropLife Australia have put in place fungicide resistance management strategies for medium-high risk crops.

“Syngenta has MIRAVIS® PRIME, which is a combination of Group 7 and 12, available for strawberries as well as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, dewberries, currants and other berry crops,” Mr Mathew said. “MIRAVIS PRIME combines two modes of action for powerful, long-lasting control of disease, and as a management tool to help delay the onset of resistance.”

MIRAVIS PRIME will become a key product to help growers achieve quality produce with excellent control of powdery mildew and botrytis in strawberries, and botrytis in all other berry crops, but should not be relied upon as the sole option.

“If growers utilise all of the available management strategies and follow the CropLife fungicide resistance management strategies, it will reduce the risk of resistant pathogens surviving and multiplying, helping to delay the onset of fungicide resistance development,” Syngenta Portfolio Lead Scott Mathew said.

“By following the fungicide resistance management recommendations of CropLife, growers can help ensure the range of products that are currently available, are here for the long-term,” Mr Mathew said. “If growers don’t rotate fungicides from different mode of action groups throughout the season, and from one season to the next, it will hasten fungicide resistance development.

Fungicides are classified according to the chemical activity group, or MoA, which refers to the specific stage of the disease cycle they target. Different fungicide group numbers allow growers to know which fungicide MoA group they have used and makes it easier to follow resistance management strategies for that crop and disease.

“There are many instances throughout the world where the overuse of products has seen fungal pathogens rapidly become resistant to some mode of action groups. By rotating chemistry, following guidelines and label directions, growers can take care of the products currently available and ensure they are viable well into the future,” Mr Mathew concluded.

Some fungicide MoA groups have a higher risk of resistance than others. As such CropLife Australia has a recommended resistance management strategy for the control of powdery mildew in strawberries that encompasses fungicides from Groups 3, 7, 7 + 12, and 11; a similar resistance management strategy exists for the control of grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) in strawberries with fungicides from Groups 2, 7, 7 + 12, 9, 9 + 12 and 17.

Syngenta is a leading agriculture company helping to improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. Through world class science and innovative crop solutions, our 28,000 people in over 90 countries are working to transform how crops are grown. We are committed to rescuing land from degradation, enhancing biodiversit and evitalizing rural communities.

www.syngenta.com.au | goodgrowthplan.com Follow us on Twitter®

twitter-square @SyngentaANZ Scott Mathew, Syngenta Portfolio Lead

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ISS2021: Growing Strawberry from the Equator to the Arctic Angela Atkinson, Berry Industry Development Officer – Victoria & SA

The International Society for Horticultural Science’s 9th International Strawberry Symposium was held virtually from 1-5 May 2021. It was originally scheduled to be held in May 2020, in Rimini in Italy, but this was cancelled due to the increasing Coronavirus epidemic last year.

Rather than reschedule again, the Symposium was held as a completely online event, including the planned technical tours of production areas in both the North and South of Italy, a virtual technical day, the Berry School, a virtual poster session and a trade exhibition.

The sessions and events were accessed via a virtual lobby, where registrants could log in to the sessions live and ask questions of the presenters. In addition, registration included access to recordings of all sessions, tours and events for 12 months. This access means participants are able to listen to all presentations, at their leisure, including those they were unable to attend live.

There were many themes covered in the presentations, including updates from breeding programs around the world, genetic resources, cultivation systems, pest and disease management, plant nutrition, sustainable production, fruit quality, post-harvest technology and health benefits.

ISS2021 Virtual lobby

I was lucky enough to be able to register for the Symposium, and while I had been looking forward to a trip to Italy, it is good to be able to listen to all the presentations in the concurrent sessions, which wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t online. There was so much information covered over the course of the Symposium, it is not possible to summarise things in one journal article. Instead, short articles covering each of the different themes of the conference will be made available on the berries.net.au website for those who are interested, to catch up on the latest research in all things strawberry! The first of these will summarise updates in breeding programs around the world, and research in strawberry genetics.

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Virtual plenary session

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Californian strawberry cultivars arrive in Australia Rupert Hargreaves, Co-owner and director, Global Plant Genetics

Excitement is brewing as the Australian strawberry industry waits in anticipation for the five new strawberry varieties from the University of California strawberry breeding programme to become commercially available. Global Plant Genetics, a UK based Intellectual Property company, are the international master licence holders for the UC Davis strawberry programme.

Background The University of California (UC Davis) started strawberry breeding in the 1930s with the primary objective of producing new strawberry varieties for the Californian strawberry industry.

Over the years, the breeding programme has produced more than 60 patented varieties. The programme is a world leader in both day-neutral and short-day varieties. The strawberry programme at UC Davis is fortunate to have an extensive gene pool, state-ofthe-art facilities and a highly focused, effective and experienced breeding team.

In January 2021 five new strawberry varieties were made available for international markets including Australia by Global Plant Genetics.

Global Plant Genetics were proud and excited to be asked to represent the UC Davis programme across a large number of territories including Australia. Having many of the best international breeding programmes of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes and nuts in our world class portfolio the addition of this strawberry programme became a perfect fit.

Rupert Hargreaves, Global Plant Genetics

Of the 5 new strawberry varieties 3 are day-neutral & 2 are short-day types.

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Short day The short-day varieties - namely UCD Victor and UCD Warrior - were both selected in Southern California offering both yield and quality improvements over previous varieties.

UCD Victor UCD Victor offers consistently high yields of Class 1 fruit with excellent shelf life and minimal post-harvest losses.

The berries are large, visually appealing and firm.

From a plant health perspective UCD Victor is highly resistant to Fusarium Wilt and Phytopthora cactorum.

This is an early to mid-season variety typically planted at 50 to 60,000 plants per hectare. The plants have a vigorous growth habit producing very large crowns.

UCD Warrior The second of the short-day types - UCD Warrior is a high yielding variety with great disease resistance.

Extensive trial work demonstrated UCD Warrior to deliver high levels of resistance to Macrophomina, Verticillium wilt and Phytopthora cactorum.

The fruits are deep red in colour, sweet in flavour with a high percentage of Class 1 fruit harvest.

Day-neutrals The UCD strawberry programme would be internationally renowned for its day-neutral strawberry programme.

The adaptability of the day-neutral varieties from the programme has been widely appreciated in many parts of the world and Australian being no exception. Growers, marketers and consumers are all looking for improvements and this new generation is poised to deliver just that.

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UCD Royal Royce UCD Royal Royce is the first of three day-neutral varieties to be launched, all of which are demonstrating a quantum leap in terms of quality, yield and flavour.

UCD Royal Royce was selected for exceptionally high yield per plant of Class 1 fruit.

The flavour is great with a good sugar-acid balance produced from a near perfect red berry. In fruit production the plants produce very few runners contributing to significant labour savings in terms of both cost and increased productivity.

UCD Valliant Selected for its high yield and flavour, UCD Valiant is likely to be a key variety on many strawberry farms in the future.

It has great levels of disease resistance and will therefore work well on low input systems as well as organic production.

UCD Moxie UCD Moxie peaks in its fruit production at the latter end of the season offering growers superb season extension opportunities. The variety has great levels of disease resistance to Fusarium and Verticillium wilt.

UCD Moxie, like UCD Royal Royce, produces very few runners in the fruiting field.

This new generation of day-neutrals deliver significant yield improvements, fruit size, flavour and shelf life.

Global Plant Genetics has appointed three leading strawberry nurseries in Australia to propagate and market the five new strawberry varieties. The emphasis has been on plant quality and plant type availability when choosing these nurseries. We are in the relatively early days of the anticipated launch, with the nurseries already expressing high interest and demand.

It is clear the future of the industry is very dependent on new and improved varieties and these five are sure to offer all stakeholders great hope and opportunity.

They all have high yield and better fruit quality which are all key components for the future.

All fruit images provided with thanks to University of California, (Hector Amezcua/UC Davis)

For more information, please visit www.globalplantgenetics.com

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New varieties from the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program: 2 temperate varieties and 1 subtropical variety BS17000: National Strawberry Varietal Improvement Program (2017-2022) Katie O’Connor – Plant Breeder, Jodi Neal – Principal Plant Breeder, Australian Strawberry Breeding Program Team, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

The aim of the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program (ASBP) is to breed varieties that are specially adapted to Australia’s major production climates: temperate, subtropical, and Mediterranean. These varieties must be highly profitable for growers and have superior quality to meet consumer preferences.

We have also recently adopted a new naming system for our varieties, with the first letter matching that of the target region, i.e., ‘T’ for temperate, ‘S’ for subtropical and ‘M’ for Mediterranean. This new system should make it easier for growers to readily identify which varieties are best suited for them and their growing region.

Compared with Tahli-ASBP, Tamara-ASBP is more of a premium strawberry with traits more heavily targeted towards consumer satisfaction. Tamara has extremely high brix and moderate acidity (Figure 2A), and a similar excellent flavour score to Albion. Tamara has moderate charcoal rot tolerance, however, is susceptible to rain damage and may therefore perform better under protected cropping. Fruit are light red both internally and externally (Figure 2B), and plant size is similar to existing varieties (Figure 2C).

In this article we are excited to announce three new varieties: Tahli-ASBP and Tamara-ASBP (temperate), and Susie-ASBP (subtropical).

For the subtropical region, Susie-ASBP has higher yield and larger average fruit size than Red Rhapsody, and slightly higher early-season yield (Figure 3A).

Flavour rating, brix and acidity levels are similar to that of Red Rhapsody. Susie has marginally lower bruise resistance, but slightly higher shelf life compared with Red Rhapsody, and is moderately susceptible to powdery mildew. Fruit shape of Susie is conic to long conic, with slightly lighter external colour than Red Rhapsody (Figure 3B). Bush size of Susie is similar to Red Rhapsody, with similar display of fruit, and flower trusses more upright in the canopy (Figure 3C).

Tahli-ASBP is a “work-horse” variety, with a good balance between producer and consumer traits. Tahli has much higher yield and fruit size than one of the most widely grown temperate commercial varieties, and slightly better shelf life (Figures 1A and 1B). It has high brix, moderate acidity, and an excellent overall flavour score. Tahli has moderate tolerance to charcoal rot and powdery mildew. Fruit is displayed further away from the canopy than many existing temperate varieties which makes Tahli well-suited to tabletop production (Figure 1C).

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A

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Figure 1. Features of the new temperate variety Tahli-ASBP. A) Radar chart comparing Tahli (red polygon) with a widely grown temperate variety (green line). The centre of the plot represents the lowest value for each trait, and the outside line of the plot represents the highest value for that trait from our trials.

B) Fruit and C) plants of Tahli.

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Figure 2. Features of the new temperate variety Tamara-ASBP. A) Radar chart comparing Tamara (red polygon) with a widely grown temperate variety (green line). The centre of the plot represents the lowest value for each trait, and the outside line of the plot represents the highest value for that trait from our trials.

B) Fruit and C) plants of Tamara.

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· Scarlet Silk · Summer Song All varieties protected by Plant Breeders Rights · Tahli-ASBP · Tamara-ASBP · UCD Royal Royce · UCD Moxie · UCD Valiant

new

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Figure 3. Features of the new subtropical variety Susie-ASBP. A) Radar chart comparing Susie (red polygon) with Red Rhapsody (green line). The centre of the plot represents the lowest value for each trait, and the outside line of the plot represents the highest value for that trait from our trials. B) Fruit and C) plants of Susie.

Jack Beattie | Ouse, Tasmania M 0429 497 223 E jack@jclmfarming.com.au

www.jclmfarming.com.au ASPAA ACCREDITED

All three varieties are now available in small numbers from propagators, so please talk with your supplier if you are interested.

Acknowledgements The Australian Strawberry Breeding Program has been funded by Hort Innovation using the strawberry research and development levy, with co-contributions from the Queensland Government through its Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and funds from the Australian Government.

Susie-ASBP

We thank the contributions by the Temperate and Subtropical Reference Groups and Mediterranean industry members who have helped guide the program, the Industry Development Officers, and all other industry members who provide feedback, advice, and support.

We are also extremely grateful to all the fruit producers in all states who have trialled, collected data on, and given feedback on our on-farm selections. This has helped us make more informed and better commercial judgments.

The Australian Strawberry Breeding Program team members include Jodi Neal (project lead), Maddy Betts (laboratory technical assistant), Clinton Buck (Nambour field assistant), Apollo Gomez (pathologist), Sue Hibbit (Wandin field assistant), Lien Ko (virus indexing and pathology), Dale McKenna (Nambour field technical officer and hydroponics), Alan McWaters (Applethorpe technical officer), Alan Noon (Wandin field assistant), Katie O’Connor (breeding and genomics), Michelle Paynter (virus indexing, tissue culture, and pathology), Karen Spencer (Wandin operations manager), Matthew Webb (genomics), and Louella Woolcock (Nambour field and glasshouse operations manager).

Tahli-ASBP

Tamara-ASBP Disclaimer: The above information is sourced from trials conducted on temperate and subtropical sites in Australia. This is the best available information on variety performance under local conditions at these sites. The information provided here may not be suitable for all sites or regions and varieties may perform differently in different locations. The Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Horticulture Innovation Australia provide the above information as a guide only and take no responsibility for the performance of the varieties on individual farms.

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Tinaberries, Bundaberg: Tina shares her agritourism experience and insights Suzette Argent, Berry Industry Development Officer, Queensland

In my travels this year I have come across several farms doing pick-yourown strawberries and dabbling in agritourism as an extension to the farming operation. Tina McPherson from Tinaberries was kind enough to welcome me on to the farm and share her learnings from her agritourism journey.

They sell a variety of ice-cream flavours all made with their own fruit along with fresh fruit and various other goodies.

Tinaberries is very much a team effort, with Bruce doing what he enjoys and does best - growing the fruit - and Tina focuses on the public experience which is where her passion and skill set lies. The workers here are an extension of the family, while the shop and gardens that the public enjoy are an extension to farmhouse yard and farm.

My personal experience started from the moment you see the driveway. The signs at the gate provide a warm welcome and guide you down the road to the farmhouse and area where you park. Everywhere is perfectly manicured, welcoming you into the shop and garden area. More signs show you the path to the shop front, more glorious gardens, shade trees with rustic farm-feel tables and carts, and finally an amazing old farm shed where you can sit and enjoy an ice-cream and fresh fruit and soak up the tranquil view of the farm and gardens. There are also lawn games set up for you to enjoy for both kids young and old. The staff are all very welcoming and eager to serve and answer any questions you may have. You can tell a lot of effort has gone into the design and maintenance of the ‘farmyard’ style gardens and it pays off in providing a very enjoyable and picture-perfect tourist destination where you can enjoy the outdoors and the country farm feel.

The service is genuine, and everything is generous.

Tina & Bruce McPherson. Photo credit: Emma Hook Tina and her husband Bruce bought the property in Bundaberg 17 years ago and started growing strawberries a few years later. About 12 years ago they started pick-your-own and invited school excursions on to the farm to help raise awareness of farming and provide more people with a farm-life experience.

Tina gets great pleasure from teaching and providing people with a positive farm experience. The business has continued to grow into a unique and authentic farm experience that can be enjoyed 363 days of the year.

The agritourism shop front came about when the challenge of excess fruit was faced. Tina and Bruce who both enjoy ice-cream and had an ice-cream machine - decided to make soft serve strawberry ice-cream, and with a couple of hay bales as seats, the journey began.

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The ice creams at Tinaberries draw visitors from all over the region. Photo credits: Emma Hook & Tinaberries

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It is important to invest in good signage with a coherent design feel to make the experience feel well put together.

Photo credits: Emma Hook & Tinaberries

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What are some of the factors that you think have led to your success?

Gardening brings Tina great pleasure and the agritourism component of their business allows her to invest time creating and maintaining a nice garden.

Agritourism requires a very different skill set to that required to grow the fruit. Agritourism is all about the customer experience and interacting with the public. I have a background in marketing and hospitality and genuinely enjoy working with people and making them happy.

Bundaberg has a lot of tourism so we could tap into this opportunity and provide another attraction for the area.

We are open all year round and 7 days a week so customers know they can drive out here and we will be open.

It makes me feel good and brings me enormous satisfaction. You have to love what you do, and I love the gardens.

If I wasn’t interested in gardening, it would just feel like more work and there is already enough of that around here!

What are the negatives?

It isn’t all positive and you must consider some of the trade-offs. There is always a public eye on what you are doing. There are different levels of quality assurance and compliance that you don’t normally have to deal with if you are farming; it is a totally different area when you move into agritourism and food service. There is a lot of work required with council including traffic flow on the main roads, signage, traffic flow on your farm, parking, and things like toilet facilities to manage as well.

I interviewed Tina and here are some of her insights.

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Some of the products available for sale at Tinaberries. Photo credit: Tinaberries

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What advice would you give to others getting into agritourism?

Know your niche & stick within your niche.

Do what you do well.

This is especially true when new ideas pop up.

Set boundaries around where you will allow the public to roam. This can include building physical barriers to create private zones.

It is demanding of your time. You must love what you do. It should be more than just an economic reason for getting into agritourism.

Social media is a key driver to an agritourism business.

You have to be ready & willing to respond online in a timely fashion. Invest in learning the skills or pay someone who has the right skills.

Your customers have an expectation about how everything should be.

Be ready for criticism and understand that you cannot please everybody.

Consider the longterm infrastructure needs and the longterm outlook for your property

Ask yourself these questions...

Do you want to? Do you need to? What are your long-term plans with the property?

How does the agritourism infrastructure (e.g., car park, shop front, toilet facilities) fit in with your long-term plans for the property?

What are your passions and skill strengths and do these align with the success factors for agritourism?

Are you genuinely interested and invested in providing an incredible experience to every customer?

“We may have started accidentally, but we are now very strategic. I attended a leadership course and worked with a strategic planner. We know our long-term plans; we know which opportunities to take up and which ones to let go by. Working with a strategic planner can help with determining what type of long-term infrastructure you invest in on your farm, and that is a critical part of having a plan to work to.”

Thank you Tinaberries for your generosity in sharing your learnings & offering advice to others.

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Profile: Chi Do, Naturally Sweet, Gnangara, Western Australia Aileen Reid, WA Strawberry Industry Development Officer, Agricultural Produce Commission

Chi was sponsored to come to Australia as a teenager by his uncle in May 1986.

He spent the first six weeks in Australia being schooled in English but I’m sure you can all appreciate that still leaves a lot of learning to be done! Chi’s first job was in a steel factory in Osborne Park where he worked for two years; it was very hard work, but Chi soon became a valued employee. During some of that time Chi also attended night school to further his English skills. Of course, there’s nothing like on-the-job training and Chi credits having to run a shop and deal with customers as being a major factor helping his English proficiency.

Chí được người chú của mình bảo lãnh đến Úc khi còn ở tuổi thiếu niên vào tháng 5 năm 1986.

Anh dành 6 tuần đầu tiên của mình ở đất nước này để học tiếng Anh nhưng tôi chắc rằng tất cả các bạn đều nhận ra vẫn còn rất nhiều điều khác cần phải học! Công việc đầu tiên của Chí là nhân viên trong một nhà máy thép ở Osborne Park, nơi anh đã làm việc trong vòng hai năm, tuy công việc đó rất vất vả nhưng Chí đã sớm trở thành một nhân viên sáng giá. Trong thời gian đó anh cũng tham gia các lớp học ban đêm để trao dồi kĩ năng tiếng Anh của mình. Và tất nhiên, không gì có thể so sánh bằng cơ hội học hỏi trong công việc và Chí phải công nhận rằng việc điều hành một cửa hàng và giao tiếp với khách hàng là yếu tố chính giúp anh ấy trở nên thành thạo tiếng Anh.

Chi Do showing off his berries in the packing shed.

Photo credit: Aileen Reid

Chi Do trong lĩnh vực của mình.

Hình ảnh: Aileen Reid

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Chi started his horticultural career selling strawberries.

The business grew but Chi found himself wishing he had more control over the product, so he started working with one of the growers he bought fruit from with the aim of expanding the business. The partnership lasted for a couple of years until Chi bought the property he now farms on, about 7 years ago, in partnership with his brother. At the time, the property was being used by two different growers for vegetables including tomatoes and some strawberry production.

Chí bắt đầu khởi nghiệp với ngành nông bằng công việc bán dâu. Công việc kinh doanh ngày càng phát triển nhưng anh cảm thấy mình cần có nhiều sự kiểm soát đối với sản phẩm hơn, từ đó anh bắt đầu hợp tác với một trong những nông gia mà anh thường thu mua trái cây với ý định mở rộng việc kinh doanh. Mối quan hệ hợp tác kéo dài khoảng một vài năm cho đến khi Chí cùng anh trai mua mảnh đất vào khoảng 7 năm về trước mà anh hiện đang sử dụng để phục vụ cho việc trồng trọt. Vào thời điểm đó mảnh đất này đang được sử dụng bởi hai nông gia khác để trồng cà chua và dâu tây.

Over the first couple of years, it was necessary to make many improvements to the irrigation. The main line was upgraded, and the wiring replaced on the north side of the block. On the south side, serviced by another bore, the valves were all on the surface, so they had to be sunk to avoid tractor damage and the wiring was also replaced. A lot of rubbish was left on the property by the previous owners – this all had to be cleared out, taking a considerable amount of time and expense.

Trong vài năm đầu tiên, Chí cần thực hiện nhiều sự cải tiến đối với hệ thống tưới. Đường ống chính được nâng cấp và hệ thống đường dây điện ở hướng Bắc của khu đất được thay thế. Về phần hướng Nam, nước sử dụng được cung cấp từ một giếng khoan khác, các van vặn đều nằm trên mặt đất nên anh phải lấp chúng lại để tránh bị hư hỏng do xe máy cày và đường dây điện cũng được thay thế. Rất nhiều rác bị bỏ lại trên khu đất bởi những người chủ trước – tất cả số rác này cần phải được dọn sạch và làm tiêu tốn rất nhiều thời gian và chi phí.

Chi built a packing shed on the property and leased half of it to the person who was managing the farm at the time. The remaining half he used for cool rooms.

Chi was the first strawberry grower in Perth to supply Woolworths Supermarkets direct. Unfortunately, problems with the farm manager meant the fruit quality was not as good as it needed to be, and Chi ended up cancelling his contract to supply Woolworths and took on the management of the farm himself.

Tiếp theo Chí xây dựng một kho đóng gói cũng trên mảnh đất này và cho người quản lí trang trại vào thời điểm đó thuê lại một nửa. Một nửa còn lại anh dùng làm kho lạnh. Chí là người trồng sản xuất dâu tây ở Perth đầu tiên cung cấp trực tiếp cho Woolworths. Nhưng không may các vấn đề với người quản lý trang trại khiến cho chất lượng của trái dâu không đáp ứng đủ các yêu cầu, cuối cùng dẫn đến anh huỷ bỏ hợp đồng với Woolworths và tự mình quản lý trang trại.

When Chi first started growing strawberries it was hard work. Often growers gave him conflicting information and many mistakes were made. There were also those who told him without doubt, he would fail but happily they have been proven wrong!

Đã có rất nhiều trở ngại khi anh Chí mới bắt đầu trồng.

Các người trồng khác cung cấp cho anh nhiều thông tin trái ngược nhau dẫn đến nhiều sự sai sót trong quá trình trồng. Và cũng có những người không đắn đo nói với Chí rằng anh sẽ không thành công nhưng cuối cùng anh đã cho họ thấy rằng mình làm được.

Is there a particular focus for the business?

Có sự chú trọng cụ thể nào trong việc kinh doanh của anh không?

Chi is adamant he wants “to build the brand of strawberry”.

He wants customers to be happy with the product and to want to come back to buy more. The focus is more on quality than quantity. It was for this reason that Chi changed back to growing Fortuna after growing Fronteras last year.

Chí kiên quyết rằng mình muốn “xây dựng thương hiệu cho trái dâu”. Anh muốn khách hàng hài lòng với sản phẩm và muốn quay lại mua nhiều hơn. Sự chú trọng nhiều hơn ở chất lượng thay vì số lượng. Và cũng vì lí do này mùa vụ năm nay anh quay về trồng giống Fortuna sau khi đã trồng thử giống Fronteras vào mùa vụ năm ngoái. Phản hồi từ người tiêu dùng cho thấy họ không hài lòng với giống dâu này “Nhạt và không có mùi vị. Bạn không thể thu hút khách hàng nếu họ không có một trải nghiệm tốt đối với sản phẩm”. Anh cũng trồng giống dâu Festival.

Feedback from customers showed they were unhappy with the variety “Tasteless, watery. You can’t attract customers if they don’t enjoy the experience.”

Chi also grows Festival.

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Chi acknowledges that Fortuna is not as robust as Festival and some plant deaths are expected. Some plants are beginning to show signs of wilting even now.

But the death rate in Fortuna this year has not been as bad as in some previous years.

Chí thừa nhận rằng giống Fortuna không khoẻ mạnh bằng giống Festival và việc chết cây đã nằm trong dự đoán. Hiện tại một số cây thậm chí đã bắt đầu cho thấy dấu hiệu héo lá. Nhưng tỉ lệ chết của giống Fortuna năm nay không quá tệ như những năm trước.

“Fortuna gives more money than other varieties.”

“Giống Fortuna cho nhiều lợi nhuận hơn những giống khác.”

What gives you satisfaction, why do you keep growing year on year?

Điều gì mang lại cho anh sự hài lòng và khiến anh tiếp tục công việc trồng dâu qua từng năm?

Chi is emphatic “Customer – if they are still asking for my fruit.”

Chí nhấn mạnh “Người tiêu dùng – nếu họ vẫn có nhu cầu mua dâu của tôi”

What challenges do you see ahead for the industry?

Anh thấy những trở ngại trước mắt nào trong ngành này?

“Weather. Labour. Markets.

“Thời tiết. Nhân công. Thị trường.

The market because consumers are avoiding strawberries at the moment – mainly due to Fronteras last year but also due to overall quality.”

Thị trường là bởi vì hiện tại người tiêu dùng đang e ngại chất lượng trái dâu - phần lớn do giống Fronteras của năm ngoái nhưng cũng bởi vì chất lượng nhìn chung.”

I asked Chi if he had thought of changing to tunnels.

He responded with a firm ‘no’. Chi doesn’t want to make any more long-term investments on the property, if he was younger, he might.

Tôi hỏi Chí rằng anh đã nghĩ đến việc đổi sang trồng trong nhà ni-lon chưa. Anh cho câu trả lời dứt khoát rằng ‘không’. Anh không muốn tiếp tục đầu tư dài hạn vào trang trại này nhưng có thể anh đã nghĩ đến việc đó nếu vẫn còn trẻ.

Chi doesn’t have a succession plan; he is taking it year by year. He is focused on building his brand to a level he is happy with so that whoever buys the business has a good investment.

Chí không có kế hoạch giữ lại trang trại, hiện anh chỉ trồng mùa này qua mùa khác. Anh đang tập trung vào việc xây dựng thương hiệu của mình thật tốt cho đến khi cảm thấy hài lòng để bất cứ ai mua lại trang trại sẽ có một khoản đầu tư tốt.

We talked about whether it might be possible to sell varieties separately. “Yes maybe, but it’s more work, another job to do. Does it actually matter what variety the fruit is if it eats well?”

Chúng tôi bàn về việc liệu bán các giống riêng biệt có khả năng không. “Cũng có thể, nhưng việc đó sẽ phát sinh thêm công việc. Giống của quả dâu là gì có quan trọng không miễn là chất lượng quả ngon?”

Chi does think Fortuna should be worth more than Festival. But he can’t get a price differential in WA, only in the eastern states. He feels that markets are going backwards because of the quality of strawberries, and it will probably take a couple of years to regain our position.

Chí nghĩ giống Fortuna nên được bán với giá cao hơn giống Festival. Nhưng anh không thể thoả thuận được việc này ở Tây Úc mà chỉ ở những bang khác. Anh cảm thấy rằng thị trường đang đi lùi vì chất lượng của quả dâu, và có thể mất một vài năm để lấy lại vị thế trên thị trường.

I asked Chi what his top picks for varieties were “Fortuna. Or Albion. Even though these varieties are not early, WA often has better quality fruit in September and October than Queensland due to their heat, so growers can make up for lost ground at the end of the season.

Fortuna doesn’t drop size at the end of the season as much as Festival. Red Rhapsody – the presentation is not there. Both Red Rhapsody and Fronteras have too much green shoulder when it’s cold.

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Tôi hỏi Chí về sự lựa chọn hàng đầu trong các giống cây dâu. “Fortuna. Hoặc Albion. Mặc dù các giống này không cho trái sớm, thường vào tháng 9 và tháng 10 Tây Úc sẽ cho trái với chất lượng tốt hơn so với bang Queensland do nhiệt độ cao, do đó người trồng có thể bù đắp lại cho phần thất thu ở đầu mùa vào các tháng cuối mùa này.

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People talk about changing the fertiliser program to improve the quality of Fronteras, but the evidence is not there. I haven’t heard anyone saying they like Fronteras.

Red Rhapsody eats OK. Festival would still be better if fertilised right.

Với giống Fortuna kích thước trái cũng không bị giảm vào cuối mùa như giống Festival. Giống Red Rhapsody lại không có sự bắt mắt. Cả hai giống Red Rhapsody và Fronteras đều bị xanh vai quá nhiều khi thời tiết lạnh.

Mọi người cũng nói về việc thay đổi chương trình phân bón để cải thiện chất lượng của giống Fronteras nhưng chưa có bằng chứng thực tế nào. Tôi chưa từng nghe nông gia nào nói rằng họ thích giống Fronteras. Giống Red Rhapsody ăn được. Còn giống Festival vẫn sẽ tốt hơn nếu được bón phân đúng cách.

In previous years, growers used to chase the better early season prices but lately the focus has been on quantity rather than quality.

Vào những năm trước, các nông gia thường chạy theo giá cao đầu vụ nhưng dạo gần đây họ chú trọng vào số lượng hơn là chất lượng.

Surely it’s better to pick four pallets of fruit when the market wants five — it holds the price.”

Hiển nhiên thu hoạch bốn pallet dâu khi nhà thu mua cần năm pallet thì có lợi hơn – vì nó giữ được giá.

What are you looking forward to – both for yourself and for industry?

Anh đang mong đợi điều gì cho bản thân và cho ngành trồng dâu?

“Retirement could happen any time if I feel I need a break can just stop. The property could be sold.

There has been talk about re-zoning over the last 5-6 years but there is nothing happening yet.

“Tôi có thể nghỉ hưu bất cứ lúc nào nếu tôi cảm thấy mình cần dừng lại và nghỉ ngơi. Trang trại có thể bán đi. Đã có thông tin về việc quy hoạch trong vòng 5-6 năm qua nhưng hiện vẫn chưa có gì xảy ra.

The end of the season is always the reckoning.

Do you have money in the bank at the end of the year?

Have you been paid by all the customers?

Until that happens you don’t know.

Mỗi khi đến cuối mùa luôn là việc tính toán. Anh còn tiền trong ngân hàng vào cuối năm hay không? Các nhà thu mua dâu đã thanh toán hết cho anh chưa? Rất khó để nói được điều gì trước khi những điều này xảy ra.”

What changes have you seen in industry over the time you’ve been in it?

Anh đã thấy những thay đổi gì trong ngành trồng dâu suốt khoảng thời gian từ đó đến nay?

“People are always improving; they learn by their mistakes. Any grower on their own land wants to upgrade to make things better and easier.”

“Con người luôn luôn cải tiến; họ học hỏi từ những sai lầm của họ. Bất kì nông gia nào trên mảnh đất của họ cũng muốn cải tiến để việc làm trang trại trở nên tốt hơn và dễ dàng hơn.”

Has industry progressed in the last 10 years?

“In recent years the emphasis on quantity has not served industry well, quality not there.

It takes a long time to build a brand, but it can burn off in one year.”

Ngành trồng dâu có tiến bộ trong 10 năm qua không?

“Trong những năm gần đây sự chú trọng vào số lượng ảnh hưởng không ít đến thị trường dâu khi mà chất lượng không đủ yêu cầu. Cần mất rất nhiều thời gian để xây dựng một thương hiệu, nhưng nó có thể bị phá huỷ trong vòng một năm.”

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Would industry profit by going to substrate and tunnels?

Liệu ngành trồng sản xuất dâu có cho lợi nhuận nếu chuyển sang trồng bằng chất nền nhân tạo trong nhà ni-lon?

“Yes, they probably would. You need big money upfront and it’s a long-term investment. But it saves a lot of labour and time. It saves on having to raise and lower cloches every day, whether it be for spraying or for picking.”

“Có, điều đó có thể. Anh cần một số vốn cao để bắt đầu và đó là một sự đầu tư lâu dài. Nhưng anh tiết kiệm rất nhiều nhân công và thời gian về sau. Và cũng không cần tốn thời gian vào việc mở và đóng các miếng bọc nhựa mỗi ngày cho dù để phun thuốc hay để thu hoạch”

What does industry need to focus on now?

Hiện tại ngành trồng dâu nên cần tập trung vào điều gì?

“Varieties. We need good flavour, colour and quantity.

But you can’t get all of that, it’s a compromise between quantity and quality.”

“Giống dâu. Chúng ta cần vị ngọt, màu đẹp mắt và cả số lượng. Nhưng chúng ta không thể có tất cả các điều đó, vì đó là sự dung hoà giữa số lượng và chất lượng.”

Chi thinks the next variety that will go will be Festival.

Over the last three years it seems to have become a lot more susceptible to powdery mildew.

Chí nghĩ rằng giống dâu bị loại trừ tiếp theo sẽ là Festival. Trong ba năm qua giống này dường như trở nên dễ bị nhiễm bệnh phấn trắng hơn.

“Maybe we need a cross between Festival and Fortuna?

Get quantity from one and quality from the other!”

“Có lẽ chúng ta cần một giống lai giữa Festival và Fortuna? Để có được số lượng từ giống này và chất lượng từ giống kia!”

What should the research priorities be for industry?

Ưu tiên nghiên cứu cho ngành trồng dâu nên dành cho việc gì?

“New varieties. An emphasis on quality by industry.

If you want to build the name of WA strawberry go for quality not quantity. In the end you will make more money because you will sell more.”

“Giống mới. Một sự chú trọng vào chất lượng bởi ngành.

Nếu anh/chị muốn xây dựng tên tuổi cho dâu tây ở Tây Úc, hãy lựa chọn chất lượng thay vì số lượng. Cuối cùng bạn vẫn sẽ có lợi nhuận cao hơn vì bạn sẽ bán được nhiều hơn.”

Chi’s parting comment was a little dig at displays of his fruit in the supermarket. Before taking a photo of his fruit he had to rearrange all the punnets so the labels all faced up the right way! I guess it’s this sort of attention to detail that carries through to the rest of Chi’s growing practices and why I have great respect for him.

Nhận xét cuối buổi trò chuyện là về cách trưng bày dâu tây của anh ấy tại siêu thị. Trước khi chụp ảnh trái dâu của mình Chí đã phải sắp xếp lại các hộp đâu để nhãn hiệu trên mặt hộp hướng lên đúng vị trí! Tôi đoán rằng đây chính là sự chú trọng đến từng chi tiết mà Chí luôn có trong việc trồng và làm trang trại của anh và lý do tại sao tôi rất kính trọng anh ấy.

Translation with thanks to Hayley Vo Dịch với nhờ Hayley Võ

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Queensland fruit fly surveillance Bronwyn Koll, Regional QFF Co-ordinator, Yarra Valley, Victoria

Surveillance

Traps

• Surveillance means to look for something regularly

• F ruit fly traps can be purchased online or at Agricultural resellers

• S urveillance can be looking in set traps AND looking for pest damage in several random parts of the crop area

• Different fruit fly traps work in different ways

• T he keys to surveillance are to do it regularly and evenly all through the crop, including waste fruit

• I t’s best to use a variety of styles to catch different parts of the fly population

• S urveillance needs to be a representative sample of the whole population being studied. It needs to use a method that is recognised by others as a good true indication of the crop growing conditions (e.g. Queensland Fruit Fly Code of Practice)

• A ll fruit fly traps need to capture or kill the QFF so we can count them, observe population trends, and perform identification analysis • A ll traps need to have an attractant to lure the QFF towards the trap

• I t is important to note that surveillance can also be used to prove there is not a pest problem

• QFF traps are classed by their attractant type

Useful Links

One surveillance tool involves attracting a pest to a trap for monitoring purposes (counting or observing).

If a pest is detected early enough, actions can be taken in the immediate area to warn others it is a real threat, or to control the pest before it attacks valuable crops.

Early action can mean only a small response is required, or fruit trade is not interrupted.

Bronwyn Koll has collated this table from information about products available at the time of publication. This information has been compiled with assistance provided by the product representatives, advice from Andrew Jessup, and four years of her own experiences using QFF traps in the Yarra Valley QFF surveillance project.

Organic Crop Protectants (OCP) ocp.com.au

6-8mm

AgNova agnova.com.au

Bugs for Bugs bugsforbugs.com.au

BioTrap biotrap.com.au

Vasili’s Choice vasilisgarden.com

Amgrow amgrow.com.au

Searles searlesgardening.com.au

Gepro gepro.com.au

Wild May wildmay.net.au

Report suspect QFF in the Yarra Valley to: qff@agribusinessyarravalley.com

Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni).

Photo credit: Lesley Ingram, Bugwood.org

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What traps do I use to to monitor for Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF)?

MALE QFF TYPE OF QFF / KILL METHOD

CHEMICAL The active ingredient kills the trapped fly either by contact, inhalation or ingestion

STICKY TRAP Kills the trapped fly if it touches the sticky surface and can’t move

Use cuelure or equivalent to attract the male before mating

cuelure + insecticide in a protected wick Brands available: Eco-lure® (OCP), MAT Cups (Bugs for Bugs), BioTrap, Searles

cuelure (non-insecticide version) in a protected wick + sticky card Brands available: BioTrap

ALL QFF, FEMALE BIASED Uses protein or food to attract hungry QFF but mainly virgin female QFF

FEMALE QFF Uses fruit scents to attract pregnant female (ready to lay eggs inside of fruit)

protein gel + insecticide cube

Good for monitoring and detailed ID on dry dead flies

Brands available: BioTrap

Usually instant death (little chance of the fly escaping)

—

Chemical use may be restricted in some areas (e.g. children, pets, some organic crops)

protein gel + sticky card Brands available: BioTrap

fruit scent & protein gel + sticky card

fruit scent & protein gel + sticky card Brands available: FRUITION® Fruit Fly Trap (AgNova or Vasili’s Choice)

Brands available: FRUITION® Fruit Fly Trap (AgNova or Vasili’s Choice)

DROWNS IN A LIQUID

liquid male QFF attractant

Kills the trapped fly because the fly can’t swim or balance on the surface of the liquid

Brands available: Wild May Fruit Fly Attractant, Gepro Eco Bottle Fly Trap

• Lure needs replacing every 3 months

NOTES

• Male QFF are assumed to move early in the season and trap data can indicate the need to bait/take corrective action

liquid protein

liquid fruit scent

Brands available: Cera Trap® (Amgrow), DIY recipe (liquid with yeast extract)

DIY recipe, orange or fruit juice and cloudy ammonia

liquid with yeast extract + fruit scraps

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• Lure can attract about 15-20m radius

• Lure can attract about 15-20m radius

• Lure needs replacing every 6 weeks - 3 months (depending on type of protein lure)

• Commercial lure needs replacing every 8 weeks

• Proteins are good to catch active female QFF

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Good for monitoring and easy ID on dry dead flies, but difficult to remove stuck flies for detailed ID Can be chemical free Photo can be sent for ID Clear background with the grid is helpful

DIY recipe (liquid with yeast extract) • Lure can attract about 200m radius

NOTES

• Deploy early • Fruit scents in traps can be overpowered by the scent of real fruit ripening

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Flies can decompose quickly, making ID difficult Some contents can be easily topped up (no need to buy parts) Content volume can vary between hot dry days and wet rainy days

S T R A W B E R R I E S

WA Workshop: Transitioning to substrate for strawberry growing Helen Newman, Berry Industry Development Officer - WA, Agricultural Produce Commission

A small group of WA strawberry growers were treated to an intimate look into the economics and practicalities of transitioning from in-ground production to protected tabletop growing at Berry Sweet Strawberry Farm in Bullsbrook.

Anthony and Lee-Anne Yewers of Berry Sweet Strawberry Farm shared the learnings of their 15-year substrate journey and highlighted the drivers that motivated them to transition from in-ground production to 100% tabletop production with ongoing expansion.

The working environment under protected tabletop production has also made it easier to attract and retain workers, with protection from the elements and picking and packing at waist height rather than on the ground. “There is a happy atmosphere during harvest now, our workers play music, sing and chat while achieving excellent harvest and piece rates.

This is a stark contrast to when we were growing in the ground. A happy worker is a more productive worker” according to Berry Sweet.

Change driven by labour Labour is the key driver for moving towards substrate strawberry growing according to Anthony Yewers “It’s all about the labour”. Anthony has seen a 53-61% decrease in his labour requirements since moving from in-ground production to tabletops under tunnels.

Other benefits Anthony has seen since transitioning from in-ground growing to tabletops under tunnels include: • a 15 to 25% increase in long-term yields compared to the same variety grown in the ground • a much higher proportion of marketable yield with more than 97% pack-out

We used to need 75-90 pickers to harvest the 12ha plot in Bullsbrook, we now only need 35, and that’s despite a 15-25% increase in the pack-out (Anthony picks and packs in the field). The cost of labour per punnet is the lowest we have ever seen, and our pickers are making more money with an average piece rate pay of over $40 per hour last season.

• less fruit damage and missed fruit during picking • m ore efficient pest and disease management with less sprays needed, and application timings that are not dictated by the rain • more control over nutrient management • reduced water input The initial capital investment in converting to tabletops is high. In December 2020, Anthony spent approximately $170,000 per hectare to install tunnels and tabletop systems at his 8ha Muchea property (Table 1).

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Figure 1. Anthony Yewers showing workshop participants his new tabletop system at Muchea.

Photo credit: Helen Newman

Singles the way to go

These costs are, however, offset by the annual costs of establishing an in-ground system (plastic mulch, trickle tape, fumigation, cloches – an annual cost saving of around $15-17k/ha), the additional yield and marketable pack-out achieved in tabletops, and the labour saving.

Singles are the way to go according to Anthony.

You get fewer plants per hectare using singles, but the plants yield more (250g more per plant on average) and there is less wastage. “There is nowhere for the fruit to hide in single rows, so you don’t get fruit left behind during picking like you do with the doubles” (Figure 2).

Anthony estimates that it takes around 18 months for the whole new setup to pay for itself.

It is also more ergonomic and efficient for workers to harvest single rows. Pickers harvest one side at a time, which speeds up picking rates, minimises missed fruit, and protects the backs of workers by limiting twisting motions. “Fruit hangs differently in single tabletops, presenting itself on the outside of the strawberry plant rather than on the inside (Figure 3). Fruit is clearly visible down the rows, and pickers can harvest singles almost twice as fast doubles. My pickers can harvest and pack 45 to 50kg/hr on singles compared to 25 to 28 kg/hr on doubles.”

Table 1. Costs associated with Anthony’s Muchea tabletop system (December 2020 pricing)

Item

Approximate cost per hectare

Tunnels

$80,000

Tabletops

$50,000

Irrigation

$15-20,000*

Substrate (coir)

$23,000

In addition, all the new technology being developed for strawberry substrate growing overseas is geared towards singles. This includes robotics for harvest and pest control.

* Not including the controller and fertigation kit.

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Figure 2. 2021 winter-season berries grown in single tabletops at Berry Sweet in Bullsbrook.

Photo credit: Helen Newman

Figure 3. Fruit grown in singles tends to present itself on the outside of the strawberry plant, rather than on the inside, making it easier to pick.

Photo credit: Helen Newman

Anthony originally started with double tabletops at his Bullsbrook and Pemberton properties. He has now almost finished converting his entire 24ha planting at Pemberton to singles and is in the process of doing the same at his 12ha Bullsbrook property. This is in addition to the 8ha of singles he recently installed at his Muchea property.

Acknowledgement This workshop was held on 26 May 2021.

We would like to thank the Berry Sweet team for hosting the event and Ronan Hoyle from Galuku for providing a technical overview of substrate growing.

Measure, measure, measure, and be willing to learn This was Anthony’s final message to the group.

To succeed in substrate, you must be willing to adopt new technologies that allow you to monitor and measure what’s happening in the field. This technology will give you a clear picture of what your crop needs, and you need to follow the lead of your devices (with some infield ground truthing). Converting to substrate is a big learning curve and you are constantly learning.

This is a whole new way of growing strawberries so you must be committed to changing the way you do things.

For more information about growing strawberries in substrate, visit: galuku.com/strawberries

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Hội thảo WA: Chuyển đổi sang việc trồng dâu tây bằng chất nền nhân tạo Helen Newman, Cán Bộ Phát Triển Kỹ Thuật Ngành Dâu Tây, Tây Úc

Một nhóm nhỏ những người trồng dâu tây tại Tây Úc đã được tham quan thực tế về tính kinh tế và thực tiễn của việc chuyển đổi từ việc trồng trong đất sang trồng trên mặt dàn trong nhà ni-lon tại trang trại trồng dâu tây Berry Sweet ở Bullsbrook.

Anthony và Lee-Anne Yewers đến từ trang trại dâu tây Berry Sweet đã chia sẻ những kinh nghiệm tích lũy được trong hành trình 15 năm trồng dâu tây trong môi trường nhân tạo của họ và nhấn mạnh những động lực thúc đẩy họ chuyển đổi từ trồng trong đất sang 100% trồng trên mặt dàn với việc mở rộng liên tục.

Môi trường làm việc dưới hệ thống trồng sản xuất trên mặt dàn trong nhà ni-lon cũng giúp việc thu hút và giữ chân người lao động trở nên dễ dàng hơn với sự bảo vệ khỏi các nhân tố cùng việc thu hoạch và đóng gói ở độ cao vừa phải ngang chừng thắt lưng thay vì dưới mặt đất. “Giờ đây bầu không khí trở nên vui vẻ trong lúc thu hoạch, công nhân của chúng tôi nghe nhạc, ca hát và trò chuyện trong khi đạt được tỷ lệ thu hoạch và đóng gói sản phẩm xuất sắc. Bầu không khí này hoàn toàn trái ngược với khi chúng tôi còn trồng sản xuất dưới mặt đất. Một công nhân vui vẻ là một công nhân làm việc có hiệu suất cao hơn”

Thay đổi do nguồn lao động thúc đẩy Vấn đề lao động là động lực thúc đẩy chính để tiến tới với việc trồng dâu tây trên chất nền nhân tạo, theo Anthony Yewers “Tất cả đều bắt nguồn từ vấn đề nhân công”. Anthony đã thấy nhu cầu sử dụng lao động của mình giảm khoảng 53-61% kể từ khi chuyển từ việc trồng sản xuất trong đất sang trồng sản xuất trên mặt dàn trong các nhà ni-lon.

Những lợi ích khác mà Anthony đã thấy kể từ khi chuyển đổi từ việc trồng trong đất sang trồng bằng mặt dàn trong nhà ni-lon bao gồm: • S ự tăng trưởng lợi suất dài hạn từ 15 đến 20% so với cùng loại giống nhưng trồng trong đất.

Chúng tôi từ nhu cầu khoảng 75-90 nhân công để thu hoạch khu đất trồng 12 héc-ta ở Bullsbrook, giờ đây chúng tôi chỉ cần 35 người mặc dù số lượng thành phẩm đóng gói tăng lên 15-25%” (Anthony hái và đóng gói tại khu trồng). “Chi phí nhân công cho mỗi hộp dâu tây đạt mức thấp nhất mà chúng tôi từng thấy, và nhân công của chúng tôi đang được trả nhiều hơn với mức lương khoán trung bình trên $40 mỗi giờ vào mùa trước.

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• T ỷ lệ khả năng lợi suất trên thị trường cao hơn rõ rệt với hơn 97% sản lượng đóng gói.

• Ít quả bị hỏng và bị sót trong quá trình thu hoạch • Q uản lí sâu bệnh hiệu quả hơn (phun xịt ít hơn, và thời gian phun xịt không bị ảnh hưởng bởi mưa) • Kiểm soát tốt hơn việc quản lý dinh dưỡng • Giảm lượng nước đầu vào Cần có vốn đầu tư cao lúc ban đầu để chuyển đổi sang hệ thống trồng bằng mặt dàn. Trong tháng 12 năm 2020, Anthony chi trả ước chừng $170,000 trên mỗi héc-ta để

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Hình 1: Anthony Yewers đang cho những người tham gia hội thảo xem hệ thống trồng trên mặt dàn mới của anh ấy tại Muchea.

Hình ảnh: Helen Newman

lắp đặt nhà ni-lon và hệ thống dàn tại trang trại rộng 8 héc-ta của mình ở Muchea (Xem Bảng 1). Tuy nhiên, những chi phí này được bù lại bởi những chi phí hằng năm của việc thiết lập một hệ thống trồng trong đất (lớp phủ nhựa, băng tưới nhỏ giọt, hun trùng, vải bọc – tiết kiệm chi phí hằng năm lên đến khoảng $15,00017,000 trên mỗi héc-ta), lợi suất cộng thêm và sản lượng đóng gói thương phẩm thu về từ hệ thống trồng trên dàn, cùng với chi phí tiết kiệm từ nguồn lao động/nhân lực. Anthony ước tính rằng phải mất khoảng 18 tháng để toàn bộ hệ thống thiết lập mới này có thể tự chi trả cho các chi phí mà nó phát sinh

Trồng theo hàng đơn là cách hiệu quả nhất Theo anh Anthony, trồng theo hàng đơn là cách hiệu quả nhất. Tuy rằng mỗi héc-ta sẽ có ít cây hơn khi trồng theo phương pháp này, nhưng mỗi cây sẽ cho năng suất cao hơn (trung bình mỗi cây cho nhiều hơn 250g) và ít quả bị lãng phí hơn. “Không có chỗ để quả dâu có thể bị che khuất trong các hàng đơn, vì vậy quả sẽ không bị sót lại khi thu hoạch như khi trồng và thu hoạch bằng các hàng đôi” (Hình 2) Công nhân thu hoạch trái từ hàng đơn cũng tiện lợi và hiệu quả hơn. Người hái sẽ thu hoạch từng bên một, giúp tăng tốc độ hái, giảm thiểu việc bỏ sót quả, và bảo vệ lưng của họ bằng cách hạn chế các chuyển động xoay lưng. “Quả phát triển theo một cách khác khi trồng bằng hệ thống dàn theo hàng đơn và thường thì chúng sẽ mọc ra bên ngoài của cây hơn là mọc khuất bên trong (Hình 3).

Bảng 1: Chi phí liên quan đến hệ thống trồng trên dàn tại trang trại Muchea của anh Anthony (giá tháng 12 năm 2020)

Hạng mục

Chi phí ước tính cho mỗi héc-ta

Nhà ni-lon

$80,000

Hệ thống dàn

$50,000

Hệ thống tưới

$15-20,000*

Chất nền (xơ dừa)

$23,000

Các quả dâu có thể được nhìn thấy rõ ràng dọc theo các hàng, và công nhân có thể thu hoạch các hàng đơn này một cách nhanh chóng chỉ bằng phân nửa thời gian thu hoạch các hàng đôi. Các công nhân của tôi có thể thu hoạch và đóng gói từ 45 đến 50kg mỗi giờ từ các hàng đơn so với từ 25 đến 28kg mỗi giờ từ các hàng đôi”

* Chi phí không bao gồm bộ điều khiển và bộ trang thiết bị bón phân

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Hình 2: Các quả dâu trong vụ đông 2021 được trồng theo hàng chiếc bằng hệ thống mặt dàn tại trang trại Berry Sweet ở Bullsbrook. Hình ảnh: Helen Newman

Hình 3. Quả được trồng theo hàng đơn có xu hướng làm cho chúng dễ dàng được nhìn thấy hơn bằng cách mọc ra phía bên ngoài của cây hơn là bên trong, làm cho việc thu hoạch cũng trở nên dễ dàng hơn. Hình ảnh: Helen Newman

Hơn nữa, các công nghệ mới đang được nghiên cứu và phát triển cho việc trồng dâu tây trên đất nền nhân tạo ở các nước khác cũng hướng về phương pháp trồng hàng đơn. Các công nghệ này cũng bao gồm thu hoạch và quản lí sâu bệnh bằng rô-bốt.

Công nghệ này sẽ cung cấp cho bạn một hình ảnh thực tế rõ ràng về những gì khu đất trồng đang cần, và bạn cần tuân theo sự hướng dẫn từ các thiết bị của mình (cùng với vài lần kiểm tra thực địa). Chuyển đổi sang trồng bằng đất nền nhân tạo là một bước ngoặc lớn và bạn sẽ không ngừng học hỏi những điều mới. Đây là một phương pháp hoàn toàn mới trong việc trồng sản xuất dâu tây nên rằng bạn phải thực sự cam kết trong việc thay đổi các phương thức mà bạn đã và đang làm.

Ban đầu Anthony bắt đầu với hệ thống trồng dàn đôi tại 2 trang trại ở Bullsbrook và Pemberton của mình.

Giờ đây anh ấy đã gầnnhư hoàn thành việc chuyển đổi trang trại rộng 24 héc-ta của mình ở Pemberton sang hàng đơn và đang trong quá trình thực hiện điều tương tự tại trang trại trộng 12 héc-ta ở Bullsbrook. Con số này nhằm bổ sung thêm cho khu đất trồng hàng đơn rộng 8 héc-ta mà anh ấy đã lắp đặt gần đây tại trang trại Muchea của mình

Lời cảm ơn Hội thảo này được tổ chức vào ngày 26 tháng 5 năm 2021. Chúng tôi muốn cảm ơn các thành viên trang trại Berry Sweet đã tổ chức sự kiện và Ronan Hoyle đến từ Galuku đã cung cấp một cái nhìn tổng quan về kỹ thuật trồng bằng đất nền nhân tạo.

Đo lường, đo lường, đo lường, và sẵn sàng học hỏi Đây là thông điệp cuối cùng mà Anthony muốn gửi đến nhóm người tham gia. Để thành công trong phương pháp trồng bằng đất nền nhân tạo, bạn phải sẵn sàng ứng dụng các công nghệ kỹ thuật cho phép bạn theo dõi và đo lường những gì đang xảy ra trên khu đất trồng.

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Translation with thanks to Hayley Vo Dịch với nhờ Hayley Võ

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WA Strawberry Quality Forum Helen Newman, Berry Industry Development Officer WA, Agricultural Produce Commission

Strawberry growers, market agents, quality assurance specialists, and industry staff came together at an industry quality forum on 14 July 2021 to discuss how the WA strawberry industry could improve fruit quality and sales.

Perth Market insight

Buyers that walk through the markets tend to purchase smaller quantities and want the better-quality fruit but for the same price as the cheaper lines. There is no mid-range pricing in the Perth Market anymore.

The Perth market is small, and WA produces more strawberries than the current market demands, especially from August to November (Figure 1). As strawberry volumes begin to increase in July, oversupply becomes an issue and wholesale prices drop (Figure 2).

Mondays are a busy day at Perth Markets, with lots of fruit changing hands. Good quality fruit generally moves quickly on a Monday (when the market is not flooded). Tuesdays are less busy, and Wednesdays are very quiet with little opportunity to move fruit that didn’t sell on Monday. Thursday is the busiest day and any fruit not purchased earlier in the week is discounted on that day, so it’s not held over the weekend. Any good quality fruit generally moves quickly on a Thursday. Fridays are also busy, and marketers aim to minimise any strawberries they are still holding before the markets close for the weekend.

Fruit that meets the requirements of major customers is in plentiful supply; while fruit that doesn’t meet these requirements is also plentiful but is very difficult to sell.

This puts downward pressure on grower returns as ‘out of spec’ fruit is heavily discounted. Returns of 80 cents to $1 for a 250g punnet are common for discounted strawberries during peak season. The break-even return for traditionally grown strawberries in WA is estimated at $1.40 per 250g punnet.

Up to 70% of fruit sold through the Perth Market is purchased sight-unseen. Buyers of this fruit expect good quality and growers must comply with higherlevel quality assurance schemes, such as Freshcare, HARPS and ethical trade initiatives. During peak season, fruit must be exported to external markets, either domestic or international, which requires further certification. These export markets are vital and fruit quality and varieties that travel well are essential.

Buyers of sight-unseen product are brand or supplier loyal and expect the same if not better product if their preferred brand is unavailable.

Opportunities for improvement The berry category is growing in Australia so there is optimism for the future, particularly if issues with fruit quality can be overcome. Improvements in quality and consumer acceptability have seen increases in sales volumes and prices in other horticultural industries.

Forum participants highlighted four key areas where there is an opportunity for growers to improve consumer acceptance and industry profitability: • Variety selection – choosing superior tasting varieties that produce consistent quality throughout the season such as Albion and Fortuna – choose ‘quality over quantity’.

The remaining 30% of fruit is sold from the market floor to an increasingly small pool of buyers. Foot traffic in the markets is low as most product is sold prior to the market opening. Fruit not sold sight-unseen is therefore very difficult to move and usually goes to price-sensitive buyers for discount prices.

• F ertiliser and irrigation practices – ensuring the correct balance of nutrients is always available to optimise fruit integrity and taste.

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Figure 1. Volumes of fruit sold through the Perth Market Authority (Market West data).

Figure 2. Average monthly prices for strawberry trays sold through the Perth Market Authority (Market West data).

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• P icker and packer training – picking and packing fruit with the appropriate level of ripeness into industry-standard size categories to avoid mixing of sizes and ripeness in punnets.

Other high-yielding early varieties such as Festival and Fronteras have been problematic in WA. Festival generally performs well in winter when the correct fertiliser and irrigation is applied but has very poor quality outcomes when too much nitrogen (N) and not enough potassium (K) and calcium (Ca) are applied. Quality also quickly deteriorates in warm weather, so marketable fruit is generally not produced after August. Fronteras also has very poor quality characteristics when fertiliser and irrigation applications are out of balance; it also suffers from green shoulder which can be unappealing to buyers.

• C old chain management – removal of field heat on-farm to prevent rapid deterioration of fruit and maximise shelf life.

A transition to protected cropping using substrate production on tabletops was also seen as a good opportunity to improve quality and profitability and a way to address labour shortages.

Some of the quality issues seen with these early season varieties can be improved with better fertiliser management and picking practices, however good results can be tricky to achieve.

Variety selection In the Perth region, the most reliable varieties in terms of consistent fruit quality and consumer acceptance are Albion and Fortuna. Albion performs well from August to November and is considered one of the best tasting varieties on the market. Fortuna is another mid-to-late season variety with excellent taste and storage characteristics. Fortuna is more susceptible to soil pathogens than other varieties so you must have good soil fumigation practices (Figure 3) and healthy mature runners to succeed with this variety.

New varieties continue to become available through Australian and international breeding programs. It will be important for growers to evaluate these varieties on-farm and carefully select those that produce superior tasting fruit with consistent quality in the WA environment.

Figure 3. Good fumigation practices are essential to success when growing Fortuna. Soil must be uniformly wet to achieve good fumigation, as fumigant will not flow through dry patches. This aerial image shows a common prefumigation sprinkler uniformity pattern seen in the Perth region. Variations in pressure and flow rate create this poor uniformity which leads to poor fumigant distribution. Photo credit: Google Earth

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Figure 4. Problematic traits of early season varieties: both Red Rhapsody and Fronteras (pictured left) suffer from green or white shoulder in the Perth climate, which is not appealing to buyers. Festival (pictured right) looks great, and attracts buyers, but is often tasteless so does not get repeat purchases. Fronteras also often lacks flavour and can become watery and soft later in the season. Photo credit: Helen Newman, APC

Fertiliser and irrigation practices

Picker and packer training

• O ver-application of nitrogen and poor maintenance of calcium and potassium levels in the soil create fruit that is flavourless and watery with little shelf life.

Unripe fruit with green or white shoulders is not visually appealing to customers so care must be taken with the timing of picking. Mixing of berry sizes within the one punnet, particularly when small berries are hidden under large ones, is also concerning and drives customers away. Training pickers and packers in how to select suitably ripe fruit and how to grade fruit size will help address this problem.

• B ase applications of compost and manure before planting must be avoided as they provide excessive and uncontrolled amounts of nitrogen to the plant early in the season.

• R egular application of fertiliser through the irrigation system (fertigation) is recommended, with the balance of nutrients adjusted to meet the requirements of each individual variety.

• G rowers focused on maintaining fruit quality should also conduct regular petiole sap and soil tests throughout the season to help guide their nutrition programs.

Monitoring and accurate maintenance of soil moisture is also crucial. Over application of water will wash nutrients out of the root zone which is wasteful and liable to create deficiencies. Under application of water disrupts the flow of nutrients to the plant (also causing deficiencies) and causes salts to concentrate damaging plant roots and leaving them susceptible to soil-borne diseases. For the best results, irrigation schedules should be monitored and adjusted using in-field soil moisture monitoring equipment.

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Implementation of cold chain procedures Investment-in and utilisation-of on-farm cooling systems to remove field heat from strawberries (yes, even in winter!) is crucial to maintaining fruit quality and is another key area for improvement.

Some market floors forced-air-cool fruit on arrival, however as fruit must be cooled within an hour of harvest, cooling on-farm is crucial. For details on this see the post-harvest handling article on Page 72 in the Winter 2021 edition of the Australian Berry Journal.

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Diễn đàn chất lượng ngành dâu tây của Tây Úc (WA) Helen Newman, Cán Bộ Phát Triển Kỹ Thuật Ngành Dâu Tây, Tây Úc

Những người trồng dâu tây, các đại lý/nhà thu mua, chuyên gia đảm bảo chất lượng và nhân viên trong ngành đã cùng nhau tham dự một diễn đàn về chất lượng ngành dâu tây vào ngày 14 tháng 7 năm 2021 và thảo luận về cách làm thế nào để ngành dâu tây WA có thể cải thiện chất lượng quả và doanh số bán ra.

Thông tin chi tiết về thị trường tại Perth

thu mua các sản phẩm khi chưa được nhìn thấy trước chất lượng này rất trung thành với thương hiệu và họ mong đợi sản phẩm có chất lượng tương tự hoặc tốt hơn thương hiệu yêu thích của họ.

Thị trường tại Perth nhỏ và WA đang sản xuất nhiều dâu tây hơn so với nhu cầu thị trường hiện tại, đặc biệt là từ tháng 8 đến tháng 11 (Hình 1). Khi khối lượng dâu tây thu hoạch bắt đầu tăng mạnh vào tháng 7, tình trạng dư cung trở thành một vấn đề và giá bán sỉ giảm xuống (Hình 2). Các quả đáp ứng đủ các yêu cầu của những khách hàng lớn với nguồn cung dồi dào trên thị trường khiến cho các quả không đạt đủ các yêu cầu này trở nên rất khó tiêu thụ trong khi nguồn cung cũng dồi dào không kém. Điều này gây ra gánh nặng cho doanh thu của các nhà trồng bởi vì các quả không đạt yêu cầu này được bán với giá rất rẻ. Doanh thu từ 80 cent đến 1 đô la cho mỗi thành phẩm 250g là rất phổ biến đối với dâu tây giảm giá trong mùa cao điểm. Trong khi ở WA ước tính cần doanh thu khoảng 1.40 đô la trên mỗi thành phẩm 250g để hoà vốn với phương thức trồng truyền thống.

30% dâu tây còn lại được bán từ sàn chợ cho một lượng người mua ngày càng ít đi. Số lượng người ra vào chợ thấp vì hầu hết các sản phẩm đều được bán trước khi chợ mở cửa. Dâu được bán theo cách người mua có thể lựa chọn sản phẩm họ thích thì rất chậm và thường bị giảm giá bởi những người mua có tính mặc cả. Người mua dạo qua các khu chợ cũng có xu hướng mua với số lượng ít hơn và đòi hỏi chất lượng tốt hơn nhưng với giá tương đương với các loại rẻ hơn. Không có giá tầm trung trên thị trường Perth nữa.

Các ngày Thứ Hai là những ngày bận rộn tại khu chợ Perth, với rất nhiều loại trái cây được mua vào và bán ra. Quả với chất lượng tốt thường bán được một cách nhanh chóng vào ngày này (khi khu chợ không bị ngập) Thứ Ba thì ít đông đúc hơn, và Thứ Tư thì rất vắng vẻ với ít cơ hội để bán những quả không bán được từ Thứ Hai. Thứ Năm là ngày đông đúc nhất và những quả nào không bán được vào đầu tuần sẽ được giảm giá vào ngày này để chúng không bị tồn đọng đến cuối tuần. Các loại quả nào với chất lượng tốt thường sẽ được mua/bán rất nhanh vào ngày Thứ Năm. Thứ Sáu cũng thường rất tấp nập, và các nhà chợ đặt mục tiêu giảm thiểu số dâu tây chưa bán được trước khi khu chợ đóng cửa vào cuối tuần.

Có tới 70% dâu tây bán thông qua các khu chợ Perth được mua mà không cần nhìn thấy trước chất lượng.

Các nhà thu mua của những loại dâu này kỳ vọng sản phẩm với chất lượng tốt và người trồng phải tuân thủ các chương trình đảm bảo chất lượng nghiêm ngặt hơn, như là Freshcare + HARPS và chủ động làm thương mại một cách uy tín. Trong mùa cao điểm, dâu tây phải được xuất khẩu ra các thị trường bên ngoài, bao gồm trong nước hoặc quốc tế, và các thị trường bên ngoài này thường đòi hỏi thêm các chứng nhận khác. Các thị trường xuất khẩu này là thiết yếu và có chất lượng quả tốt và các loại giống có thể giữ được lâu trong quá trình vận chuyển là những điều rất quan trọng. Những nhà

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Hình 1. Khối lượng dâu bán được thông qua Cơ Quan Thị Trường Perth (dữ liệu từ Market West)

Hình 2. Giá trung bình qua mỗi tháng cho các khay dâu tây bán được thông qua Cơ Quan Thị Trường Perth (dữ liệu từ Market West)

S P R I N G 2 0 21

AUSTRALIAN

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EDITION 8

Các cơ hội cho sự cải tiến

Sự chọn lọc giống

Nhóm quả mọng đang trên đà phát triển ở Úc vì vậy có nhiều hứa hẹn trong tương lai, đặc biệt nếu các vấn đề với chất lượng quả có thể được khắc phục. Cải thiện về chất lượng và tính đón nhận của người tiêu dùng đã cho thấy sự gia tăng sản lượng tiêu thụ và giá cả trong các ngành trồng trọt khác

Ở các vùng của Perth, giống dâu được tin dùng nhiều nhất khi nói về sự đồng nhất trong chất lượng và sự đón nhận của người tiêu dùng bao gồm Albion và Fortuna.

Giống Albion cho sản lượng tốt từ tháng 8 đến tháng 11 và được cho là một trong những giống dâu tây có vị ngon nhất trên thị trường. Fortuna là một giống khác nữa cũng cho quả tốt từ giữa mùa đến cuối mùa với hương vị và các đặc điểm bảo quản tốt. Tuy nhiên giống Fortuna lại dễ bị lây nhiễm bởi các mầm bệnh trong đất hơn so với các giống khác cho nên việc thực hành bón phân phải thật kỹ lưỡng (Hình 3) và phải có các cây giống đủ tuổi khỏe mạnh để có thể thành công với việc trồng giống này.

Những người tham gia diễn đàn đã làm nổi bật bốn lĩnh vực chính mà các nhà trồng có cơ hội cải thiện sự đón nhận của người tiêu dùng và lợi suất của ngành: • C họn lọc giống – chọn các loại giống cho quả có hương vị thơm ngon mà có thể duy trì chất lượng suốt mùa như là giống Albion và Fortuna theo tiêu chí ‘chất lượng hơn là số lượng’.

Các giống cho năng suất ban đầu cao như là Festival và Fronteras lại không cho quả tốt trong khí hậu mùa đông của Perth (Hình 4) và gây hại nhiều hơn là có lợi cho việc thương mại dâu tây nói chung. Các giống này cho năng suất tốt vào đầu mùa đông, thu về được giá cao vào đầu vụ, nhưng khả năng đón nhận của người tiêu dùng kém và quả nhanh hỏng khi thời tiết ấm lên. Khối lượng lớn quả dâu thu hoạch được từ những giống này tràn ngập trên thị trường, khiến cho giá dâu giảm và lợi suất thu được ở đầu vụ đi xuống. Giá xuống thấp hơn nữa khi quả của những giống còn lại với chất lượng tốt hơn bắt đầu được thu hoạch từ tháng 7/tháng 8 và người tiêu dùng giảm nhu cầu mua các sản phẩm từ các giống đầu mùa.

• C ác thực hành trong việc tưới nước và bón phân – đảm bảo sự cân bằng các chất dinh dưỡng để tối ưu chất lượng và hương vị của quả.

• Đ ào tạo nhân công – thu hoạch và đóng gói các quả dâu có màu sắc (mức độ chín mùi) thích hợp theo từng kích thước tiêu chuẩn để tránh việc trộn lẫn các quả có kích cỡ và độ chín khác nhau trong cùng thành phẩm.

• Q uản lí dây chuyền giữ lạnh – loại bỏ nhiệt độ tự nhiên của quả sau khi thu hoạch để ngăn chặn việc quả bị nhanh hỏng và tươi lâu.

Sự chuyển đổi sang việc trồng thu hoạch và sản xuất trong nhà ni-lon bằng cách sử dụng chất nền nhân tạo trên mặt dàn cũng được xem là một cơ hội tốt để cải thiện chất lượng, tính lợi suất và cũng là một cách để giải quyết tình trạng thiếu nhân công.

Một số vấn đề về chất lượng đối với các giống đầu mùa có thể được cải thiện với việc thực hành quản lí phân bón và thu hoạch tốt hơn, tuy nhiên có thể khó đạt được kết quả mong muốn và các kết quả này thường không có sự nhất quán.

Thực hành tưới nước và bón phân

Hình 3. Thực hành tốt trong việc bón phân là điều thiết yếu để thành công khi trồng giống Fortuna. Đất phải được làm ẩm một cách đồng đều để đạt được hiệu quả khi xông khử đất, vì các chất xông khử sẽ không đi qua được các mảng đất khô. Hình ảnh từ trên cao này cho thấy một mô hình phổ biến của các vòi phun nước làm ẩm đất trước khi thực hiện quá trình xông khử hay được thấy ở các vùng của Perth. Áp suất và tốc độ phun khác nhau từ các vòi khiến việc làm ẩm đất không đồng đều dẫn đến việc phân bố các khí xông khử cho cả khu đất bị kém đi. Hình ảnh: Google Earth

Việc bón quá nhiều Nitơ và duy trì kém lượng Canxi và Kali trong đất tạo ra quả không có vị ngọt, chứa quá nhiều nước và nhanh hỏng. Nên tránh việc bón đất bằng phân trộn và phân chuồng trước khi gieo cây con vì chúng cung cấp lượng Nitơ quá mức và không kiểm soát được cho cây khi chỉ mới vào đầu mùa. Nên thường xuyên bón phân qua hệ thống tưới (hệ thống bón phân), với sự cân bằng của các chất dinh dưỡng được điều chỉnh để đáp ứng nhu cầu của từng loại giống riêng biệt. Những người trồng chú trọng vào việc duy trì chất lượng quả cũng nên tiến hành kiểm tra đất và nhựa từ cuống lá thường xuyên trong suốt mùa vụ để giúp định hướng các chương trình dinh dưỡng của chúng.

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Hình 4. Các đặc điểm mang vấn đề của các giống cho quả sớm đầu mùa: cả hai giống Red Rhapsody và Fronteras (hình trái) đều bị nhiều vai xanh trong khí hậu của Perth, đặc điểm này làm cho thành phẩm trở nên không thu hút đối với người tiêu dùng. Giống Festival (hình phải) nhìn bắt mắt, và thu hút người mua nhưng thường thì không có nhiều vị ngọt và không được mua lại bởi người tiêu dùng. Giống Fronteras cũng thường có vị nhạt và có thể trở nên quá mọng nước và mềm quả khi càng về cuối mùa, do đó nó có cả hai điểm trừ của việc không được bắt mắt và nhạt vị. Hình ảnh: Helen Newman, APC

Thực hiện các quy trình dây chuyền giữ lạnh

Việc theo dõi và duy trì một cách chính xác độ ẩm của đất cũng rất quan trọng. Tưới quá nhiều nước sẽ làm trôi các chất dinh dưỡng ra khỏi vùng rễ, gây lãng phí và có thể tạo ra sự thiếu hụt dinh dưỡng. Tưới không đủ nước cũng làm gián đoạn việc các chất dinh dưỡng được đưa đến cây (cũng gây ra sự thiếu hụt) và gây tụ muối làm hư hại rễ và khiến chúng dễ bị nhiễm các bệnh truyền qua đất. Để có kết quả tốt nhất, nên theo dõi và điều chỉnh lịch tưới bằng thiết bị theo dõi độ ẩm của đất ngay trên khu trồng.

Đào tạo nhân công Quả chưa đủ độ chín với nhiều vai xanh thường không thu hút người mua nên cần phải cẩn thận khi chọn thời điểm thu hoạch. Việc trộn lẫn các quả dâu với kích cỡ khác nhau trong cùng một thành phẩm, đặc biệt là khi các quả nhỏ được giấu bên dưới những quả lớn, cũng là một vấn đề đáng lo ngại và khiến người tiêu dùng không muốn mua sản phẩm. Đào tạo nhân công làm cách nào để chọn lọc quả với độ chín vừa đủ và phân loại quả theo kích cỡ sẽ giúp khắc phục vấn đề này.

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AUSTRALIAN

Đầu tư và sử dụng các hệ thống làm lạnh ngay tại trang trại để loại bỏ nhiệt độ tự nhiên trong quả sau khu thu hoạch (đúng, kể cả trong mùa đông) là việc rất quan trọng để duy trì chất lượng sản phẩm và cũng là một trong những lĩnh vực chính trong công cuộc cải tiến.

Một vài nhà thu mua cố gắng làm mát quả khi vừa mua về, nhưng thực ra quả phải được làm mát trong vòng một giờ sau khi thu hoạch, làm mát quả ngay tại trang trại đóng vai trò rất quan trọng. Để biết thêm chi tiết về quy trình này hãy xem bài viết xử lý sau thu hoạch trong ấn phẩm Vụ Đông năm 2021 của chuỗi Tạp Chí.

Translation with thanks to Hayley Vo Dịch với nhờ Hayley Võ

B E RRY 104

JOURNAL

EDITION 8

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O P E R AT

VOLUNTARY LEVIES

SUPPORT YOUR INDUSTRY

TO SUPPORT YOUR BUSINESS! The ABGA is funding a major marketing program – please contribute your share Why should I pay the voluntary levy?

How do I pay the levy?

The voluntary levies fund all of the essential activities that contribute to the growth of our blueberry industry.

Activities include, but are not limited to:

Follow the steps below:

• Maintaining a a dedicated marketing campaign • R esearch & development into registered chemicals + IPM + Integrated Disease Management programs • F unding legal advice to support appropriate planning conditions • P rogressing applications for market access to key markets such as New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam • Developing export protocols into Japan • Funding our Industry Development Officer • Funding our Executive Director and support staff • C ommunication and engagement with members – industry journal, e-news, website, conference • P romoting positive industry stories and addressing negative media • P roviding our contribution to Hort Innovation under the Collective Industry Fund which is matched with equal funding used for various industry projects as determined by the Blueberry Strategic Industry Advisory Panel

How much levy do I have to pay?

For this year standard levies are $0.07/kg fruit sold.

This will cover both R&D and Marketing investments.

When do I pay the voluntary levy?

Levies are payable once every financial quarter:

1. Prepare a statement with the following information • Grower Name • Quarter + Dates (e.g. Q2 1st Oct - 31st Dec 2019) • Number of kg fruit sold in that quarter • Amount of levy being paid • Indicate if your agent deducts your levies (if so, include agent name) 2. Email the statement to the Membership Officer Email statement to: admin@berries.net.au The Membership Officer will send you an Invoice for payment 3. Pay your levy to the ABGA account Account name: Bank: BSB: Account: Reference:

Australian Blueberry Growers’ Association Westpac 033 10 7 181 4 71 GROWER NAME + Financial Quarter (e.g. “Joe Bloggs Q2 levy”)

y agent deducts levies — M what do I need to do?

Send the Membership Officer a statement as per Step 1 above. She will then check that the agent has paid the levy.

Email the statement to admin@berries.net.au

Period Covered

Payable by

What about confidentiality of the information provided?

Q1

1 July – 30 September

31 October

Any information provided will be kept confidential.

Q2

1 October – 31 December

31 January

Q3

I need help, who do I contact?

1 January – 31 March

30 April

Q4

1 April – 30 June

31 July

Quarter

Wendy Morris Email: admin@berries.net.au | Phone: 0491 751 123

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B L U E B E R R I E S

Replanting blueberries: things to consider to prevent erosion and sediment loss Melinda Simpson, Berry Industry Development Officer, NSW Department of Primary Industries

• Do not leave bare soil exposed for a long period of time • Do ground works during the dry season period • Re-establish fast growing grasses to protect soil • Slopes greater than 31% are not recommended for orchard development Soil is essentially a non-renewable resource because it erodes faster than it forms. In NSW, soil generally forms at 0.04 to 0.4 tonnes per hectare per year but losses from cultivated paddocks can be around 1 tonne per hectare per year. These rates of soil loss may not be obvious but a 1mm loss of topsoil per year represents a loss of around 14 tonnes per hectare per year.

1. Timing of works

Therefore, when soil disturbance (Figure 1) is necessary for developing a production area there are certain objectives that should be met to reduce the amount of soil eroded during the disturbance event. Where groundcover has been removed for development, the following steps should be completed.

Severe storms and heavy rainfall events can dump huge amounts of water in a short time, producing large volumes of fast flowing run-off that scour the soil and carry soil into waterways. Where there is intense rainfall over a long period, there is a much greater likelihood of erosion and mass movement (Figure 2).

Average monthly rainfall figures are the most reliable guide for planning ground works that can disturb the soil or leave it devoid of groundcover for any length of time. Groundwork needs to be undertaken when the probability of high rainfall events is lowest. On the NSW north coast this is typically between June and October.

Figure 1. Developed land ready for planting.

Photo credit: NSW DPI

Figure 2. Erosion from large volumes of fast flowing water.

Photo credit: NSW DPI

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Figure 3. Hay bales placed as an erosion control method. Photo credit: NSW DPI

2. Staged development

3. Stockpile topsoil

When development will expose soil to erosion, consider staging the work so smaller areas of soil are exposed at any given time. Once the work is completed in the area, re-establish ground cover on he site quickly before moving on to the next stage of the project. Erosion control methods that divert water around the work site and capture any sediment should be used where groundcover has been removed.

When earthworks are required (such as drain construction), the topsoil should be removed first and stockpiled separately. Once the works are completed the topsoil can be put back in place. The topsoil has the required consistency and nutrients to assist with quick growth of groundcover.

Examples of erosion control methods include:

When developing blueberry mounds, topsoil can be scraped up into the mounds leaving little topsoil in between rows which can make establishing groundcover difficult. On the NSW north coast soil types often have acidic heavy clay subsoils with a compacted structure.

These soils have poor aeration and a slow water infiltration rate, which increases run-off. Lime can be used to increase pH; Gypsum can be added to help break up heavy clay to improve aeration and assist water penetration; and compost will increase organic matter which helps maintain aeration and holds moisture.

4. Improve soil

1. S ediment traps located at the lowest part of the orchard help to trap sediment and stop it from moving off farm 2. Check structures such as straw or hay bales placed on their narrow side, dug 10cm into the channel surface to prevent water flowing underneath them and secured with two stakes per bale (Figure 3).

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Figure 4. Direct seeding with quick establishing ground covers helps to reduce soil loss. Photo credit: NSW DPI

Table 1: Ground cover required for varying degrees of slope Slope range

Flat to gentle

Moderate

Steep

Too steep

Slope as %

0 —13%

13 —22%

22 —31%

>31%

Minimum ground cover

80%

90%

95%

Not recommended for orchard development

5. Establish groundcover as soon as possible On the NSW north coast 90-100% groundcover (Figure 4) is recommended because of the regions sloping country and intense rainfall events, especially in the storm risk period from October to May. Direct seeding with fast growing ground cover species should be carried out to re-establish groundcover as soon as possible.

Timing is important as there are minimum temperatures that are required for germination and establishment of certain grasses. Fast growing annuals include rye grass and millet; however these should be mixed with perennial summer and winter growing species to provide ongoing groundcover. When establishing grass from seed use up to 10 times the rate recommended for pasture establishment to achieve rapid surface cover.

The best way to maintain good ground cover is to select plants that are well adapted to the climate, the soil and the production system, so that they persist without a lot of attention. On moderate to steep slopes, jute mesh or matting is useful to hold loose soil and seeds in place.

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The potential effect of flower shape on pollination success in blueberry Dr Sophie Parks, Melinda Simpson, Leanne Davis, Madlen Kratz NSW Department of Primary Industries

Could the shape or morphology of a flower be important to the attraction of a bee to that flower? To dig a little deeper, we are investigating some floral traits that may affect the attraction of European honey bees (Apis mellifera) to blueberry flowers. under controlled environmental conditions by Staphyt Ltd in Queensland.

Previous research suggests that blueberry flowers with a large opening, or throat area, can provide greater access to the nectar found at the base of the flower.

However, this trait and its ‘attractiveness’ has not been examined among the varieties used in Australia. And, if influential in pollination, varieties with more ‘attractive’ flowers could be developed for utilising under high tunnels where honey bees are less inclined to visit and where poor pollination is a problem.

The first step in our investigation, reported here, examined the floral morphology of seven blueberry varieties with a view to selecting two varieties with contrasting flowers to test in the field for their attractiveness to honey bees.

The flowers of the seven blueberry varieties Dazzle, 11-11, Eureka, Eureka Sunrise, First Blush, Masena and Splash, were obtained from plants growing in the same location on the North Coast of NSW. They were picked fresh and preserved in alcohol until they were examined.

AUSTRALIAN

As the varieties Eureka and Masena contrast greatly in their flower shape, and since they are co-planted in the field for cross-pollination purposes, these varieties will be compared in their ability to attract bees in a commercial crop. This next stage of our research will commence soon with data to be collected over several days in late winter, when these varieties are flowering at their peak.

Observations of honey bee visits will be made alongside the measurements of other traits including the sugar concentration of flower nectar, important to honey bees, and also fruit set, an index of pollination success.

We look forward to reporting on these observations in the next instalment of our work.

We observed the variability of flower shape using methods in microscopy including photographs of the magnified flowers and imaging software to measure the corolla (the group of petals) width and length and the corolla throat area (Figure 1).

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Taking a close look at the corolla length and corolla throat area shows that Eureka has the longest flower with the largest opening, and therefore the greatest contrast in floral morphology compared with all the other varieties (Figure 2). However, the corolla width was relatively similar among these varieties.

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Figure 1. Images of flower racemes (column 2), corolla width and length (column 3), corolla throat area (column 4).

Magnification is 30 – 35x. Figure credit: Leanne Davis, NSW DPI

Variety

Flower Racemes

Corolla Width/Length

DAZZLE

11–11

EUREKA

EUREKA SUNRISE

FIRST BLUSH

MASENA

SPLASH

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Corolla Throat Area

14 12

20

Corolla length (mm)

Corolla throat area (mm2)

25

15

10

5

10 8 6 4 2

0

0

Dazzle

11–11

Eureka

Eureka Sunrise

First Blush

Masena

Splash

Figure 2. Corolla throat area (left) and corolla length (right) for seven blueberry varieties.

The columns represent the average of the measurements of between 21-71 flowers and the bars are standard deviation.

Chart Credit: Sophie Parks, NSW DPI This project is being delivered by Hort Innovation – with support from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program – and NSW Department of Primary Industries, Plant and Food Research Australia, The University of New England, The University of Tasmania, University of Adelaide, and multiple industry partners

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B L U E B E R R I E S

Australian Blueberries Marketing Update Jane Richter

The Australian Blueberry marketing campaign is funded solely by the ABGA voluntary levy. If you are a blueberry grower and are not currently paying any levy, please SEE PAGE 107 to find out how you can contribute to the growth drivers of your industry.

What is different this season?

MORE & NEW

Australian Blueberries continue to be supported by well respected Sydney agency Magnum & Co, who are delivering this years’ marketing programme based on the insights and learnings from the last three Seasons. This year’s marketing strategy will continue to focus on engaging existing buyers to maintain and increase purchase. Some new consumers will also be captured this season but the focus for activity is with existing buyers.

MORE REFINED

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Investing in the channels that have proven most cost-efficient, effective & measurable Exploring new digital channels to keep up with buyer behaviour — Tiktok, Pinterest

Production

BIGGER

An integrated marketing strategy will be used to influence behaviour and the advertising spend will focus on social and digital channels whilst building upon the existing, successful campaign of “Bl‘oo’berries” executed over the last three seasons.

Digital Channels

More new creative — more formats, more variety A new Grower video series was planned for production, but has been put on hold due to COVID-19 travel restrictions

Ambassador Go bigger and harder with our ambassador More PR opportunities with higher profile, better recipe book collaboration, new content angles, new digital channels

Messaging & Elevated Design New facts, statistics & core messages Focus on what we know works New look and feel of all social creative for “fruit that makes you go “oo”” platform

What will the campaign include in the 2021-22 season?

Who is our season spokesperson?

Leah’s Instagram feed is all about good food and already features a number of blueberry recipes. Leah also has an Instagram business page called @bareguide with over 100,000 followers which is all about nutrition and fitness.

DIGITAL PAID ADVERTISING

A wider selection of digital channels will be used this season with two new channels being tested Facebook, Instagram, YouTube + new this season: Tiktok & Pinterest

Leah has also developed a new set of blueberry recipes for us which have been turned into a digital recipe book available for download via our website.

We will use this Recipe Book as a way to attract new subscribers to our monthly e-newsletters.

Leah Itsines @leahitsines has nearly 600,000 followers and is a Cook & Author

SOCIAL MEDIA

Leveraging Facebook & Instagram stories to deliver our content and engage deeply with our blueberry lovers

DIGITAL AMBASSADORS

We’ve selected a key spokesperson to be the amplified voice for Australian Blueberries across health & inspiration this season plus a selection of 8-10 health, nutrition and mum influencers to create content that engages and builds credibility

DIGITAL MEDIA

Using a brand-new digital recipe book to attract and capture digital traffic to convert to subscribers for regular contact using our electronic newsletters LAMINGTON AVOCADO CH EBERRY & OCOL BLU OTUS EIN E BALLS FILLEPRMO VAN SE WITH FR AT D ESH ILLA CHIA BLUEBERRY WITH PUDDING JAM BLUEBERRIES

Australian Blueberries & Leah Itsines

EARNED MEDIA

RECIPE BOOK

Leveraging the credibility of our spokesperson to partner with key media across printed media, online and broadcast channels and deliver health messaging to our target demographic

Serves 12

7

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Prep 15 mins 9

Serves Cook 3-4

30 mins

EDITION 8

Prep 3 mins

13

Serves Coo 2 k 0 mins

Prep 5 mins

Cook

To set – 3+ hrs

What does the new creative look like?

The creative has been refreshed with more brand cues in the colours and shapes used to frame the great food photos, creating a strong appeal and a very distinctive look.

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What are the key messages for the season?

Digital advertising In January 2021, 20.5 million Australians, were active users of social media. That’s 79.9% of the overall Australian population with social media accounts.

This season there is a renewed focus on the health benefits of fresh Australian blueberries leading with the immune support function:

YouTube (78.2%) and Facebook (77.7%) are tied for the most popular social media platform in Australia and Aussies spend an average of 1 hour 48 minutes per day on social media. The real benefit for using social media to reach our audience is the ability to use sophisticated targeting to be really cost effective in getting our key messages to our target audience.

• F resh blueberries remain one of the most nutritious, antioxidant-rich fruits in the world with immune supporting properties.

• P romotes gut health a natural source of prebiotics • Recent

research proves that a serving of fresh blueberries everyday can help improve memory recall in children

CURRENT SOCIAL STATISTICS

67,165 Followers 9,275 Followers

• Aids

in weight management – low calorie, low on the glycemic index & high in fibre • Eating

a cup of fresh blueberries every day can help contribute to normal blood pressure levels

What is happening when across the season?

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

JAN

FEB

Social Media activity & Paid Digital Advertising across 5 platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok & Pinterest) Leah Itsines Influencer & Recipe book collaboration 8-10 influencers generating & sharing content across all Australian Blueberry channels Public Relations (Earned) media activity Monthly e-newsletters to our 10,000+ Blueberry fans Promotion of the Recipe Book through all channels to attract new Blueberry fans

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MAR

This year 2 new channels are being added to the mix as a test:

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8:30

yournamehere

Liked by yourfriend, yourfriend and 20 others

Liked by yourfriend, yourfriend and 20 others

user_name your caption here #yourhashtag #yourhashtag #yourhashtag

user_name your caption here #yourhashtag #yourhashtag #yourhashtag

View All 10 Comments

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2 HOUR AGO SEE TRANSLATION

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yournamehere

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TikTok TikTok is a social media platform for creating, sharing and discovering short videos. Tiktok is no longer the exclusive domain of teenagers; there are now over 800,000 Australian users aged 25-54.

Pinterest Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share and discover new interests by posting images or videos to their own or others’ boards and browsing what other users have pinned. A board is a collection of ‘pins,’ usually with a common theme.

Pinterest is a fully visual-led channel naturally saturated with recipe and food inspiration, consumed by those with similar cooking and creating interests.

If you have any questions about the upcoming season or if you’d like to be a part of the grower content, please contact:

blueberries@magnumandco.com.au www.australianblueberries.com.au FACEBOOK-SQUARE instagram australianblueberries

Berry growers, don’t gamble with frosts.

Extreme temperature ranges are here to stay.

That means managing frost risk to avoid devastating losses.

Calculate the R.O.I. by installing a quiet, reliable and efficient FROSTBOSS C49.

bossthefrost.com.au

Ian Mason M +61 448 111 384 P 1800 797 629 E info@aussiefrostfans.com.au aussiefrostfans.com.au

FRF 1041

8:30

B L U E B E R R I E S

Managing blueberry rust in a cooler climate Melinda Simpson, Berry Industry Development Officer, NSW Department of Primary Industries

Blueberry rust is a plant disease caused by the fungus Thekopsora minima and is currently confined to a small number of properties in Victoria and Tasmania but is endemic in NSW and QLD. Preventing blueberry rust infection in the Southern States is key to limiting the spread of this disease. The critical steps in preventing blueberry rust infection include good farm biosecurity and applying crop management practices that reduce the risk of infection.

Disease cycle

First infection

Conifer hemlocks (Tsuga spp.) are the alternate hosts that the rust requires to complete its sexual life cycle in colder climates. These species are uncommon in Australia. In mild climates such as Australia's the rust can survive, solely on blueberries, by continuous reinfection with asexual spores (urediniospores).

The rust fungus, Thekopsora minima, is biotrophic.

That means it will only infect living plant tissues.

Spores require moisture for germination and infection.

Infection can begin at any plant growth stage from when the leaves first emerge if moisture is present on the leaves. Younger leaves are more susceptible.

Older leaves are more difficult for the fungus to penetrate as the cuticle becomes thicker.

Survival Blueberry rust fungus survives primarily in infected leaves and can exist exclusively on blueberries from season to season, especially if blueberries retain their leaves over winter. In the evergreen system, where leaves are continuously present on the plant, DNA analysis has shown that asymptomatic leaves can be infected with Thekopsora minima throughout the year.

When conditions become conducive (warm, moist), the fungus is stimulated to form pustules and sporulates to reinfect.

Latent period Following infection, the fungus colonises the leaf. The period of time between infection and the appearance of symptoms is known as the latent period. The length of the latent period is largely dependent on temperature but is generally between 10 and 21 days. At 20ºC pustules begin to appear on infected leaves after 10 days. After this time, the small yellow lesions appear on the upper surface of the leaf, wherever infection has taken place.

Infected leaf debris on the orchard floor is unlikely to be a major source of inoculum as spore survival is generally less than six weeks, depending on agronomic and environmental factors practiced in the orchard.

Sporulation could be initiated from infected leaves two weeks after leaves were placed on the orchard floor, but after this, too many other fungi are present on the leaves to effectively distinguish the rust fungus.

DNA could not be detected in infected leaf samples placed on the orchard floor after six weeks.

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Spread Spores produced in pustules on leaves are the main infective propagule of blueberry rust in evergreen production systems. Rain, water-splash, air currents, insects and humans can spread spores to infect new plant tissues. Pustules will continue to develop and spores are released as long as conditions are favourable and many cycles of infection can occur in a given production season.

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Figure 1. Blueberry rust life cycle. Image credit: Rosalie Daniel, NSW DPI

Blueberry rust life cycle

2

3a

4

3b

Figure 2. Rust first appears as small pale-bright yellow lesions on the upper surface of infected leaves. Photo credit: Rosalie Daniel, NSW DPI Figure 3 a & b. The fungus erupts through the leaf underside surface & small pustules containing spores form. Photo credit: Rosalie Daniel, NSW DPI Figure 4. Progressive rust symptoms on leaves. Photo credit: Melinda Simpson, NSW DPI

The disease cycle (Figure 1) continues as long as conditions are favourable (warm, moist) and susceptible foliage is available to infect. Initially only a few pustules may be present, but as the season progresses, if control measures are not adequate, then rust urediniospore numbers can increase significantly, and the rust spreads throughout the orchard.

5a

Symptoms Although rust symptoms are most obvious on leaves when red-brown lesions are visible on the upper surface, and corresponding yellow pustules can be seen on the corresponding lower surface, infection takes place much earlier.

Leaves Rust first appears as small pale-bright yellow lesions on the upper surface of infected leaves (Figure 2).

On the underside of the leaf, the fungus erupts through the surface and small pustules containing spores form (Figure 3). As the disease progresses, the lesions become red to brown in colour and may increase in size, coalescing when disease is severe (Figure 4). The spores are powdery when touched, and when there are many, they may be seen to float with air currents or wind. The infected tissue within the lesion becomes darker as it dies, reducing photosynthetic capacity of the leaf. When disease pressure is high, defoliation may occur.

5b

Shoots Lesions containing spores have been observed on twigs and Thekopsora minima DNA has been extracted from these twigs. It is likely that infected shoots play a role in the survival of the fungus.

Figure 5 a & b. Rust on green fruit and ripe fruit.

Photo credit: Melinda Simpson, NSW DPI

Managing the disease

Fruit Lesions develop on ripening fruit (Figure 5) when disease pressure is high. Rust lesions can reduce the marketability of ripe berries. It is likely that infection takes place during flowering. Fungal DNA corresponding to T. minima has been detected in flowers and ripening asymptomatic fruit.

Management of blueberry rust requires an integrated approach, including scouting of orchards to detect early infections, monitoring of weather conditions to identify conditions conducive to the infection and the development of disease symptoms, cultural measures and targeted application of fungicidal sprays.

Rainfall or moisture for leaf wetness along with warm temperatures are required for infection to take place. Spores of Thekopsora minima germinate at temperatures between 5 and 30˚C under 100% relative humidity, but optimum growth occurs at 15– 25˚C. Blueberry rust requires at least 7 hours of leaf wetness to infect at 24˚C.

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Hygiene

• PER13958 Mancozeb (Mancozeb) GROUP M3

Blueberry rust spores are easily spread through various means, but it’s important to ensure that spread due to human activity is minimised.

Actions you can take include:

• PER14309 Bravo (Chlorothalonil) GROUP M5 • PER14740 Tilt (Propiconazole) GROUP 3 • PER82601 Delan (Dithianon) GROUP M9 • P ER82986 Pristine (Boscalid /Pyraclostrobin) suppression only GROUP 7 / 11

• C hange your clothes after leaving an area with host plant material or use disposable overalls.

Wash your clothes before wearing them again.

All products listed belong to different chemical groups.

Rotating fungicides with different chemical groupings helps to prevent the development of fungicide resistance.

• A fter working with host plant materials, disinfect any benches or other equipment (including tools and gloves) with suitable products. Wipe electronic items, such as mobile phones and GPS units, with a disinfectant cloth, or use them in a plastic bag and wash or dispose of the bag before moving to another property.

Organically-approved fungicides • PER84176 Copper GROUP M1 New research to evaluate other fungicide options has been funded by the Tasmanian Government via the Agricultural Innovation Fund.

• E nsure the cargo bay of any vehicle used to transport blueberry rust host materials is disinfected after delivery of a consignment.

Key points

• Do not move infected plants off your property.

• I mplement Biosecure Best Practices: “Come Clean, Go Clean”.

• Dispose of infected material by burning or burial.

• S ource clean, disease-free planting material when establishing new blocks or orchards.

Be aware that fungicides can mask symptoms

Biosecurity Instigate farm biosecurity measures which will prevent the introduction, establishment and spread of blueberry rust. These measures may include:

• M inimise or eliminate inoculum carry over from season to season, for example when pruning, remove infected plant parts and dispose of by burning or burying. By reducing the carry-over of inoculum, there is less inoculum to start new infection the following production season.

• S ource plants from reputable suppliers who themselves are taking measures to manage blueberry rust.

Do not propagate from infected plants.

• I nspect new blueberry plants prior to unloading and planting on your property.

• P rune to open the canopy. This will promote ventilation and more rapid drying of the foliage, reducing the length of time that leaves remain wet and conditions favourable for rust infection.

Opening the canopy can also assist in improving contact and penetration of sprays.

• E nsure staff are educated in the identification of the disease, which may include signage & posters.

• Limit the access of people onto your property.

• E nsure all visitors, contractors and tradesmen implement hygiene protocols and limit their movement on the property.

• Disinfect equipment that moves on & off your property.

• C rop protectants can only be effective when they are applied at the right rate, in the right conditions, with suitable equipment to get good coverage

• W hen working crops, do not share staff between healthy and infected crops.

• M onitor weather conditions to identify potential infection events.

• E nsure staff work from healthy parts of a crop to diseased parts to reduce spread of the rust.

• O ptimise the spray timing by evaluating the prevailing of environmental conditions and blueberry physiology for infection potential.

• Restrict movement of vehicles around on the property.

Chemical management Fungicides permitted for use on blueberries are registered with Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA). Fungicides permitted for blueberry rust control include:

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• M onitor temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and leaf wetness.

B L U E B E R R I E S

Research maps blueberry quality after harvest Brigid Veale, Costa Group

An electronic tongue is one of the tools being used as part of an Honours research project looking at the impact of storage conditions on the quality of blueberries.

Sarah McKay, who is the 2021 recipient of the Costa Honours Scholarship in Agricultural Science worth $10,000, is investigating post-harvest storage conditions and the influence this has on key quality characteristics of blueberries. Originally from the rural region of Allens Rivulet in southern Tasmania, Sarah is studying a Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours in Hobart through University of Tasmania.

“My project is around post-harvest storage conditions, mainly temperature, and its influence on key quality characteristics of blueberries over time. The characteristics include colour, aroma and texture, with emphasis on the influence the conditions have on taste profiles,” Sarah said.

These characteristics are tested using an electronic tongue (e-tongue) as well as a number of other instrumental methods and a human taste panel for comparison. The e-tongue is a piece of technology that has not been used extensively on fresh fruit produce, especially blueberries, so this is a major focus for my project.

Sarah said the results from the instrumental methods and the human taste panel would help map consumer purchasing habits based on quality characteristics. Sarah, who has also worked over the summer holidays in quality control at the Costa Berries blueberry farm at Sulphur Creek, said she was keen to pursue a career in horticulture.

“Working at Costa allowed me to gain knowledge of the processes involved in blueberry production and harvest in the Northwest of Tasmania,” she said.

“The Scholarship has taken a bit of the pressure off and has helped with the costs of living out of home.”

The recipient of the undergraduate Costa Scholarship in Agricultural Science for 2021-2024 is Jack Schouten, who is in the first year of a Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours.

Sarah McKay. Photo credit: Costa Group

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NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS

It was originally planned to hold all Association Annual General Meetings in line with the PCA Conference being held in October at Coffs Harbour. Now that this event has been postponed due to the current COVID-19 situation, all AGMs will be held virtually again this year.

Confirmation of dates and times, and the issuing of formal notices relating to Committee Nominations and Voting will be sent directly to current members and shared in The Burst – our industry newsletter.

If you have any questions please contact: Wendy Morris 0491 751 123 | admin@berries.net.au

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