Australian Berry Journal - SPRING 2022 - Edition 12 by BerriesAustralia

SPRING 2022 EDITION 12 BERRYQUESTINPICTURES Industry62 SECURINGPOLLINATIONRASPBERRY Rubus74 TACKLING THE PATHOGEN NEO-P Strawberries85 QUALITY REALLY DOES MATTER Blueberries112 BERRYAUSTRALIANJOURNAL

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A tale of two cover types and the pollination of blueberry flowers by honey bees ................................................ 105 Precision Pollination of berry crops is not a pipedream ............................................................................................. 108 The true cost of poor quality 112 Marketing Update 115BLUEBERRIES Australia’s fight against food waste 13 Berries Australia Strategic Plan: Overview 14 Minor Use Permits for the Australian Berry Industries .................................................................................................... 16 Varroa mite — what is it and where are we at? .............................................................................................................. 18 Accessing the Horticultural Netting Grants.................................................................................................................... 22 Fruit Waste Management for Queensland Fruit Fly Prevention 24 Cold plasma application in berries: towards a commercial reality 34 Would you like to save money on your annual Freshcare audit? 36 Profile: Kate Bradley, Kates Berry Farm 41 Soilless mixes — what’s important and why? 44 Queensland Berry Industry Pre-season Prep ‘n’ Party event — Stanthorpe ............................................................... 50 Expand your export horizons ......................................................................................................................................... 55 2021 Export Snapshot: Blueberries & Strawberries ..................................................................................................... 57 BQI22 Insights: Berry patch concept essential to drive retail sales 60 BQI22 in Pictures 62 INDUSTRY WA Field Day Demonstration: Not all sprayers deliver the same result 81 Leaf spot of strawberry caused by Neopestalotiopsis sp. 85 Yields in commercial strawberry fields are limited by the availability of pollen & insect pollinators 89 Profile: Vince Ngo, Russell Road Farm ........................................................................................................................... 96 Lý Lịch Nông Gia: Vince Ngô, trang trại ........................................................................................................................ 99STRAWBERRIES Grower Profile : Murrakei Farms, Tasmania 71 Securing Raspberry Pollination 74RUBUS

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EDITOR Jane

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Copyright © Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited 2022 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: Manager, Hort Innovation, Level 7 | 141 Walker Street, North Sydney 2060, Australia | E: communications@horticulture.com.au P: 2300

SPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Communications

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.

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.

CONTRIBUTORS Jane MarkDrMelindaRichardJonathanSimonPeterRachelRichterMackenzieMcPhersonDornaufShawMcGruddySimpsonAngelaAtkinsonSalter Helen Newman Aileen Reid Jenny Van de WayneSPBronwynMelissaJenMeebergRowlingSmithKollSinghProwse Ashley LeanneSophieChristopherApolloRayleaJonathanStephenMicheleWalmsleyBuntainQuarrellFinchRowbottomGomezMenzelParksDavis Madlen Kratz Alan Dorin Sam Chadwick

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The Conference was attended by 495 delegates with 34 stands in the trade exhibition. We had 58 presentations over two days including two that were live-streamed from overseas. We also had a sizeable New Zealand contingent, so it truly was Berry Quest International. We started proceedings with a pest and disease R&D workshop attended by researchers and agronomists from all over Australia as well as the IDOs and Hort Innovation staff. The workshop was a fantastic opportunity to create networks between the research community and industry, and set the scene for the following few days.

Rachel Mackenzie | 0408 796 199 | rachelmackenzie@berries.net.au

On Day 1 of the Conference, the international plenary session hosted by Peter McPherson was extremely well received with consistent themes around quality and sustainability. Juan Allende CEO of global berry giant HortiFrut said in his streamed address from Chile that sustainability crosses the five pillars of people, water, climate change, waste (packaging and other) and biodiversity and has to be embedded into berry Climatebusinesses.changehas moved from being a point of discussion to being something that the large global berry businesses are actively working to manage. Many Northern hemisphere berry production regions are suffering from drought and water restrictions whereas here in Australia a third La Niña has been predicted, which will bring yet another very wet spring and summer.

Dr Eric Snodgrass - Nutrien Ag’s “Weather Wizard” - gave an extremely interesting and understandable overview of how these weather systems work and how they can be predicted. I absolutely encourage

Only two years behind schedule we finally managed to host BerryQuest International 2022! I could not be prouder of the team who pulled it together especially as COVID-19 numbers were climbing and stress levels were running high in the weeks leading up to the event. Even the weather managed to be good for the three days of the Conference.

Rachel Mackenzie addressing the Conference. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley, Good Fruit & Vegetables

Executive Director's Report

INDUSTRY2 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

L-R Jodi Neale, QDAF, Rachel Mackenzie & Brett Fifield, CEO Hort innovation showing off one of the latest new strawberry varieties bred by the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program lead by Jodi Neale.

Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley, Good Fruit & Vegetables 3

Unfortunately, I can’t comment on every session, but with more than 94% of respondents to our postConference survey indicating they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ I am confident that most people who came got something out of the event. I would very much like to thank all of the speakers who gave us their time and expertise and I hope that it was a valuable experience for them also. Finally, I would like to thank the growers who made the effort to come. There is always something to do on a farm, but I hope they in particular felt it was time well spent, whether it was making a new contact at the trade show, learning something from the presentations or just having the opportunity to network.

any of you who are interested in this topic to visit bit.ly/YouTube-NutrienAg and check out some of his informative videos. On Day 2, we were fortunate to hear about how other industries are building their export capacity in the export plenary session with an address from Jeff Scott the CEO of the Australian Table Grapes Association and architect of their amazing export success story. We also heard from Michael Coote, CEO of Ausveg who also brought a wealth of export experience to the table. The key take out was that export takes a long time, but the rewards are great. I am confident that the berry industry is on the right path under the guidance of our Export Manager Jenny Van de Meeberg.

We had nearly 500 delegates from all over Australia and a strong contingent from New Zealand. I have heard nothing but positive feedback. I would like to formally thank the Berries Australia team and the IDOs for pulling it all together. I was particularly pleased that my overseas colleagues from the two leading berry companies globally, Soren Bjorn from Driscoll’s and Juan Allende from HortiFrut were able to live-stream into the conference and share their wisdom with the Australian industry. I was also very relieved that the technology did not let us down! I would like to also thank all the other speakers who delivered very thought provoking presentations of their respective areas of expertise of interest to the berry industry.

Finally, a big personal thank you to all berry participants whom I have been involved with over the past 37 years – you have made my journey very rewarding, and I am sure that the future of this great industry will be in good hands.

My key take-outs were: • Consumers today expect quality, taste and the ‘delight’ factor 52 weeks of the year

• Sustainability is not negotiable and is something we must all action as an industry • Innovation in every area will underpin our future growth and success whether that be new genetics, continuous improvement in farming practices or mechanisation • A genuine feeling of support for Berries Australia, albeit still in its early days but heading in the right direction under the current leadership team on behalf of the entire berry industry

The last three years has certainly not been without challenges including the pandemic and related impacts, the wet weather and now the Varroa mite incursion. That said, the fact that we now have an organisation that can better support the industry through the provision of timely information and active advocacy means we are in a better position than we would be in otherwise.

Peter McPherson | 0418 666 651 | peter.mcpherson@costagroup.com.au

I was also pleased to have some positive conversations with Brett Fifield the new CEO of Hort Innovation and the Chair Julie Bird. I feel more confident than I have for some time that they are working hard to ensure better value for growers from their levy investments including overhauling how they obtain advice from industry. It will be a big ship to turn around and I wish them well in their efforts. Rachel and the team will be working closely with Hort Innovation to drive a good outcome for berries.

Chairman's Report

Welcome to my last column as the Chair of Berries Australia. It is time to hand over the reins, but I am very pleased that my last major engagement with the industry as a whole was BerryQuest. A conference of that size and scope is not easy to pull off and is a positive reflection on the professionalism of Berries Australia as an organisation. When we first came up with the idea of an united entity for berries we were just thinking of combining the ABGA and RABA. The inclusion of strawberries was at the eleventh hour, but seeing the whole industry together at BerryQuest certainly vindicated the decision to include strawberries.

INDUSTRY4 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

There is no doubt that we are having a tough year. High rainfall has led to increased disease pressure which has been followed by cold weather delaying the start of the season. To top it all off, Varroa mite has been found in the Coffs Harbour region resulting in reduced hive movement and significant impacts on pollination for many growers.

Growers solely focused on this will be as irrelevant as Red Delicious is to the apple category. Report

I am aware that the team has been working very closely with the NSW DPI to try and ensure the right balance between the need to manage this significant pest and the pollination needs of the industry.

President's

INDUSTRY

There is an article on PAGE 18 that provides more information about the Varroa issue and the response, but rest assured the ABGA committee is fully aware of the significance and potential consequences of this issue on our members. I would like to thank Tyler Scofield from Driscoll’s who spent a number of days working in the DPI Varroa control centre at Orange as well as Melinda Simpson who has also been heavily involved in the response. If you have any concerns, I urge you to contact Melinda in the first instance.

As consumers of services and products, we all can relate to a bad experience, whether it be a bad haircut, food from a restaurant or service from a utility provider. This experience can make us reconsider our future use of the product or service. Of course, we all make mistakes, and there are times when the product catches the grower out, which is forgivable. But those who actively pack a standard below what they would be happy to eat or pay for, as well as what we expect others to pay for; are categorically doing the Berry Industry a disservice. The quality issue is explored more fully in the article on PAGE 112. Whilst it is well known that most people have a level of forgiveness when it comes to fresh produce, brands that continually disappoint consumers with taste, shelf life, size, and presentation, no matter how cheap the berries, will lose out on the consumer, as they simply won’t buy it, nor will they return after the poor experience. Not only are these brands damaging their own sales, but they are also damaging the industry as a whole.

At times like this it can be disheartening and difficult to know how to best support your own business and the industry more generally. One of the key practical things we can do is to maintain a rigorous focus on quality. As growers, we’re always looking to optimise the amount of marketable fruit. However, over the last few years, we have seen growers pushing the boundaries on what is acceptable to a retailer and in doing so providing zero consideration to the consumer.

There is a place for lower-end blueberries however; as shoppers and consumers, we need to consider, “Would I pay for this?”. I know when I look around at some of the fruit that I see across the industry, I certainly wouldn’t, and we shouldn’t expect others to either. We have to remember that our biggest competitors are other fruit and snack categoriesnot each other. To increase consumption and higher returns, it’s in our collective interest to improve our quality and provide value beyond just price.

Jonathan Shaw | 0418 758 268 | president@abga.com.au

It was great to catch up with a number of Rubus growers at BerryQuest particularly those from interstate. I found a number of the talks very interesting and certainly have some ideas to take back to my business. I also had some great chats with the sponsors and enjoyed working my way around the trade show. After listening to Soren Bjorn from Driscoll’s and Juan Allende from HortiFrut I certainly think that the Rubus category still has room for growth, but it won’t be at the scale we have seen in previous years. As a grower that means we need to maintain a rigorous focus on quality and as an industry it means we need to build consumption at a domestic level, but also start exploring export opportunities as there is such a long lead time. I noted that both talks emphasised the need for a “berry basket” approach to marketing and that is certainly something that the RABA committee wants to explore more fully.

The next step is to make a formal submission to the Minister which is underway.

One of the first steps to marketing the berry basket is to make it easier to undertake joint marketing campaigns. As many of you are aware, the ABGA already funds a marketing campaign for blueberries but the Rubus marketing funds are managed by Hort Innovation.

I know that the Berries Australia team is working closely with NSW DPI to try and facilitate business continuity for all berry growers and if you are worried, I urge you to contact your Berries Australia IDO. I would also like to thank Tyler Scofield from Driscoll’s who spent three days in the DPI Varroa control centre in Orange.

On a less optimal note, the bee pest Varroa mite has been found at Nana Glen near Coffs Harbour. At this stage the NSW government considers that the pest can be eradicated and has mounted a large-scale eradication response. Through the Deed (the EPPRD –the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed) the Rubus industry along with other plant industries will be making a contribution to that response using the funds raised by the PHA levy. It is in everyone’s interests that this pest be eradicated as it will increase the cost of pollination across the board by 30% if it can’t be controlled.

As reported in my last column, the levy amendment vote is now done and dusted and the proposal to reduce the research and development levy to 2c/kg, set the marketing levy at 0 and set a PHA levy at 2c was supported by a significant majority of industry.

INDUSTRY6 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

One of the reasons RABA proposed to set the marketing levy at zero was to free up those funds so growers could potentially pay a voluntary marketing levy and leverage off the existing ABGA campaign. This would be a win-win situation.

President's

Having an industry person embedded in the response really assisted with communication and building understanding between industry and government. Report

Richard McGruddy | 0408 763 804 | richard@berryq.com.au

Unfortunately, a number of Rubus growers are in the Eradication Zone and under the current rules all hives within 10km of the infestation will need to be eradicated. That said, the situation changes daily.

Chairman's Report

At a Strawberries Australia level, we have been dealing with a few key issues regarding the levy funds recently, but the SAI committee and Berries Australia have been working closely with Hort Innovation to resolve the problems and are hopeful for a positive outcome.

INDUSTRY

Speaking of Queensland, it was fantastic for myself and the Hillwood Berries team to have the opportunity to travel to the Gold Coast to attend BerryQuest International 2022. Not only was this a highly informative event, but the opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues, and network with others from the broader berry industry was invaluable after all the restrictions experienced over the last couple of years.

After a very challenging start it looks like the winter strawberry season is now back in full swing with perfect growing conditions at last. Hopefully prices will stay up to allow our Queensland growers the opportunity to recoup some early losses from one of the most difficult starts to the season in many years.

I personally enjoyed connecting with growers from other berry sectors as well as having the opportunity to catch up with Hort Innovation CEO Brett Fifield. One of the highlights of BerryQuest was the Emerging Leaders program. Twenty-four young, emerging leaders received a bursary to attend BerryQuest with the help of a $10,000 grant contribution from each Peak Industry Body (PIB); SAI, ABGA and RABA.

Simon Dornauf | 0408 681 206 | simon@hillwoodberries.com.au

Queensland growers faced relentless rain and cold in the early stage of the Winter production season. Production was heavily impacted with a significant decrease in yield, not to mention the appearance of the fungal disease Neopestalotiopsis sp. which seems to have played a role in loss of plants and fruit. It feels particularly real for me as my own business now has a farm in Bundaberg.

The leadership program also presented a Cultivating Your Leadership interactive workshop facilitated by Cynthia Mahoney. The workshop encouraged participants to explore their own leadership styles and how this can be best expressed in a team environment.

I was really pleased to have the opportunity to present at the industry leadership workshop to encourage other younger growers to take up leadership positions in the berry PIBs as I have personally gained a great deal from the experience. It was funny for me to be on the other side of the microphone presenting to the young leaders rather than being considered one myself, but I guess time catches up with everyone.

The feedback from the workshop has been excellent and I encourage any young strawberry growers to participate in these leadership development opportunities as they arise. This was the first time the bursaries have been offered and we certainly are looking at ways to make it even better for BerryQuest 2024.

SAI is also looking forward to further meetings of the Strawberry Propagators Council which has been established to bring together the SAI committee and the propagators to increase communication and work collaboratively on issues affecting runner production and plant quality for the benefit of the entire strawberry industry. The first meeting was held in Victoria in May and involved positive discussion on a number of topics although it should be recognised that these meetings are just information sharing opportunities at this stage.

Permits are required for movement of hives into the Sunraysia region from interstate (excluding NSW) and from within Victoria. More information can be found at bit.ly/VM-VIC

I look forward to seeing growers at these events, and wish everyone the best for the coming season. As always please get in touch if you have any questions or need any help.

Victorian Strawberry IndustryCommitteeDevelopment Victoria & South Australia Dr Angela Atkinson, Berry Industry Development Officer 0408 416 538 | ido@vicstrawberry.com.au

It seems like it’s been a colder and wetter than average winter, but we are finally starting to see some sunny weather. Preparations for the coming season are well underway, although it seems like last season has only just finished!

8 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 INDUSTRY

A berry biosecurity field day has been organised for Wednesday 14 September at Freshberry Co in Coldstream. Activities will include presentations and demonstrations on biofumigation to manage charcoal rot, on-farm biosecurity, exotic pest diagnostics and preparedness, new technologies to control botrytis and management of fruit waste to reduce risk of fruit fly.

A Berry Women in Industry Dinner will also be held on Thursday 15 September at Wild Cattle Creek Estate in Seville, after being on hold during the pandemic.

For more detailed information about Varroa mite and the current incursion and response, see the article on PAGE 18. Horticultural netting grant applications are still open in South Australia, with just over 50% of the funds already committed. To find out more or apply for funding go to Thebit.ly/Hort-Net-SAHorticulturalNetting Program expansion has now opened for applications in Victoria. The funding is available to eligible horticultural enterprises for the purchase and installation of new netting over established production areas. The Program will provide for up to 50 per cent of eligible costs to purchase and install new horticultural netting (fixed and demountable), to a maximum of $150,000 (ex GST). Applications can be submitted for netting installed after 14 December 2021, and before 30 May 2025. Funding is limited and the application period ends on 17 October 2022.

Bee hives that have been in NSW since 1 January this year cannot be moved into South Australia. Permits are required for bees and hives from Victoria and Queensland to enter South Australia. For more information go to bit.ly/VM-SAus

BerryQuest International held at the end of July was a great success and attended by many growers, including recipients of the Emerging Leader’s bursaries from South Australia and Victoria. Feedback from growers, companies participating in the trade exhibition, and other delegates was overwhelmingly positive. It was a great opportunity for the industry to gather and reconnect after the last couple of years.

The Varroa mite incursion in New South Wales, which began with a detection of the mite in sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle in late July, is still under an eradication response led by NSW DPI and supported by all states and affected horticulture industries. Varroa destructor is the most serious pest of European honey bees worldwide, and Australia is the only honey producing country free from the mite. Establishment of V. destructor in Australia would have serious consequences not only for the honey bee industry, but also those horticultural crops reliant on bee pollination.

Berries Australia has been working with Plant Health Australia and the NSW DPI to support business continuity in the affected areas. Restrictions have been placed on the movement of hives for pollination services with states implementing permits and controls. No hives from New South Wales can be moved into Victoria or South Australia. There are special permits in place for Queensland hives to transit through New South Wales to provide pollination services.

For information about eligibility and how to apply, please visit bit.ly/Hort-Net-Vic

Blueberry rust (BBR) update

ICA-31 procedures for WA growers planning to send fruit to South Australia were released on 25 July, ahead of the anticipated domestic cross-border trade to SA.

INDUSTRY Climate Autumn 2022 delivered close to average rainfall and slightly warmer than average temperatures to WA growing regions. June brought below average rainfall for areas to the south of Perth and average falls from Perth and to the north. Warmer than average temperatures were experienced in June, particularly in the south coast district where Albany recorded daily minimum temperatures almost 3 degrees above average. Warmer than average temperatures continued into July with Manjimup and Albany recording daytime temperatures 1.4 degrees above the average. Other growing regions also recorded above average temperatures. Rainfall was close to average during July in most regions except for Albany which was below average.

Figure 1 (a, b) Chilli thrip on blackberry leaves showing leaf distortion and bronzing. (c) Predatory insects Orius and Cucumeris are currently looking promising for thrip population management.

Following on from the update in the previous edition of this journal, WA’s area freedom certificate for BBR was revoked on 9 May 2022 and BBR was declared a 'permitted' species for WA on 24 June 2022. This means that BBR host material can no longer be sent from WA to South Australia without a Plant Health Certificate or ICA-31. Import requirements specific to BBR were removed on 30 June, meaning that BBR host materials and machinery no longer need to comply with ICA-31 when entering WA from other states.

The crop Harvest of new season strawberries in the Perth region commenced in late May and is tracking at its usual rate. Availability of new season fruit has been tight because there were less new runners planted this year and some growers suffered significant runner losses that required replanting. This has kept local prices high and has created space in the market for continued harvest of second year fruit which would not normally be present in high volumes at this time of year. Much of the secondyear fruit available on the market is not as high quality as Australian consumers expect to see and has been difficult to sell. The new-season crop in the southern summer growing region is on schedule and harvest is expected to commence in September. Blueberry and raspberry crops are four weeks behind their normal schedule in some areas, but on track in others. Harvest of blueberries started in July in the northern growing region and in August in the southern growing region with peak harvest expected in September to October. Blackberries in the greater Perth region continue to be impacted by Chilli thrip with leaf bronzing and distortion and reductions in yield (Figure 1).

Photo credits: Helen Newman

AustraliaWestern

On 1 July, a Strawberry Growers Association of WA AGM & Field Event was held at Berry Sweet. Please SEE PAGE 81 for a report about the spray demonstration that took place as it has some important information about spray coverage efficacy that is relevant for all strawberry growers.

Aileen Reid & Helen Newman, Industry Development Team, Agricultural Produce Commission a b c

Attendees at BerryQuest can now revisit some of the presentations given by our speakers by visiting the BQI22 page on our website. Many of the speakers have kindly allowed for their presentation slides to be added and these are freely accessible via their Speaker profile page at berries.net.au/bqi2022/speakers

With bursaries granted to 24 emerging leaders of the industry, BerryQuest was also a fantastic opportunity to support the next generation of leaders by encouraging learning, networking and participation in leadership skills training as a component of the conference.

Prior to BerryQuest, another successful Prep ‘n’ Party event was held in Stanthorpe in late June. Thirty growers and industry associates from the Granite Belt region and beyond attended the half day program of presentations, interactive workshop, field walk and networking opportunity in preparation for the Summer production season. From the positive feedback received about this and the previous Sunshine Coast Prep ‘n’ Party event, further events of this kind will be developed in the lead up to both the Summer and Winter productions seasons in the major growing regions of Queensland.

Queensland Jen Rowling, Temporary Berry Industry Development Officer 0448 322 389 | berryido@qldstrawberries.com.au

It was an ideal opportunity for all industry participants to get up-to-date on the latest in global and domestic berry business, production, innovation and technology.

My best wishes are with you all for a much better second half to the season and no rain!

Now that BerryQuest is done, I am looking forward to getting out into the field to catch up with growers and see first-hand how the winter strawberry season has progressed, particularly given the early difficulties.

A very big thank you to Taste ‘n’ See, Queensland Berries and Bugs for Bugs who very generously opened up their farms and businesses to delegates as part of the Farm Tour component of the conference, showcasing berry production in Queensland at its best.

Having been postponed twice since the last event of its kind held in Tasmania in 2018, the influx of over 500 growers, industry associates, sponsors and exhibitors to Sea World Resort and Conference Centre on the Gold Coast was a clear indication of the need for the Australian berry industry to reconnect post-COVID.

10 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 INDUSTRY

The winter strawberry production season in Queensland this year has proven to be one of the most difficult ever experienced, but with plants now thriving again, fruit coming on, more flowers in abundance, and the weather finally providing the ideal winter growing conditions that we’re used to, growers are hoping to be able to make up some ground in terms of increased yields and fruit sales. The unprecedented cold and wet weather wreaked havoc across the southeast Queensland region, causing a major delay in production in the early half of the season. Plants did not thrive under the conditions, with production down at least 25% across the region and disease pressure higher than ever. Several fungal pathogens were identified including Neopestalotiopsis sp. (Neo-P) which, whilst not a new pathogen, was a major cause for concern for growers as it has never been seen to this extent before or caused any significant problems. A webinar was held with Apollo Gomez (QDAF) and Dr Natalia Peres (University of Florida) to educate growers more about this pathogen and also encourage the supply of samples for further analysis. Additional information on Neo-P has and will continue to be distributed accordingly to ensure that everyone has a good grasp on control measures of this and other pathogens for the remainder of the season. SEE PAGE 85 for an article from Apollo Gomez, QDAF about Neo-P. Queensland did, however, lay on the weather charm in July as host state for BerryQuest International 2022.

In addition, some assistance will be provided for property inspections if required to meet market access requirements.

Tasmanian berry growers have a lot of industry workshops coming up. During August and early September Fruit Growers Tasmania will hold four Farm Safety Workshops for Tasmanian fruit growers.

Development

Biosecurity Tasmania de-regulated the management of blueberry rust (BBR) on 3 August 2022, considering it as endemic in the State, revoking the status of the disease as a List A plant disease not endemic in Tasmania under the Plant quarantine Act 1997. This change also revokes the specific import requirements associated with the disease organism. This removes restrictions from current infected properties and removes blueberry rust related restrictions on blueberry fruit and plants within Tasmania. In the coming months, Biosecurity Tasmania will be working with industry representatives to develop a program of supportive actions as part of a transition to management covering a period of 12 months, which will assist with management of the disease. Supportive actions will include free diagnostics for suspect BBR, promotion of the benefits & profile of Tasmanian blueberries, continued BBR research and development by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, and provision of advice for accessing markets.

0400

Tasmania

INDUSTRY

The workshops will focus on workplace safety and culture, mental health, attracting and retaining workers, and information on workers compensation and industrial relations. Other speakers will present on bush fire management as well as electrical safety around high voltage power lines. Please visit fortheirandblueberryWorkshopFruitseasonopportunitycomingThereincludefieldPlansandevents/safety-awareness-2022www.fruitgrowerstas.org.au/upcoming-tofindoutmoreaboutregistertoattendoneoftheseworkshops.areinplacetoholdapre-seasonberrygrowerdayon2Septemberat“BerriedinTas”.Topicswillpestanddiseasecontrol,IPMandpollination.willalsobeanupdateonvariousR&Dprojectsthroughthepipeline.Theeventwillbeagreatforgrowerstogettogetherbeforethecommences.GrowersTasmaniawillholdaBlueberryGrowers&InformationDayon22SeptembertoupdategrowersonthelatestwiththeBBRsituationtherequirementsforgrowerswantingtoexportfruittoSouthAustralia.Pleasevisitbit.ly/3QJyF2Imoredetailsandtoregistertoattend. Mark Salter, Berry Industry Officer 100 593

| berryido@fruitgrowerstas.org.au11

The winter months so far have seen cooler than average temperatures which has been great for chill hour accumulation. Even though it’s the winter period in Tasmania there is plenty of activity happening in the berry sector. Growers are busy changing over strawberry beds and replanting, also pruning or potting up raspberry plants in readiness for the coming season.

Fruit Growers Tasmania recently sent out a survey to Tasmanian berry growers asking them for details on the volumes of plastic stored on farm and volumes of plastic generated annually. The information is designed to give Mitchell Plastic - who are building a plastic recycling plant in Southern Tasmania - an idea about how much plastic will be available for recycling from our sector. The company is looking to have the plant operational by Mid-2023 to assist growers to manage and dispose of waste plastic.

There is an air of confidence in the berry sector in Tasmania with many growers expanding their area under production.

Figure 1. Varroa mite emergency zone map as of 25 August 2022.

NSW - what a place to live! If it’s not fires, it’s floods and if it’s not floods, it’s COVID and if it’s not COVID it’s floods again and if it’s not more floods, its Varroa mite.

Thanks to all that presented and attended the event.

What do the emergency zones mean?

• The red represents the 10km eradication zones where honey bee hives may be euthanised

I have developed a BBR Poster which you should have received with this journal. Additional copies are also available so please contact me and I can get one sent to you. I’ve also been working on a BBR management guide which will be finalised in the next month and will be made available on the NSW DPI and berries.net.au websites.

I understand that this year has been a challenging year particularly in terms of the diseases BBR and Botrytis.

• The purple shows the 25km surveillance zones, where officials are monitoring and inspecting managed and feral honey bees to limit the extent of these incursions

New South Wales Melinda Simpson, Berry Industry Development Officer 0447 081 765 | melinda.simpson@dpi.nsw.gov.au

On another note, Blueberry rust (BBR) has just been classed as endemic in both Tasmania and Western Australia. This means that the market restrictions around rust on blueberry fruit and plants into Tasmania and Western Australia have been removed.

BerryQuest International held at Sea World on the Gold Coast was a huge success. It is the first time we as a group have had the opportunity to network since COVID-19. It was obvious that all who attended enjoyed the presentations but relished even more the opportunity to say ‘hi’ to old friends and colleagues.

12 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 INDUSTRY

I’m sure you are all aware by now about the outbreak of Varroa mite in NSW. Unfortunately, Varroa mite is the most serious pest of honey bees worldwide and was detected in two of six sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle on Wednesday 22 June 2022. The detection was the result of routine surveillance on sentinel hives by NSW Bee Biosecurity Officers.

Since this initial detection, and at the time of writing, NSW DPI surveillance has found another 75 infected premises. To reduce the risk of spread several zones have been set up. There are three different mite zones and restrictions apply depending on where honey bees and hives are located.

Take care everyone and as always feel free to contact me if you have any questions or queries.

• The blue represents the general emergency zone (Figure 1) Since the incursion started at the end of June, I have been helping with the response in the Local Control Centre in Maitland and the Forward Command Post at Grafton. To date, there have been over 952 personnel made up of NSW DPI, LLS, RFS and volunteer beekeepers involved. All these people have been working tirelessly to help with this response.

Photo Credit: Melinda Simpson, NSW DPI South Australia is now the only state that requires ICA – 31 to send fruit and plants.

The Foodbank Hunger Report 2021 also reveals one in six Australian adults haven’t had enough to eat in the last year: while food waste (across the supply chain) totals 312 kg per person each year. There is little time to waste when it comes to meeting Australia’s goal of halving food waste by 2030.

Pre-competitive collaboration involves two or more companies operating within the same industry, coming together to address a shared problem or pain point that doesn’t impact direct business competition.

Stop Food Waste Australia is also building momentum in addressing food waste through the Horticulture Sector Action Plan (SAP). With extensive collaboration from the Horticulture sector, the Sector Action Plan will identify and prioritise food waste reduction actions and develop an effective strategy to ensure the maximum impact.

Through the Australian Food Pact, businesses can reduce surplus nutritious food going to waste and increase profit by focusing on prevention, reduction and innovation as well as optimising donations to food rescue charities. Not only is food waste reduced (or eliminated) through these initiatives but businesses save money and reduce their environmental impact.

Australia’s fight against food waste

Halving Australia’s food waste is going to require a collaborative effort, and we’d love all parts of the Supply Chain to get involved. For anyone working in fresh produce, any changes - however small - to reduce food waste can have a meaningful impact.

Melissa Smith, Stop Food Waste Australia Technical Account Manager Food waste is Australia’s $36.6 billion challenge. And when we waste food, we waste the water, energy and land resources used to grow, make, move and sell that food – ultimately adding to climate change.

INDUSTRY Register your interest with melissa@ fightfoodwastecrc.com.au to find out more.

Stop Food Waste Australia is a partnership including federal, state, and local government, the agri-food industry and four major food rescue charities, and is supported by the Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Support for the Horticulture Sector Action Plan is provided by the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Science.

Existing processes throughout the supply chain including harvesting, processing, grading, transportation, sale, and safety will be considered in the SAP as part of a holistic approach to reducing food waste. The underlying goal is to reduce food waste and increase food donation while improving crop utilisation, profitability, and supply chain resilience. Ultimately, we all want the food grown to be eaten and enjoyed. Along with changes across the supply chain, this also means supporting consumers to reduce food waste at home. According to the National Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study, at least a 30% reduction in household food waste is required to achieve Australia’s goal of halving food waste by 2030.

One of the key industry initiatives in the fight against food waste is the Australian Food Pact. The Pact is led and supported by Stop Food Waste Australia (SFWA) and brings organisations together in pre-competitive collaboration to reduce food waste in their operations and supply chain. Some of Australia’s biggest food businesses have already joined, including Coles, Woolworths, McCain and Simplot. Embedded into SFWA’s work is a commitment to enhancing the reputation, productivity, and resilience of Australia’s food system.

Research by Fight Food Waste CRC is exploring household food waste and the role of packaging. For fresh produce, packaging can be used strategically to help consumers enjoy food for longer and minimise food being wasted. There have been significant international successes with packaging changes such as removing ‘best before’ dates, using resealable bags, and including safe and optimal storage advice.

Greater awareness of Australian berry as an attractive industry with rewarding careers

Access to capable & skilled farm employees & service providers

Access to trusted market insights that decision-makinginform

Expanded range of risk management tools for price & cost volatility

A WORKFORCERELIABLE FOR BERRIES ACROSS ALL SKILL LEVELS

Clear understanding of workforce obligations & uptake of third-party ethical sourcing programs to demonstrate compliance

Berry businesses that are more profitable, resilient, & innovative in managing price & cost volatility

GOALS

A favourable policy & regulatory environment developed through cultivation of key networks & evidencebased policy positions

Improved access to high-value export markets & increased consumptiondomestic

The industry utilises modern business planning & management tools

Clear & understood drivers of berry farm profitability & productivity

Clear & supported skills development & career pathways for business owners & employees Market access to high value markets is prioritised & supported by effective R&D Clear & well communicated quality standards

Australian berries are valued around the world as a premium product

STRATEGIC PLAN 2022–2025

A reliable, fit for purpose workforce & an industry that provides clear development pathways & fosters a safe work culture

Effective marketing campaign that increases domestic consumption of berries without compromising price

14 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 INDUSTRY BerriesStrategicAustraliaPlan PRIORITIES SUCCESS MARKETS&DOMESTICINOVERSEAS

OUTCOMES

Access to a reliable seasonal workforce

RESILIENTMORE BUSINESSESBERRY

The Australian berry industry is committed to the ethical treatment of workers

AN INNOVATIVE & ORGANISATIONGROWERRESPONSIVE

Berries Australia has good people, effective & transparent management of resources & is financially stable Planning frameworks support industry to reach its potential Proactive management of food safety risks & development of a food safety culture

The Australian berry industry is committed to the production of highquality safe food Proactive management of biosecurity risks

Appropriate use of chemicals Berries Australia communicates effectively with our members across all of the Peak Industry Bodies

BERRIESSUPPORTCOMMUNITYSTRONGFOR

Profitable farm businesses that adapt to the changing natural environment & provide good stewardship of resources

2022–2025

Efficient & profitable use of land, water, carbon & energy resources which nurtures & sustains the natural environment in a changing climate

The full version can be downloaded from the website at bit.ly/BA-Strat-Plan

OUTCOMES

Australian berries are valued for superior health & nutrition benefits

An organisation that is grower-focused, with talented people who embrace innovative thinking & decisive action

Berries Australia has recently completed a strategic planning process as part of creating a vision for the future of the Australian berries industry.

The summary of that Strategic Plan can be found here.

Berries Australia delivers back to the levy payers with investments that align with grower priorities both directly & through Hort Innovation

Berries Australia is a strong, well-respected voice for industry that leverages our networks to deliver policy outcomes for the berry industry

The Australian berry industry is trusted & accepted by the community Greater ability to manage off-farm impacts

Enhanced trust & value in the Australian berry industry, farmers & products

GOALS

PRIORITIES

Berries Australia provides evidence-based input into government consultation processes to progress the interests of our industry PLAN

MANAGEMENTRESOURCENATURALEFFECTIVE

STRATEGIC

CHLORPYRIFOS PER90666 Scarab beetles All States and Territories, except VIC Not required when used as directed 31 MAY 2024

Each crop table provides the following information for each permit; Chemical name, Permit number, Pest/disease/weed use, States where the permit is valid, the Withholding period (Days), and the Permit expiry date. For each chemical you wish to use under the minor use permit, you will need to access a copy of the Permit document directly from the APVMA website. The directions for use including the application rate are shown on the Permit document and must be followed.

Minor use permits are issued to legalise use of an agvet chemical product or active constituent in a use situation considered to be minor, such as: • use on a minor crop, animal or non-crop situation, where no registered products exist for the proposed use, and use of the product would not produce sufficient economic return to register the product • limited use in a major crop, animal or non-crop situation, where no registered products exist for the proposed use

FENBUTATINETOXAZOLE OXIDE PER89407PER89406 Two spotted mite Bean spider mite Two spotted mite European red mite Red berry mite Bean spider mite All States and Territories, except VIC All States and Territories, except VIC 1 DAY 1 DAY 30 APRIL 2023 31 MAY 2023 (MAINMAN®FLONICAMID500WG) PER89214 Jassids,Mirids Leefhoppers GreenhouseAphids white fly Suppression of green vegetable bug and Rutherglen bug All States 3 DAYS 30 JUN 2023 (AVATAR®)INDOXACARB PER89278 Fall armyworm All States and Territories, except VIC 3 DAYS 31 MAR 2023 (AVATAR®)INDOXACARB PER13289 Light brown apple moth Elephant weevil borer (field and protected grown) All States 1 DAY 31 AUG 2023

All efforts have been made to provide the most current, complete and accurate information about these permits, however Berries Australia recommend that you always confirm the details at the APVMA website prior to using any chemical covered by these Minor Use Permits.

BOTANICAL OIL (ECO-OIL®) PER12434 Two spotted mite All States and Territories, except VIC Not required when used as directed 31 AUG 2023 CAPTAN PER13958

FLUAZINAM PER83871 Leaf StrawberryBlotch runner and plug plant production only (field and protected) All States and Territories, except VIC Not required when used as directed 30 JUN 2027

16 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 INDUSTRY

CURRENT AT SEPTEMBER 2022

CYPRODINIL AND FLUDIOXONIL (SWITCH®) PER84891 GreyAnthracnosemould/Botrytis All States and Territories, except VIC 7 DAYS 31 JAN 2023

Industry Development Officers – Angela Atkinson, Melinda Simpson & Mark Salter

MINOR PERMITSUSE

PER81745 Scarab beetles QLD only Not required when used as directed 30 SEP 2023 (CLAMAEMAMECTIN50SC INSECTICIDE) PER92220 Fall Armyworm All States and Territories, except VIC 3 DAYS 31 MAR 2023

EMAMECTIN BENZOATE (PROCLAIM OPTI) PER89263 Fall Armyworm All States and Territories, except VIC 3 DAYS 31 MAR 2023

All States and Territories, except VIC 1 DAY 31 DEC 2025

The booklet contains a summary of all current minor use permits available for Strawberries, Rubus and Blueberries.

CHLORANTRANILIPROLE (CORAGEN®) PER89281PER84178 Lepidopteran pests Fall army worm All States and Territories, except VIC 3 DAYS 30 NOV 2022 31 MAR 2023

CHLORPYRIFOS PER90216 European (protectedearwigcropping only) Tas only Costa employees and growers Not required when used as directed 31 AUG 2023

Minor Use Permits for the Australian Berry Industries

PETROLEUM OIL (INC. PARAFFINIC AND MINERAL OIL) PER13957 Two spotted mite and scale insects All States except VIC 1 DAY 31 MAR 2023

STRAWBERRY MINOR USE PERMITS CHEMICAL PERMIT NO. PEST DISEASE / WEED USE STATES PERIODWITHHOLDING(DAYS) EXPIRYPERMIT DATE ABAMECTIN PER91777 Root-knot nematode (field and protected) All States and Territories Driscoll’s employees and growers NIL 30 NOV 2024

INDOXACARB (AVATAR ) PER89278 Fall Armyworm All States and Territories, except VIC 2 DAYS 31 MAR 2023

BLUEBERRY MINOR USE PERMITS CHEMICAL PERMIT NO. PEST DISEASE WEED USE STATES PERIODWITHHOLDING(DAYS) EXPIRYPERMIT DATE

With this edition of the Australian Berry Journal, you will find a new booklet that we will be updating each year with our Spring edition.

AZOXYSTROBIN PER89953 Blueberry rust Stem blight and die back Twig blight All States and Territories, except VIC 1 DAY 31 OCT 2024 BIFENTHRIN PER84972 Elephant weevil borer All States and Territories, except VIC 1 DAY 28 FEB 2023

PER14192 White fringed weevil and garden weevil All States and Territories, except VIC 2 DAYS 30 SEP 2023

www.berries.net.au

RUBUS MINOR USE PERMITS CHEMICAL PERMIT NO. PEST DISEASE WEED USE STATES PERIODWITHHOLDING(DAYS) EXPIRYPERMIT DATE (EMULSIFIABLEECO-OIL® BOTANICAL OIL) PER14234 Two spotted mite Bean spider mite All States except VIC Not required when used as directed 30 APR 2023

METALAXYL-M AND MANCOZEB (RIDIMOL®GOLD MZ) PER84973 Downy mildew All States and Territories, except VIC 14 DAYS 31 AUG 2024 AgrobacteriumNOGALL®radiobactor PER13150 Crown gall NSW & TAS only Not required when used as directed 31 OCT 2022

CHLORANTRANILIPROLE PER89353 Fall (fieldArmywormandprotected) All States and Territories, except VIC 1 DAY 31 MAY 2023

FENAMIPHOS PER91381 Root-knot nematode Strawberry runner production only TAS and QLD only Specifically Driscoll’s nursery (Perth and Cressy), JCLM Farming (Ouse), Sweet’s Strawberry Runners (Stanthorpe) Not required when used as directed 31 MAY 2025 (MAINMANFLONICAMID500WG INSECTICIDE) PER82598 Aphids (field and protected) All States and Territories, except VIC 1 DAY 30 NOV 2024

ALPHA -CYPERMETHRIN PER90027 Fruit flies All States and Territories, except VIC 7 DAYS 31 OCT 2023

All States and Territories, except VIC 3 DAYS 31 AUG 2024

IMPORTANT All efforts have been made to provide the most current, complete and accurate information about these permits, however Berries Australia recommend that you always confirm the details at the APVMA website prior to using any chemical covered by these Minor Use Permits: https://portal.apvma.gov.au/permits For application rates, please refer to the permit which can be downloaded at the APVMA website: https://portal.apvma.gov.au/permits Please ensure that you download, read and print copy of the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for each chemical and ensure this is available in your chemical storage area for easy access. The Commonwealth Government agency the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) – regulates the supply and sale of agricultural and veterinary (agvet) chemicals nationally. The Victorian Government is responsible for regulating their use and some aspects of supply in Victoria. The primary piece of legislation for Victorian agvet chemical users is the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Act 1992. It imposes controls in relation to the use, application and sale of agvet chemicals, fertilisers and stock foods.

BOSCALID + PYRACLOSTROBIN (PRISTINE®) PER82986 GreyBlueberryAnthracnoserustmould/botrytis

SpurCaneGreyAnthracnosemould/Botrytisspotblights

COPPER PRESENT AS COPPER HYDROXIDE OR CUPRIC HYDROXIDE PER84176 Blueberry Anthracnoserust

All States and Territories, except VIC 1 DAY 31 AUG 2025

CHLOROTHALONIL PER91300 Blueberry rust Grey mould/Botrytis All States and Territories, except VIC 28 DAYS 30 SEPT 2026

Step 4 Refer to the Directions for Use, Critical Use Comments and any Additional Conditions prior to use of this chemical under the Minor Use Permit.

For further information and help with accessing Permits on the APVMA website please visit bit.ly/MUP-Help

Step 1 Type portal.apvma.gov.au/permits into your internet browser. The system works best when used on a PC.

FOREXAMPLEONLY

Click on the View button to open a PDF copy of the Permit

17 How do I access a Permit on the APVMA website?

Step 2 At the Agricultural and Veterinary Permits Search page, type in the number – PERxxxxx – of the permit you are looking for and click on the Search button

Step 3 The Search results should provide the permit that you are looking for and will show the Type, Description, Status, Issued date, Expiry date and a link to View the Permit.

The female mite enters the brood cell (where rearing of larvae occurs) of an advanced larva just before the cell is capped by nurse bees. The mite sinks itself into the larval food at the bottom of the cell and emerges once the brood cell is fully capped. She will then move onto the developing bee larvae/pupae and feed primarily on fat bodies (Figure 2).

If established in Australia Varroa mite is expected to progressively kill 95-100% of Australia’s wild honey bee population, greatly reducing the free pollination service they provide. The effect on commercial beekeepers will be the costs associated with implementing control measures, increased labour requirements, and the need to replace infected colonies (RIRDC 2010). The effect on pollination dependent industries will be the loss of incidental pollination and increases in the direct costs of pollination services and/or the possibility of insufficient number of hives being available (Gordon and Davis 2003).

The mother mite may lay up to six eggs at intervals of about 30 hours. The first egg develops into a male mite and the rest are female. Mite development from egg to adult takes about 8–10 days. The first mite (male) mates with the female mites as they mature. On average, 1.5 daughter mites emerge from a worker cell and 2.5 daughter mites emerge from a drone cell along with the mother mite. The male and undeveloped female mites die inside the cell. The mother mite and her daughters are then capable of crawling back into adjoining brood cells to complete the reproduction life cycle again (Figure 3).

Varroa mite — what is it and where are we at?

Melinda Simpson & Angela Atkinson

V. destructor mite is now widespread throughout Europe, North America and New Zealand. V. jacobsoni is a mite infesting Asian bees throughout Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.

These mites are important because if left untreated in a honey bee colony, they will kill it. The effect of Varroa mite in other countries has seen wild honey bee colonies and managed colonies drastically decline (Cunningham et al. 2002). In the US and Europe, Varroa mite killed 95-100% of unmanaged or wild honey bees within three to four years of infestation (Commonwealth of Australia 2011).

What do they look like?

Spread Adult mites are capable of living for more than five days without the presence of honey bees. This means that they can be moved around on used beekeeping equipment, including extracted combs. Varroa mites can also spread through drifting drones and worker bees as well as through swarms and absconding colonies. Foraging worker bees will encounter other bees when visiting blossom for nectar and pollen. Mites are very agile and quick in moving and can transfer between bees in passing (Figure 4).

Varroa mites include a group of species, including V. destructor, V. jacobsoni, V. underwoodi, V. rindereri and un-named species.

Unfortunately, when mites are in low numbers in a colony of honey bees they are difficult to detect. On its own individual mites are easily identifiable to the naked eye. They look like small brown sesame seeds with eight legs. They are flat and about 1.1 mm long and 1.7 mm across (Figure 1).

Varroa mites are the most serious pest of honey bees worldwide. Varroa infects honey bees in every major beekeeping area of the world, except Australia up until recently.

Varroa mite lifecycle

Importance

INDUSTRY18 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Figure 1. The ventral (bottom) view of Varroa destructor shows its legs (I), mouth and feeding parts, which are collectively called the gnathosoma (III), and numerous hairs called setae (IV), while the dorsal (top) view shows its dorsal shield (II). Photo credit: Noble Noble, Ph.D., University of Florida.

Figure 2. An adult female Varroa mite feeds on a developing bee. Photo credit: Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org

20 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 Figure 4. Varroa mites can spread via attaching to honey bees. Photo credit: Alex Wild Figure 3. Varroa destructor life cycle. Image credit: Zachary Huang, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University

Varroa destructor incursion in NSW

• A 50km biosecurity zone - no movement of hives

Three zones were set up around the detection

As detected infections spread from the initial premises in Newcastle, the entire state was declared a biosecurity zone, and all hive movements were placed under a stand still order.

• A 10km eradication zone - hives within this zone to be euthanised

Of most concern to berry growers is a detection of Varroa mite in hives on one premises in the Coffs Harbour area, at Nana Glen, on 25 July, 2022. A 10km eradication zone has been set up around the detection site, as well as a 25km surveillance zone. The detection has been linked to initial detections in the Newcastle region, through hive movement several months ago.

Varroa destructor is a category 3 Emergency Plant Pest (EPP) under the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed (EPPRD) and as such an eradication response has been put in place to delimit and eradicate the mite. As a category 3 EPP, the response is funded 50% by government and 50% by industry.

Growers using pollination services under the Hive Movement Declaration system must ensure that the commercial beekeepers they are using have the appropriate permits in place, as there are hefty fines for both the beekeepers and the growers.

On the 22 June 2022 Varroa destructor was detected in two of six sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle in NSW, as a result of routine surveillance. All six hives were euthanised and inspected for mites. Three private hives in the vicinity of the sentinel hives were also euthanised. The response strategy is being coordinated by NSW DPI.

After intensive surveillance around infected premises, the 50km biosecurity zone has been lifted to allow more hive movement within NSW. Bees still cannot be moved out of the 10km eradication zones or the 25km surveillance zones, but can be moved within a zone to ensure continued pollination. Hives cannot be moved at all within the 10km eradication zone.

Berries Australia will also continue to keep growers updated as the situation changes.

Since the initial detection, other infected hives have been found through surveillance and tracing, and at the time of writing there are 99 infected premises in NSW.

Unfortunately, these zones include a number of berry farms and Berries Australia is working with the NSW DPI to investigate options to allow pollination services to continue in the affected area.

The situation is changing rapidly, and information is constantly updated on the NSW DPI website bit.ly/VM-NSW

With the requirement for pollination services in the almond industry initially, followed by other industries including berries, NSW DPI has put in place a permit system for commercial beekeepers in low-risk areas to move honey bees and hives, allowing for business continuity. However, other states have restrictions in place to prevent movement of hives that are based in NSW entering those states. A Biosecurity Emergency Group Permit is in place to allow movement of Queensland hives safely through NSW to Victoria to provide pollination services.

• A 25km surveillance zone - surveillance and inspection of managed and feral hives

A colony that is heavily infested and collapses will be robbed (of its honey stores) by other bees from nearby colonies. The Varroa will quickly infest these robber bees which will very effectively spread the mites.

In addition, a new Biosecurity Emergency Order has been issued to allow beekeepers within the 10km eradication zones to work their hives to prevent swarming as the weather warms up, and to remove honey in the 48 hours before their bees are euthanised.

As Strawberries Australia Inc and RABA are signatories to the EPPRD, and identified as affected industries, they are contributing to the response plan along with 12 other horticulture industries.

This is the best place to find information about, and apply for, Emergency Permits and Hive Movement Declarations to allow hive movement.

All confirmed cases, however, have clear links to the original detections through hive movement, or are geographically related, i.e. detected within an existing eradication zone. For this reason, industry and government representatives are still confident Varroa mite can be eradicated at this stage.

Accessing the Horticultural Netting Grants

The program will operate until 30 June 2024, or until all the funds are committed.

Funding will cover the costs of third-party providers of permanent and throw-over protective netting and associated support structures required for installation.

Berry growers can apply for grants for netting installed after 14 December 2021.

Queries should be directed to hortnettingscheme@dprid.wa.gov.au

Berry growers can apply for grants for netting installed after 14 December 2021.

Growers can apply for up to 50% of costs associated with horticulture netting, up to a maximum of Applications$300,000.

For more information and to apply visit bit.ly/Hort-Net-WA Queensland

The program will close to applications on 30 April 2024 or when available funds have been allocated. To apply for a grant under the program please complete and submit your application form and supporting information via the QRIDA online portal at bit.ly/Hort-Net-Qld South Australia Horticultural Netting Infrastructure Grants help primary producers in the Riverland and Adelaide Hills/Greater Adelaide region fund the purchase and installation of new netting, or the replacement of any damaged netting over land used to grow horticulture crops.

Applications close on 30 June 2024 or when the funds are fully committed from the $2.6 million pool.

Jane Richter Research shows protective netting helps growers produce better crops, in higher numbers. The nets can also reduce water usage by up to 30%. Horticulture is important for rural and regional economies. It’s also vital for our national food security. The federal government has extended the program nationally with an extra $35 million investment. You will be able to apply for grants from your state or territory government.

INDUSTRY22 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

The program offers co-contribution grants of up to $300,000 to help primary producers of commercial horticultural crops offset the cost of purchasing and installing horticultural netting.

close on 30 June 2025 or when funds are fully committed, whichever comes first. Grants are subject to the availability of funds. Please be aware that at the point of publication, only 39% of the total funds remain uncommitted so do not delay your application.

For eligibility and information about how the funding can be used in South Australia please visit bit.ly/Hort-Net-SA

Written quotes or cost estimates from a third-party supplier will need to be included with the application.

Western Australia Matching grants are available to all fruit and vegetable growers installing permanent netting structures in WA, excluding wine grapes. Eligible businesses need to make a dollar-for-dollar co-contribution up to a maximum of $200,000 towards the total cost of purchasing and installing permanent protective netting and associated support structures.

growers@aussiefrozenfruit.com.au0359648101 aussiefrozenfruit.com.au

For more information and to check your eligibility please visit Applicationsbit.ly/Hort-Net-TASshouldbelodgedvia

The application period for this grants program is between 17 August 2022 and 17 October 2022. For further information about eligibility and the application process please visit bit.ly/Hort-Net-Vic

To register your interest please complete the Registration of Interest form at bit.ly/Hort-Net-NSW and the Rural Assistance Authority will contact you with application details once the program is open.

Tasmania The program will provide a grant for up to 50 per cent of the costs to purchase and install permanent protective netting and associated infrastructure or throw-over protective netting (also known as drape netting) over permanent horticultural plantings. The maximum grant is $150 000 (ex GST) per applicant to be provided on a dollar for dollar basis.

The number and value of individual grants allocated by the Program will depend upon overall demand. If the Program is oversubscribed, funding will be allocated to successful applicants on a pro-rata basis (a proportion of the amount applied for).

the NRE Tas SmartyGrants website at nre.smartygrants.com.au

New South Wales

The program is opening soon. Eligible horticulturalists in NSW will be able to apply for a rebate of up to 50% of the cost to purchase and install new protective netting or replace damaged netting, to a maximum of $100,000.

Applications can be submitted by eligible producers who have had netting already installed after 14 December 2021, and from eligible producers who seek to purchase and install netting before 30 May 2025.

Victoria Grants are now available for eligible horticulture enterprises operating in Victoria. The Program will provide for up to 50 per cent of eligible costs to purchase and commercially install new horticultural netting (fixed and demountable), to a maximum of $150,000 (ex GST). Applicants may also self-install, subject to some exclusions, such as wages and installation equipment.

Applications for the Horticultural Netting Infrastructure Program will be accepted from 24 May 2022 until fully expended or 31 March 2023.

TO FIND OUT MORE, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH

• In the fight against Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) and other fruit pests and diseases, the effective management of fruit waste is an essential quality assurance measure

This is only a part solution, as there is still unusable or inedible waste to deal with, and there is still the issue of increased unusable waste if there’s a fruit glut, extreme weather damage or if there is a biosecurity concern with the fruit. This project focused on what can be done with “waste”, specifically already containerised “packing shed waste” and/or “field waste”, damaged and unsaleable, intentionally collected and removed from the production area (best practice).

For those without a use for waste fruit, it can be managed with a commercial waste collection service for a hefty fee, a cost burden for producers, and smaller producers may find it is infrequently collected.

Alternatively, it could end up dumped on-farm, as far away from the production area as possible. Smaller farms that are more likely “land poor” due to the increased need for production area lack sites away from their current crop to dump waste, and if and when it is dumped, it could be in an open area (not a deep pit that is covered each day as per best practice recommendations), or end up in the paddock next to the dam or neighbour’s crop. Either scenario can result in the harbouring of pest and disease in sitting fruit that can contribute to the next generation of pests such as for QFF.

24 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 INDUSTRY

Bronwyn Koll, QFF Regional Project Coordinator, Agribusiness Yarra Valley

Fruit Waste Management for Queensland Fruit Fly Prevention

• For successful QFF management and control, a suite of management tools including baiting, monitoring, netting, cover sprays if applicable, and other hygiene measures, all need to be in play, area wide Fruit waste is an inevitable part of commercial fruit production. In the fight against Queensland Fruit Fly (QFF) and other fruit pests and diseases, the effective management of fruit waste is an essential quality assurance measure, yet it is often a practice that is overlooked or under-rated as it is thought to not be directly associated with money in the bank, or is it?

QFF best management practice involves applying a suite of tools, each tool enhancing the value of the other tools used, meaning more likelihood of fruit in the box and money in the bank.

It’s a given that growers aim to reduce or not produce “waste”, as “waste” does not pay the bills, and it costs time and money to deal with. However, “waste” does occur. Ideally, growers look for a market for “saleable waste” e.g. freezing or processing fruit, and a use for “waste” that at least negates the cost of handling for disposal, e.g. feeding of livestock.

All works well (cost-wise) if these options are available locally (within an affordable distance from production system), and if the end user sees value in the product.

Trade protocol requirements for the prevention and management of QFF and for the reassurance of QFF absence in a production system, states fruit waste must be removed from the accredited production property. This is supported by general production best practice highlighting the importance of the removal or reduction of harboured waste for the on-going management of most other pests and diseases.

The project investigated options for sustainable, practical and affordable waste treatment options onfarm that could likely be adopted by small enterprises to minimise QFF risk. Other benefits of the research outcomes are for the management of other pests and diseases, and to validate the international research on fermentation for Spotted Winged Drosophila (SWD) management, should the pest ever reach Australia.

The reduction in oxygen is thought to be a key factor in larval death, however, it is hard to measure. Instead, the increased CO2 production is easy to observe. The mechanic of drowning is also an action that reduces O2 availability to larvae in the fruit pulp and fermentation environment.

Alcohol & Sugar

25 Larger production systems may be able to navigate around this by absorbing waste collection fees, or more regular waste pick-ups. Some large enterprises have been able to address waste management by dedicating a cool room to freezing and treating fruit waste before dumping on their property or at an alternative location.

Project Roadmap Box Hill Institute (BHI) Biosecurity Centre of Excellence initially undertook a scoping study, producing a literature review of current fruit waste management practices such as augmentoria, heat treatment, destruction and desiccation, deep burial, cold storage and fermentation. Considering the risk of pest escape associated with a break in the barrier of the augmentoria, the cost of applying heat or chill treatment to fruit waste, the safety hazards and impracticality of rotary hoeing and deep burial methods, and the issues of storing sound fruit in a cool room in the proximity of waste fruit (if only one cool room operates), it was deemed that fermentation was likely the most affordable, practical and sustainable practice for destruction of waste fruit to investigate. This was supported by use of the practice in the United Kingdom for SWD management where management focuses on controlling the SWD population at several points of the fruit production season. Low SWD numbers at the end of a fruit season correlate to the low pressure of the SWD population at the start of a new season or at the start of a subsequent crop in the same season.

Some larger enterprises with regular packing days have developed relationships with regular users of fruit waste, a sustainable option due to the regularity of supply into the end point use. However, smaller scale producers can struggle with the regularity, time, cost and options for waste management and disposal.

BHI’s literature review was then accompanied by a small laboratory trial to increase confidence that the practice of fermentation would also sufficiently kill QFF eggs and larvae in high-risk fruit (collected waste).

Temperature This was not a focus of this study as heat/cold options already exist for ‘treatment’ of fruit. Instead, temperature was recorded to observe ideal conditions for fermentation.

O2 reduction/ CO2 production

Waste treatment is one of the management methods employed and involves containerising the waste fruit using a waterproof membrane in a standard fruit bin and locking fruit away under fermentation conditions for several days, then disposing of the end product (Noble & Dobrovin-Pennington, 2016).

The accumulation of alcohol could possibly cause larval death, and can be easily measured on-farm with a refractometer to measure sugar and calculations performed to determine the specific gravity.

pH Fruit is acidic in general and it was not determined in the literature review if pH had an effect on larval death.

In the laboratory test, pH observations were made to gain an appreciation of fermentation conditions.

Factors thought to affect fermentation or contribute to larval and egg death are temperature, oxygen reduction (or lack of O2 ), carbon dioxide increase (or high CO2 concentration), alcohol production, and possibly pH decrease. The UK studies indicate the mechanism is CO2 saturation and the deprivation of O2 to the pest in the treatment container.

• 100% QFF egg and larval death after fruit pulp was kept for a minimum of 2 days in the fermentation trial conditions.

26 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

In BHI’s experiment, class one strawberries and raspberries were infested with QFF eggs (under laboratory conditions at NSW DPI) and then placed in both control (untouched) and trial (fermentation) conditions in the BHI laboratory soon after infestation. The following images and results summary has been provided by Blake (2019) in the “Fruit Waste Management for QFF – Scoping study” report for publication here, and can be read in full studentweb.bhtafe.edu.au/course/view.php?id=16970at:

Fruit pulp samples from the trial and the control were taken at daily intervals and placed in rearing out conditions where any surviving larvae were allowed to pupate and emerge into adult QFF. Results of the trial indicated some key observations;

Figures 1–3. Berries being infested with QFF eggs and confirmation of infestation of eggs (cross sectional view of an infested strawberry). Photo credit: Box Hill Institute, Biosecurity Centre of Excellence.

• QFF larval survival was recorded from samples taken at the 7-10 day mark from the “control” (fruit left undisturbed and exposed to O2 as if it were dumped in the paddock).

Laboratory Trial

The following is an excerpt from the “Fruit Waste Management for QFF —Scoping study” report:

Raspberries

Flies emerged from strawberry control samples taken from the first 7 days of sampling (Figure 5). On average about 6 flies emerged from duplicate control samples taken over this period. No flies were observed to emerge from control samples taken after 7 days. Flies emerged from strawberry samples taken from the fermentation vessels at time zero and at day 1. No flies were observed to emerge in fermentation samples taken after day 1.

Figure 4. Effect of fermentation treatment on B. tryoni flies emerging from duplicate raspberry samples. Graph depicting number of QFF to emerge from raspberry fruit pulp samples taken on x days from the trial and control start.

TREATMENT TIME (D) ControlFermentation

Strawberries

Source: Box Hill Institute, Biosecurity Centre of Excellence 01 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 432

Source: Box Hill Institute, Biosecurity Centre of Excellence 12402 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 1086(N)EMERGENCEAVERAGE

(N)EMERGENCEAVERAGE

TREATMENT TIME (D) ControlFermentation

Figure 5. Effect of fermentation treatment on B. tryoni flies emerging from duplicate strawberry samples. Graph depicting number of QFF to emerge from strawberry fruit pulp samples taken on x days from the trial and control start.

Flies emerged from raspberry control samples taken from the first four days of sampling (Figure 4). On average about 3 flies emerged from duplicate samples taken over this period. No flies were observed to emerge from control samples taken after 4 days. No flies were observed to emerge from samples taken from fermentation vessels at any time.

Production System Trials

•

• Will producers find this option practical or sustainable? Will producers apply the measure to effectively reduce risk of QFF survival on-farm?

A range of fruit was trialled at varying maturities, including strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, figs and plums, depending on the participant’s fruit waste load at the time. In addition to temperature tracking, visual fruit and CO2 observations were made by the participants, and in addition Brix was measured by the Project Manager during visits (although it was not able to be measured as frequently as the barrels were emptied on various days). (Figures 7-10)

A wide and varied temperature range was recorded inside the vats (corresponding with typical day and night fluctuation, and if the vat was stored in or out of the sun). In all cases, participants all considered that the fruit looked and smelled fermented before they emptied the vats into the field. One site instantly upsized to 200L vats to accommodate for their expected volume of waste fruit.

• What fermentation parameters caused larval death? What fermentation parameters can be easily achieved on-farm? What parameters can be measured easily in practice to give confidence to decision making of when the ferment is safe to release on-farm?

•

28 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Photo credit: Michael Edwards

• Will trade partners have confidence and approve of the practice as being equivalent to ‘removal from accredited property’?

Figure 6. Fermentation vessels set up for use on-farm.

Project Manager observations of the vat use across the 10 sites included issues such as a cycle of ferment not completed due to a lid not secured properly, overflow of waste fruit stored in open barrels due to the fermentation trial vat being too small and ferment taking too long because fruit was not degrading well (likely under-ripe fruit and too firm), instructions provided not understood by all staff (including some staff that were not in direct communication with the Project Manager), and occasions when the vats were infrequently emptied due to lack of participant’s available time.

• How tolerant will the process be of environmental changes such as temperature, time, type and maturity of contents added, and size or shape of vessel used?

The initial observations from the laboratory experiment were that QFF larval death occurred in the fermentation conditions in the laboratory environment. Further questions arose from the study:

•

Fermentation of fruit was trialled at 10 Yarra Valley fruit growing sites during the Autumn of 2022. For the trials, the fermentation vessels were upscaled to 60L vats with screw top lids. Carbon dioxide bubblers (release valves), thermometers and drainage outlets were fitted to each vat. Two vats (for cycling batches of fruit waste) were fixed to a standard pallet for ease of handling, transport and storage at packing sheds (Figure 6).

Field trial results included the observation of a range of ferment times occurring – both shorter and more extended cycles than initially expected, yet all were longer than the laboratory trial suggested as needed.

Figures 7-10. Fruit in the fermentation vessels at various stages of fermentation. Photos credit: Michael Edwards Feedback from the participants was positive and all participants were willing to take the practice on again next season. Participant feedback was the primary goal of this trial as well as trialling methods for seamless integration into the production system.

• adding yeast to accelerate the ferment

Participants suggested improvements such as:

• using larger vessels to cope with volume gluts, and to reduce the frequency of emptying, (acknowledging the need to fill and lockdown still)

• emptying the vats only partially, and leaving a starter culture in the vat to assist fermenting the next batch (appeared to accelerate the stage it was trialled)

• adding water to increase the degradation of fruit (especially firmer fruit)

• increasing the number of barrels to have more ferments on the go at once (particularly in cooler weather when ferment is slower)

• adding an agitation device to assist with the breakdown of the fruit to aid fermentation

• finding a more efficient method of disposing of the fermented product out of the vat, such as an automated process or a pipe with a pump that could be triggered to turn on when needed (to avoid a person and vehicle taking the pulp away from the shed)

Participants were generally happy the process was low cost and easy to set up and very likely to be adopted into the current production system activities.

It is noted that Participants have asked about:

Overall, it is important to note that the project considered the treatment of containerised waste only and focussed on solutions for small production systems (not trying to replicate treatment options already established). This does not remove the risk of QFF potentially in damaged or unharvested fruit left in the production area, an issue that is a massive contributor to supporting QFF populations in a region.

For successful QFF management and control, a suite of management tools including baiting, monitoring, netting, cover sprays if applicable, and other hygiene measures, all need to be in play, area wide. Treatment of containerised waste is only one tool in the toolbox.

Photo credit: Michael Edwards

Future The project goal for the fermentation process was to deal with WASTE, not anything saleable. Selling or moving on is always the preferred option (but sales and livestock consumption are not guaranteed - volume and need can vary). Producers need an option that can be upscaled quickly and with items on hand at a given point in the season. Knowing and practicing the “how to” and “requirements of a setup” is a key asset that can assist producers in being able to pivot quickly into upscaled fermenting practices. Ideally, it would be good to have the design and criteria published for producers to use and have the confidence in the in-field practices successfully eliminating QFF (and potentially SWD) larvae and eggs in suspect or high-risk fruit. If possible, it would be good to define a singular parameter of QFF larvae death and only measure for this, e.g. this may simply be CO2 concentration or O2 deprivation. It is likely that we will see producers aim to upscale again into 1000L vessels. However, more investigation will be required to refine the process to a point that interstate trade partners are content with this as a suitable and acceptable option for management of waste in accredited production systems.

Acknowledgements:

This may or may not differ to the practice of dumping fruit in the paddock, but it will differ when compared to removal of waste to stockfeed or alike.

The following people helped with various stages of planning, research, and trials for these projects: Dr Solomon Balagawi and the staff at DPI New South Wales (Ourimbah); Dr David Williams, Agriculture Victoria; Agriculture Victoria – project funding and guidance; Box Hill Institute, Biosecurity Centre of Excellence team of Mick Blake, Tina Gilbertson, Lauren Turner and Sahar Eid for the literature review and laboratory trial; Yarra Valley Fruit Growers for trialling and reviewing the process; and Michael Edwards for managing the farm trials.

Figure 11. Taking the ferment away from the packhouse for disposal on-farm (confident that it carries no pest risk).

References Blake, M. (2019) “Fruit Waste Management for QFF – Scoping study” – report for Agriculture Victoria, bit.ly/3TgiFr1 Noble and Dobrovin-Pennington (2016) Disposing of fruit waste affected by spotted winged drosophila, Fact Sheet 19/16, Agriculture and Development Board, bit.ly/3KjivLv

• The fermented fruit disposal onto the paddock. What are the effects of the fermented product on the soil (nutrification), on animals that ate it, and on the microbes and life in the soil where it is dumped?

30 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

• Determining if the larval/egg kill parameters could be defined further, e.g. creating a process that required less measurements to be taken. One participant requested a monitor be developed that could sit in the lid and track all the parameters associated with a complete and successful ferment, that is then able to emit a green light when ready to dump (sufficient ferment to kill the eggs and larvae). One participant asked if just a visual cue based on the condition of the fruit pulp could be sufficient.

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Mr Richardson said these numerous benefits, and ease of use of MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide, would assist advisors, agronomists and growers when it comes to recommendations and use on-farm.

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When you add growing the crop under tunnels it means the disease pressure from powdery mildew and Botrytis is high” said local Syngenta Territory Sales Manager, Wayne Richardson. Stuart Doyle is an independent agronomist, and his company AgVista Australia is based out of Launceston, Tasmania. He has clients growing all four main berry crops, and last season found that Botrytis and powdery mildew were equally bad in strawberries, with Botrytis a consistent issue across all berry crops.

When used preventatively, the two actives in MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide inhibit fungal infection at four stages of disease development – effectively breaking the disease cycle, while managing the onset of resistance.

“MIRAVIS® Prime is a low-withholding period (WHP) product, so there’s definitely an operational benefit.

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 biodiversity and revitalizing rural communities. To learn more visit www.syngenta.com.au and www.goodgrowthplan.com. Follow us on Twitter® at www.twitter.com/SyngentaANZ. ®Registered trademark of a Syngenta Group company FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MIRAVIS® PRIME FUNGICIDE Speak to your local Syngenta representative or visit www.syngenta.com/miravis-prime

I will very happily put MIRAVIS® Prime into our fungicide rotations this season.”

“MIRAVIS® PRIME FUNGICIDE WAS FIRST USED LAST SEASON AND THE RESULTS WERE EXCELLENT. THE GROWERS I HAVE SPOKEN TO WILL DEFINITELY BE USING IT IN THIS SEASON’S DISEASE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM” said Mr Richardson.

Mr Doyle also emphasised the importance of good stewardship of new products that come into the market.

“Soft fruits are a high rotation crop and they are pushing many fungicides to breaking point” said Mr Doyle.

With activity on Botrytis and powdery mildew in strawberries and a 1-day WHP, MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide can be applied at any stage of berry production, from flowering through to just prior to harvest. It is registered for use in field and protected cropping for all berry crops and is rainfast within one-hour.

SEVERAL OF HIS CLIENTS USED MIRAVIS® PRIME FUNGICIDE IN STRAWBERRIES AND RASPBERRIES:

“MIRAVIS® Prime performed to expectations and definitely out-performed non-systemic protectant products” said Mr Doyle.

MANAGING DISEASE PRESSURE IN TASMANIA

“Unlike some other products out there for powdery mildew or Botrytis, MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide is compatible with IPM programs, which for some is a huge bonus.”

Strawberry crops in Tasmania come under considerable disease pressure. Picking lasts six to seven months of the year and the battle against powdery mildew and Botrytis lasts just as long.

“With not a lot of new actives coming into the market, we need to be careful with the stewardship of these fungicides to get life out of these new products.”

MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide incorporates the powerful active pydiflumetofen with the proven performance of fludioxonil. Pydiflumetofen is a new fungicide developed by Syngenta that belongs to the carboxamide chemical group (Group 7). It diffuses rapidly into the waxy layer of plants, where it accumulates then moves slowly into the leaf tissue via translaminar movement. Fludioxonil (Group 12) is a contact fungicide that adheres to the waxy cuticle of plants to form a protective barrier.

“MIRAVIS® Prime is tank mix compatible with a lot of other products, so growers can do most things in one pass,” he said. Another big bonus of MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide is that it is soft on beneficial insects.

Experimental results showed that the plasma killed or inactivated the target pathogens, depending on the exposure duration and the type of pathogen.

Dr Sukhvinder Pal (SP) Singh, Research Horticulturist-Food Safety, NSW Department of Primary Industries

In the last ten years, cold plasma has been under extensive research for its postharvest sanitisation application in horticultural products worldwide. It is now one step closer to offering berry growers a zero chemical residue option for food safety assurance and postharvest decay control.

The antimicrobial properties of plasma are of special interest to achieve postharvest sanitisation and decay control in highly perishable commodities such as berries. The diversity of fresh produce morphology and physiology poses a challenge in developing a generic postharvest treatment that suits all products.

Solid, liquid and gas are the commonly known states of matter, but plasma is regarded as the fourth state of matter. Plasma is generated by partially or completely ionising a gas under either low pressure or atmospheric pressure. Depending on the plasma generation methods, its temperature could range from near ambient to several hundred degrees Celsius. Plasma with near room temperature emission is known as cold plasma, non-thermal plasma, or supercharged air. Though it is not as cold as the name suggests, cold plasma is much cooler compared to natural plasma, and reactive oxidising species present in the ionised air can kill or inactivate microbial pathogens. The ability to generate non-thermal plasma at atmospheric pressure has expanded the horizon of its applications in thermosensitive products, including foods. The physical and chemical characteristics of plasma have been widely exploited in various industry applications. However, the antimicrobial properties of cold plasma have recently gained significant attention and have led to the expansion of its applications in several industries, including food and medicine.

INDUSTRY34 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

To combat this challenge, the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Hort Innovation have coinvested in developing, scaling-up and validating the cold plasma technology for postharvest sanitisation of horticultural products. In this project, the responses of various microbial pathogens to plasma were investigated and found to vary greatly with the pathogen type, produce-pathogen interactions and plasma treatment methodology. The project focused on exploring the potential of technology in killing foodborne bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella enterica, Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli. O157, which are commonly implicated in fresh produce-related outbreaks in Australia and globally. The cold plasma effects on the postharvest decay-causing moulds such as Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium italicum and P. digitatum were also investigated.

Promising trial results

Postharvest treatment protocols were optimised using lab cultures to achieve maximum killing or inactivation of target pathogens in the shortest possible time. The research was then extended to fresh produce inoculated with various pathogens and subjected to several plasma treatment regimes. Results showed that apples and citrus fruits were promising candidates for postharvest treatment with cold plasma.

Cold plasma application in berries: towards a commercial reality

Testing the technology on berries

Figure 1. The cold plasma prototype incorporates multiple treatment options and is fully automated, allowing safe application of the technology in packing operations.

The prototype is currently in a competitive commercialisation stage and is being demonstrated to industry stakeholders at major conferences, workshops, and events.

Photo credit: Dr SP Singh, NSW DPI

See a video of the technology in action: vimeo.com/240577105

Berries such as strawberries and blueberries, which currently do not have a postharvest washing step, also showed promising results to the cold plasma treatments. Some products, such as lettuce and spinach, showed limitations in their sanitisation with dry plasma treatment.

Potential benefits of cold plasma treatment for berries:

• Postharvest suppression of grey mould (e.g., Botrytis cinerea) on berries

Prototype development

Acknowledgment

The development of this novel postharvest technology has provided the industry with an option of a rapid, chemical-free, non-thermal, environmentally friendly, and effective antimicrobial solution for food safety and decay control in horticultural products, including berries. Adopting this technology would lead to better food safety outcomes, mitigate postharvest losses, and reduce the reliance on some chemicals, resulting in improved environmental health and sustainability. This technological intervention will enable the industry to maintain a competitive advantage by consistently supplying safe and healthy fresh produce to consumers in domestic and export markets.

Comprehensive datasets were generated on the responses of various pathogens and effects on the sensory and nutritional quality of treated products.

To scale up and validate the cold plasma technology, prototype equipment was designed and tested to demonstrate its capability and potential for retrofitting in postharvest packing operations (Figure 1).

This project ‘Innovative cold plasma for horticultural industries’ was funded by the Hort Frontiers Health, Nutrition and Food Safety Fund, part of the Hort Frontiers strategic partnership initiative developed by Hort Innovation, with co-investment from the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and contributions from the Australian Government.

To extend the application of plasma to leafy vegetables, plasma was infused in the wash water, and the antimicrobial potential of plasma-activated water was demonstrated as a chemical-free treatment to achieve postharvest sanitisation.

• Killing or inactivation of foodborne bacterial and viral pathogens

• Extended shelf life For further information, please contact Dr Sukhvinder Pal (SP) Singh E: sp.singh@dpi.nsw.gov.auM:0420593129

There are a number of factors that will affect the cost of your FSQ4.2 audit; travel distance to your farm business, how many crops and sites your business covers, and how well prepared you are – these have a significant impact on the overall cost as essentially you are paying based on the time taken to complete the audit onsite and the time taken to complete the report.

Would you like to save money on your annual Freshcare audit?

The Freshcare FSQ4.2 standard meets the latest market requirements and international standards, with FSQ4.2 achieving benchmark to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). This ensures continued access to markets around the world for Australian produce. Being GFSI compliant also means that the audit must run for at least four hours, although part of the on-site audit time can be used by the auditor to start their final report.

INDUSTRY36 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Jane Richter, TERES Farming

MT18020: Facilitating the development of the Australian berry industries, where I produce this quarterly industry journal, The Burst e-newsletter and manage the industry website www.berries.net.au

As a small farm, I am acutely aware of the compliance costs involved in running a business in the fresh food industry in Australia, and like many readers of this journal, I am always looking for ways that I can reduce the cost burden whilst still ensuring that I meet my responsibilities to produce safe fresh food for Australian consumers to enjoy.

Frequent readers of this journal will be familiar with me in my role as Communications Manager for the Berries Australia managed project

When I received the cost proposal for my Freshcare Food Safety & Quality (FSQ4.2) audit this year, I was startled to see how much the costs had increased in the six years since we were first certified. This prompted me to do some investigation to see if I could reduce the cost burden at all and when I started digging, I was very pleased to discover a few facts that I didn’t know:

• You do not have to stay with the same Certification Body each year • There are eight different Certification Bodies who are authorised to carry out Freshcare FSQ4.2 audits

In my spare time, I also wear another hat as one half of a small family horticulture farm in the Glass House Mountains growing Spray-Free fresh ginger. With my husband, we produce about 30 tonnes of fresh ginger each year in a hybrid-hydroponic growing system that we have developed ourselves.

• The prices charged by the different companies differ significantly – I found a difference of over $1000 in cost from the most expensive to the most affordable

• You can contact all of the Certification Bodies through a simple form on the Freshcare website to request a quote specific to your farm business circumstances from each company to enable you to easily compare

SAI Global Pty Ltd, a global provider of integrated risk management solutions, quality assurance, and property services, helps organisations to proactively manage business risk to create trust and achieve business confidence, growth, and sustainability. Their Assurance services division has a global reach with locations across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific.

SAIwww.ncocertifiedorganic.com.auinfo@ncocertifiedorganic.com.au7700GlobalPtyLtd

1300 360 AUS-QUALwww.saiassurance.com.auassurance@saiglobal.com314PtyLtd

1800 630 www.ausqual.com.auausqual-freshcare@ausqual.com.au890

• It is important to note that Certification Bodies who audit the Freshcare Standards are independent businesses to Freshcare, this ensures the integrity and quality of compliance processes.

Visit www.bit.ly/Freshcare-Audit-Quote and complete the simple form. You can select as many of the available Certification Bodies as you choose. Each Body will then contact you to get further information; they may require a copy of your previous audit report and proof of Freshcare training completion, for example. In my experience, each of the Bodies requested information in a slightly different format and it took about 15 minutes to complete each information request.

• Freshcare has no influence over the specific fees charged by Certification Bodies for undertaking an audit.

Who are the authorised Certification Bodies?

AUS-QUAL™ is a national service provider across a number of Agriculture and Horticulture sectors. AUS-QUAL provides a range of certification services and is accredited by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) to certify quality management systems against the (ISO 9001-2015) and Food Safety programs (HACCP).

Certification Bodies may also offer a discounted rate in the first year of audit to new customers so shopping around and ensuring that you are fully prepared in advance of your audit date are the ways to get the best available deal for your farm. And it could save you up to $1000 so it’s worth investing a little time for your next audit. Please Note:

NASAA Certified Organic NASAA Certified Organic (NCO) has been a Freshcare approved certification body since 2020. NCO offers certification for the On Farm and Supply Chain Food Safety & Quality Standards and the Environmental Code of Practice. NASAA Certified Organic (NCO) is a fully-owned subsidiary of the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA), and provides certification services to the organic industry, in Australia and internationally. You do not need to be an organic farm to use this audit option for FSQ4.2. 08 7231

37 Did you know?

• The Freshcare fee structure is fully transparent –for the Food Safety and Quality – On Farm (FSQ4.2) standard, the Annual Certification Fee charged by Freshcare is $200 + GST (2022-23 Program Fees).

• The Freshcare certification fee is a passthrough charge only, currently captured by the Certification Body on behalf of Freshcare and should be clearly itemised on any quotes provided by a Certification Body. How can I easily get multiple audit quotes?

SGS offers food safety management systems audits against various international standards, ranging from COLES, WQA, SQF, HACCP, BRC, ISO, FSSC. RSPO, UTZ, along with many others. SGS offers the Australian agribusiness community extensive experience in auditing on-farm management systems, a national and regional network of qualified food safety auditors, a unique ability in providing a single integrated audit covering several standards/codes, a service delivery program that understands the needs of rural producers, and an audit process that adds value to your system. (08) 9373 Sciwww.sgs.com.au3500QualInternational

BSI offer a broad range of food safety certification and risk management services to help all organisations in the food supply chain achieve compliance and industry best practice to grow their business. BSI are a food safety and certification provider with extensive auditing capacity and the capability to conduct integrated audits for a wide range of food safety standards across the entire food and beverage supply chain – including GFSI-recognised standards.

Established in 1991, Sci Qual International Pty Ltd was one of the first certification bodies to be accredited by JAS-ANZ. Fully Australian owned and operated Sci Qual has auditors located nation-wide, who all have first-hand experience in the horticultural industry. Sci Qual provides a cost-effective service, specialising in Multi Program Certifications. 07 5499 www.sciqual.com.aucontact@sciqual.com.au3377

38 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Merieux NutriSciences Certification Merieux NutriSciences focus on the provision of Certification Services to the Food Industry globally, offering services that are on time, transparent and all encompassing. MXNS is a subsidiary of Merieux NutriSciences and has been established to provide the food industry with a meaningful choice of certification body for independent second and thirdparty recognition against a range of national and international product and management certification standards. 03 8878 SGSwww.merieuxnutrisciences.com/aucertification.au@mxns.com2122AustraliaPtyLtd

For more information about Freshcare please visit www.freshcare.com.au

The opinions expressed here are those of the author. Information about the Certification Bodies who are authorised to provide Freshcare Certification is provided for your information only. An individual farm business must choose its own Certification Body and this article does not seek to recommend any specific Certification Body in preference to another.

ACO has been providing Freshcare certification services to fresh produce businesses for over 10 years, and are accredited by IOAS to provide Freshcare Food Safety & Quality – FSQ4.2 certification services. You do not need to be an organic or biodynamic farm to use this audit option for FSQ4.2. 07 3350 www.aco.net.auinfo@aco.net.au5706

BSI Group ANZ Pty Ltd

ACO Certification Ltd (previously Australian Certified Organic) is Australia’s largest certifier for organic and biodynamic produce and has over 2000 certified operations within its certification system.

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The next stage was to build a small café to encourage people to come and spend time (and money) at her farm. With her background in research, Kate put a great deal of thought into how to attract customers. Her first thought was that women actually tend to make most of the purchasing decisions and with that in mind, she set her shop up to make it attractive for women. She also thought berries alone were not enough of a drawcard to attract customers, so she decided to make and sell ice cream. This addition to the offer was a major hit with her customers, and she quickly introduced great coffee and high-quality food increasing the popularity of the business further.

BerryKate'sFarm

Kate also started producing a line of value-added products including jams, sauces, chocolate, and fruit wine. After many hours of research and taste testing, Kate gradually reduced the sugar levels in her products - particularly the jams - allowing the natural fruit flavours to come through and as a result the products are now a top seller in her shop. Kate has also put a lot of thought into labelling her products choosing to keep the label simple and easy to read.

TASMANIA

INDUSTRY41Profile: Kate Bradley, Kates Berry Farm

Given the beauty of the east coast region of Tasmania she decided to take a punt and plant a small plot of strawberries and some raspberries primarily aiming at the Agritourism market, which at that stage was a very small industry.

Kate has always had a love for wine making and has been producing wine for over 30 years. Recently, Kate took the next bold step and built a small-scale modern winery on site and now produces a range of fruit wines, which retail in the shop.

Soon after her move Kate purchased a piece of land with stunning views overlooking the Freycinet Peninsular on the east coast of Tasmania near Swansea. At first, she tried her hand at growing vegetables both for herself and local restaurants. Quickly realising she probably couldn’t make a living from this she began selling raspberries for a local grower and thought growing berries might be an option.

Mark Salter, Berry Industry Development Officer, Fruit Growers Tasmania Kate moved to Tasmania from Victoria 37 years ago inspired by the state’s beauty and clean environment. Coming from a textile manufacturing background, Kate was looking for a lifestyle change way before it was fashionable to do so.

After travelling the state and speaking to berry growers Kate learnt that growing berries at her location might not work, particularly with poor soil and a lack of reliable water. Not wanting to give up on the idea of growing berries entirely, Kate looked at what was happening with tourism in other states and overseas.

She then built a cool room to store her fruit. Being a very innovative person Kate was not content just building any old run-of-the-mill cool room, so she undertook extensive research into the best method of refrigerating berries for longer term storage and soon discovered that storing the fruit at a higher humidity level enabled her to keep fruit fresh for up to three weeks.

42 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Kates Berry Farm boasts views across Great Oyster Bay to the world renowned Freycinet National Park. Photo credit: Mark Salter The farm now boasts a café, shop and boutique winery. Photo credit: Mark Salter

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Kate’s business is based around tourism and prior to COVID her customer base was mainly overseas tourists. When COVID hit and international tourists stopped coming the business landscape changed overnight, but fortunately Kate was able to continue trading through that very difficult period by being flexible and not being over committed financially. She has come out the other side with a much broader customer base. Kate reports that over-regulation in the food industry and staff shortages are the major challenges for her business currently. One of the issues impacting staff availability is the lack of low-cost rental accommodation on the Tasmanian east coast as many long-term rental properties have become Airbnbstyle accommodation putting the cost out of reach of many casual staff. Kate is always keen to try new things but attributes part of her success to an emphasis on good oldfashioned quality as well as listening to her customers and being flexible when necessary. She believes in taking one step at time and not over capitalising; only expanding as she can afford to do so. Kate travels widely both locally and overseas to research tourism experiences. She is well regarded within the tourism industry in Tasmania and is quite often asked for her advice and is always generous in giving it. Kate is a person always keen to learn new things and has no intention of slowing down anytime soon. Find out more at katesberryfarm.com

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One of her biggest successes is producing wine in a smaller 375ml bottle, a great hit with customers as many prefer to purchase a small bottle rather than consume a standard bottle while travelling.

Coarse mixes will have a lower hydraulic conductivity than fine mixes. Coir has a low saturated hydraulic conductivity —about one-sixth of that of perlite.

Aileen Reid, Strawberry Industry Development Officer, Strawberry Growers Association of Western Australia

Hydraulic conductivity

A measure of the weight of a mix for a given volume.

A measure of how easily water moves throughout a mix. It is a function of the mix component(s) and the moisture content of the mix (but is not a constant relationship) and can be shown as a graph. Hydraulic conductivity is often quoted as ‘saturated hydraulic conductivity’ which is only one point on the curve –that at which the mix is saturated (at field capacity).

Bulk density

Physical characteristics Air-filled porosity (AFP)

A litre of sand is heavier than a litre of peat or pine bark.

Larger particles are generally more stable. Sawdusts shrink faster than barks. Media high in organic matter can also shrink due to the activity of microbes, earthworms and insects.

The ease with which mixes can be moistened. Many types of organic materials are initially hard to wet and even more difficult to re-wet after they have dried out.

As the use of soilless growing media continues to increase, this article is designed to provide an understanding of some of the key terms, and to provide insights into the considerations required when thinking about soilless mixes as a growing media option. This article is intended for general knowledge building and is not designed to be referenced to recommend the use of any one growing media over another.

The amount of air in a mix. At least 10-30% of the volume of the mix should be filled with air. AFP is calculated immediately after the mix has been saturated with water and allowed to drain and it varies with the size and shape of the container. Filled with the same volume of mix, a wider, shallow container will have a lower AFP than a tall, narrow container. AFP will decrease over the life of a potting mix as its components degrade.

Sand and soil do not shrink but will migrate within the container and cause problems. Perlite, polystyrene, scoria and coarse barks and coir are all relatively stable.

Water holding capacity (WHC)

The ideal mix will retain enough water to prevent the plant becoming stressed at the chosen irrigation frequency. Generally, one to two thirds of the volume of the mix should be available for water. It must not hold too much water as that will reduce the AFP. Like the AFP, the WHC is influenced by the shape of the container – for the same volume of mix, a shallow container will retain more water than a slimmer, deeper container (Figure 1).

KEY TERMS EXPLAINED

Bulk density is a function of the density of the particles in the mix and the porosity of the mix. It is a consideration in situations where manual handling of containers is required and where containers may be exposed to wind.

When designing a potting mix, it is important to consider the length of the crop cycle. Shrinking of the mix can result in plants becoming unsteady. AFP will decrease and nutrient and moisture storage will change.

INDUSTRY44 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Soilless mixes — what’s important and why?

Shrinkage

Wettability

Loam is the crucial ingredient but is in increasingly short supply and regarded as unsustainable. Modern John Innes media contain soil ingredients that are not necessarily loam, such as peat. They are easy to manage as the soil has a high level of buffering - avoiding fluctuating water and nutrient content. My first research project in 1983 was looking at the use of pine bark media for potting mixes to replace peat

A measure of the amount of nutrient (cations i.e. positively charged particles) that can be held by the mix components. Sand and perlite have the lowest CEC, clay minerals and organic matter, the highest. The term exchangeable cation is used because it is the movement of these cations within the mix that drives plant nutrition.

In the early 1980’s the use of soil in potting mixes was still accepted. John Innes composts were still used. These originated in the 1930’s at the John Innes Horticultural Institute at Merton, Surrey in the UK.

45 Chemical characteristics pH

Potting mixes have changed considerably over the years. Initially, they were closely allied to soil (but in a container) with most nutrients added to the mix at the beginning, for the life of the plant, but with the addition of side dressings of animal manures. Now mixes are largely inert from a nutritional point of view, with the emphasis on supplying the desired physical characteristics in terms of water holding capacity and aeration. The nutritional component is now supplied largely via the irrigation water in a closely monitored and regulated fashion using equipment that continuously measures and reports on the nutritional (usually in terms of EC) and moisture status of the crop.

Water containing dissolved ions (including plant nutrients and sodium), conducts electricity. The higher the concentration of ions, the greater the amount of electricity conducted. Ion concentration is measured with a conductivity meter but for readings to be meaningful, the correct methodology must be used. Methods for soils are different to those used for potting mixes.

Soilless media in crop production

Figure 1. Water holding capacity.

Image credit: Figure reproduced with thanks to Jeremy Badgery Parker, Primary Principles Pty Ltd

Electrical conductivity (EC)

The concentration of hydrogen ions in the mix. Seven being neutral, anything lower is acidic and above 7 is alkaline. The availability of nutrients in a potting mix is determined by pH but the relationship is not the same as for soils. pH is seldom constant and can change depending on the composition of the irrigation water and the types of fertiliser used.

Cation exchange capacity (CEC)

Wood products Wood fibre, wood chips, and sawdust are renewable resources from the forestry sector. All these products are characterised by low water retention and good air content. Depending on the initial material, they can contain phytotoxins that may affect the plant growth at the beginning of cultivation. In this case, a pre-treatment with substrate washing would be recommended. Particle-size distribution determines

46 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 which was increasingly regarded as also becoming unsustainable. In Australia there are two main species of Pinus used in potting mixes- P. radiata and P. pinaster. In other countries other softwood species are used for bark such as Douglas Fir. Certainly, in Western Australia, pine bark is becoming more difficult to source. In recent years, coir has become increasingly popular. But even now the same questions are emerging: should we be clearing land with existing forests to plant coconut palms for coir?

As potting mixes require large volumes of their components and some of those may also be heavy, it is logical that materials should be sourced as close to the point of use, as possible. Therefore, potting mixes tend to vary depending on location and tend to use local materials. Those materials may be mined locally - such as peat or pumice - or they may be byproducts or waste products from other industries. I have often heard the comment ‘horticulture should not be the dumping ground for the waste products of other industries’! Of course, the truth of this comment probably rests on the actual value of the material and before any new potting mix component is used it should be evaluated in terms of its chemical composition (including possible contaminants and variation between/across sources), physical characteristics, longevity and potential interaction with other potting mix components.

Soilless substrate components

Bark Bark is a major component of growing media, particularly in areas where peat is scarce or expensive, due to transportation cost. It is a lightweight material with a bulk density of 0.1–0.3 g cm3. Like coir, bark can be produced in different particle sizes, which makes adjusting the air and water-holding capacities possible by varying the percentage of fine particles. Pine bark is not produced specifically for use in growing media and tends to have variable physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is usually used as a composted or aged material, in order to avoid potential problems with phytotoxicity, since the presence of phenolic compounds, terpenes, and tannins are typical in the chemical composition. High manganese content in some barks can be a source of potential phytotoxicity. Nitrogen drawdown is a common issue if the bark is used without being composted prior to use.

Peat (sphagnum peat in particular) has been the mainstay of soilless mixes for many years. The extensive use of peat is due to relatively low costs in these areas, its excellent chemical, biological, and physical properties with low nutrient content, low pH, a unique combination of high water-holding capacity by high air space and drainage characteristics, light weight, and freedom from pests and diseases. The unique properties of sphagnum peat and its resistance to degradation are matched by few other growing medium constituents. The leading peat-production countries are Finland, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Belarus, Canada, and Russia, which account for 80% of the world’s production. However, peat is a limited resource with a great demand, and the extraction of peat bogs causes negative impacts on the environment. Other organic materials may play an important role in decreasing the carbon footprint of the horticultural industry by fully or partly replacing peat-based substrates. Compost, coir, bark, and wood fibre are some organic materials that are already being used in a commercial way as an alternative to peat. In addition, some inorganic materials, such as vermiculite, perlite, clay granules, lava, and pumice are used mixed with peat, while new organic materials, such as sphagnum moss, waste and digestates, biochars, and hydrochars are still in their test phase.

Potential materials for use in soilless mixes

The obvious disadvantage in using soil in a potting mix is that soil is not one entity. Its chemical and physical characteristics vary depending on the proportions of sand, silt, clay and organic matter. Clay alone varies hugely in its characteristics depending on the type of clay mineral (s) and its lattice structure. Getting uniformity and repeatability in a product grown in such mixes is difficult.

Coir Coir is the material that forms the middle layers or mesocarp of coconut fruits. Coir pith, coir fibres, and coir chips are some of the most abundant plantderived organic waste materials in many tropical and subtropical countries and has been notable as a rapidly renewable resource. The use of coir in growing media has vastly increased since 2004, particularly in Europe and the United States, and concerns about its sustainability are growing. Coir pith has the highest impact on “ecosystem quality”, which is often due to land occupation during the coconut harvesting stage.

47 further physical properties, e.g., water retention and water-holding capacity. A very good correlation was detected between the high percentage of particles <1 mm and max. water holding capacity, and therefore plant growth. Cation exchange capacity is lower than that of pine bark. Wood fibres are further used to optimise the physical properties of other material components, e.g., reducing bulk density, increasing air space, improving re-wetting capacity and/or as an organic mulch to reduce soil temperature fluctuations, and soil water evaporation and suppress weeds. The longevity of woodchips and sawdust is highly dependent on particle size.

Since coir contains more lignin and less cellulose than peat, it is more resistant to microbial breakdown and usually shrinks less; it is easier to re-wet after drying than peat moss and tends to retain its basic structure when wet or dry.

Like peat, coir is used in mixtures for the potting industry as it is a lightweight material and has good air and water holding characteristics.

Because of differences in industrial source and pretreatment of coconut coir, considerable variations in physicochemical and hydraulic properties can be expected. This can include higher total soluble salts, sodium, and chloride levels.

Coir is the material that forms the middle layers or mesocarp of coconut fruit. Photo credit: Shutterstock

Coir has the highest amount of ammonium absorption due to its high cation exchange capacity (CEC). Leaching of nitrogen is marginally higher than for peat and the total water-holding capacity is lower (for materials of a similar particle size).

In general, horticultural coir does not contain a lot of large pores, and that is why it is commonly mixed with aggregated mineral substrates to enhance its aeration properties.

48 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

References and further reading Container Media Management. 1993. Edited by K. Bodman and Dr KV Sharman. Queensland Department of Primary Industries. Soilless Culture: Theory and Practice. 2019 2nd Edition - Editors: Michael Raviv, Heiner Lieth, Asher Bar-Tal Gohardoust, Mohammad R., Asher Bar-Tal, Mohaddese Effati and Markus Tuller. 2020, Characterization of Physicochemical and Hydraulic Properties of Organic and Mineral Soilless Culture Substrates and Mixtures, Agronomy 10, September 2020 pp 1403- 1421. Grudahttps://doi:10.3390/agronomy10091403NazimS.2019.Review:Increasing Sustainability of Growing Media Constituents and Stand-Alone Substrates in Soilless Culture Systems. Agronomy 2019, 9(6), 298; Londrahttps://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9060298ParaskeviA.2010.SimultaneousDetermination of Water Retention Curve and Unsaturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Substrates Using a Steady-state Laboratory Method. HortScience 45:7, 1106-1112.

Perlite Perlite is a glassy volcanic rock produced by heating the raw material (once ground and sieved) to 760-1100°C. It is very light having a bulk density after processing of 30-150 kg/m3. It is produced in a range of grades. It can hold three to four times its own weight in water but that is highly dependent on particle size. With coarser grades, much of that water may be held internally and unavailable to the plant. Finer grades of perlite demonstrate very high levels of plant water availability.

Perlite is neutral with a pH of 7.0–7.5, but has no buffering capacity and contains no nutrients. It exhibits favourable nutrient adsorption characteristics. Despite the high affinity of phosphorus to perlite, the importance of P adsorption is small due to a low maximum adsorption capacity and the low bulk density of perlite. Ammonium adsorption to perlite is also negligible. Perlite can be disinfested and re-used. It has been shown to be stable over up to 8 years.

Acknowledgements

Editorial assistance from Helen Newman greatly appreciated

Londra Paraskevi, Angeliki Paraskevopoulou and Maria Psychogiou 2018. Hydrological Behavior of Peat- and Coir-Based Substrates and Their Effect on Begonia Growth. Water 10, 722. production/wood-substrates-how-long-can-they-last-for-your-plants/https://www.greenhousegrower.com/production/ornamentals-https://doi.org/10.3390/w10060722

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Expand your horizons

He also gave us a fascinating presentation on Generation Z (those born 1995 to 2009), otherwise known as ‘generation connected’ or ‘dot com kids’.

Queensland Berry Industry Pre-season Prep ‘n’ Party event — Stanthorpe

Desda Cullearn from Growcom rounded out the labour session with a comprehensive review of the Fair Farms program, from its origins and the program pathways through to training, standards and the auditing process.

The day kicked off with a delicious lunch from local café Brinx Deli, then straight into a session on all things labour. Rachel Mackenzie live-streamed in to provide an update on the changes to piece rates. She was followed by Linda Clutterbuck from BEST Harvest Trail, a free service available to growers throughout Southern Queensland which links jobseekers with seasonal harvest work. Linda gave an overview of AgMove, an incentive scheme which provides reimbursement of costs for eligible people to relocate to take up shortterm agricultural work, including harvest work. Up to $6,000 is available for eligible Australian workers, and up to $2,000 for temporary visa holders with a general right to work in Australia. Blair Brown, Agri Workforce Officer with Growcom provided insight into the lessons learnt from a Working Gap Year campaign to encourage school leavers to travel and take up harvest work in Queensland.

Once again, the event was structured to provide both an informative workshop with a series of presentations and interactive activities, plus dinner and drinks to end the day on a relaxing, social note.

By 2025, Gen Z will make up 27% of the workforce so understanding the characteristics, values and attitudes of this generation will be extremely important for employers wanting to attract and retain staff.

Following afternoon tea, workshop participants were invited out to stretch their legs for a field walk to see where the temperate variety seedling trial is being conducted with Jodi Neal and Katie O ‘Connor from the Australian Strawberry Breeding Program (ASBP).

50 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 INDUSTRY

Matt Moyle from Nufarm gave a presentation on Intervene®, a recently registered fungicide for berries with a new mode of action that will assist in the management of grey mould and powdery mildew. He also reiterated the importance of resistance management by understanding the concept of mode of action rotation within fungicide products as well as managing the total number of sprays undertaken each season.

We then returned to the warmth of the meeting room to learn more about the varieties currently being trialled and the breeding pipeline - how the breeding population is created, then trialled in seedling trials followed by a series of early and advanced clonal trials, and finally on farm trials around the country. Other aspects of their work were also presented including trait selections, disease management and genomic prediction.

Following on from the positive feedback received from the Prep 'n' Party event held on the Sunshine Coast earlier this year, a second event of its kind was coordinated in Stanthorpe for berry growers and industry in the Granite Belt region.

Jen Rowling, Acting Berry Industry Development Officer, Queensland

Gen Z’s are the largest generation ever, comprising around 20% of Australia’s population and almost 30% of the world’s population (2 billion globally).

Fraser Harris from Bugs for Bugs. Photo credit: Jen Rowling

Photo credit: Jen Rowling

Thank you to the staff at DAF Applethorpe Research Facility for allowing us to host the event on site and thank you to all our speakers and guests for joining us.

Jodi Neal from the ASBP leading a tour of the temperate variety seedling trial. Photo credit: Jen Rowling

Apollo Gomez, Senior Plant Pathologist from DAF followed up with a presentation on what to look for when undertaking plant and fruit inspections and collections in the field and then kicked off an interactive demonstration showcasing the diagnostic processes needed to obtain an accurate disease identification. He also demonstrated a couple of laboratory diagnostic methods showing how to isolate and identify pathogens. Participants were then able replicate the process and observe different fungal spores on the prepared slides under the microscope.

Photo credit: Jen Rowling

Grower Michael Pettinella having a go at isolating a sample.

Paul Jones and Fraser Harris from Bugs for Bugs brought along a variety of beneficial mites and insects used in the Australian berry industry, plus various insect traps and lures to help growers enhance control of difficult pests such as fruit flies, beetles, and caterpillar pests, all once controlled by broad spectrum chemicals. The day came to an end with a fabulous roast dinner supplied by Granite Belt Chefs, enjoyed by all around a roaring fire with colleagues and friends.

Roast dinner prepared by Granite Belt Chefs.

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Brasil, India, The

For those of you who attended Day 2 of BQI22 and listened to the Export sessions, you will understand the significant opportunity for Australian berry growers to develop an export sales channel for their produce.

•

You will also have heard the message that it is not our goal to turn every grower into an active exporter. What we are seeking to do is to increase the awareness of what is required to become a successful exporter and as part of that objective we have arranged access to an online Training Course – free of charge for berry growers. This course has been created in partnership with AUSVEG and the Export Council of Australia (ECA).

INDUSTRY55

Expand your export horizons

When you first login using the access details provided, you will need to reset your password. You’ll access the main screen which will have the Export Fundamentals for Australian Fruit Growers course under My Courses. register for the online course: Visit Complete the form to join the Export Group if you are not already a member Once you have received your access details, Login at the Export Hub and select the GET EXPORT READY option Complete the registration form to be provided with secure access to the 'Export Fundamentals for Australian Fruit & Vegetable Growers: From Farmgate to International Markets' online training course You will receive confirmation of your course login details once your registration has been approved For further information contact our Export Manager, Jenny Van de Meeberg on export@berries.net.au

Jenny Van de Meeberg, Export Manager, Berries Australia

•

www.berries.net.au/home/export •

The course is split into a series of modules which must be worked through in sequence as each relies on knowledge gained in the previous module to optimise your learning.

The course is entirely online and can be completed at your own pace – you can log in and out of the course as required so it can fit around your busy workday.

Navigating through the course is simple with the use of on-screen buttons. You can leave the course at any point and return at a later stage, however you must complete a module to be able to unlock access to the next module.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using research and development levies from the Blueberry Fund, Raspberry and Blackberry Fund and Strawberry Fund and funds from the Australian Government. For more information on the funds and strategic levy investment visit horticulture.com.au

The training program has been developed to increase knowledge about exporting and includes customised content that is tailored to aspiring fresh produce exporters or simply those who would like to expand their knowledge about export as a sales channel. Each module starts with clear learning objectives. The content is provided in a multi-media format with videos on selected topics to highlight important information, practical grower examples and case studies plus Q&A’s in each module to deepen understanding. This interactivity is designed to enhance learning outcomes. The course also offers flexible functionality to access the content via computer, tablet or smartphone so you can learn from wherever you are.

Access to this training course for levy-paying berry growers is funded by Hort Innovation using the raspberry and blackberry, strawberry and blueberry levy and contributions from the Australian Government.

*CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate is the mean annual growth rate over a specified period of time longer than one year.

Source: IHS Global Trade Atlas; Fresh Intelligence analysis

2021 Export Snapshot: Blueberries & Strawberries

Hong Kong and Singapore were the main markets for Australian exports by volume, whilst there was no recorded trade to India. These markets are profiled in detail in the ‘Fresh Intelligence Report’ available in the Berries Australia Export Hub berries.net.au/home/export New South Wales is the main exporting state followed by Queensland, with most trade occurring from July to AccordingDecember.toFAOSTAT

INDUSTRY57

Value

Wayne Prowse, Fresh Intelligence Consulting

Key Markets (Tonnes) 2020 2021 1 yr chg 5 yr CAGR* Hong Kong 185 265 43.2% 23.5% Singapore 102 167 64.4% 29.7% Thailand 24 7 -68.4% -25.8% Indonesia 32 30 -6.6% 48.4% Malaysia 3 3 -10.8% 80.2% India 0 0 Other 2 3

data global blueberry production reached 858,000 tonnes in 2020. The United States, Peru and Canada were the largest producers. In 2021 global export trade was 827,000 tonnes according to ITC TradeMAP, or around 96 per cent of global production. This must be viewed with caution due to the variance in time frames and the rapid production growth of blueberries particularly in Peru and Chile. Exports of 2021 1 yr chg 5 yr CAGR* Tonnes 348 476 36.8% 12.0% (A$ million) $8.7 $14.2 62.7% 33.3% Unit A$ per kg $25.04 $29.76 18.9% 10.3%

Australian

Blueberries In 2021 Australia exported 476 tonnes of blueberries valued at A$14.2 million (FOB). The result was 37% higher than in 2020. Australian production was 23,452 tonnes according the Hort Innovation Statistics Handbook.

Blueberries2020

Tonnes 3,681

Value

Other 178

Source: IHS Global Trade Atlas; Fresh Intelligence analysis *CAGR: Compound Annual Growth Rate is the mean annual growth rate over a specified period of time longer than one year.

381

New

58 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Arab

285

Unit Value

Australian Exports of Strawberries2020

Strawberries In 2021 Australia exported 2,762 tonnes of strawberries valued at A$23.7 million (FOB). The result was 25% lower than in 2020. Australian production was 77,751 tonnes according the Hort Innovation Statistics Handbook. Thailand and Singapore were the main markets for Australian exports and the UAE was the 5th largest by volume. These markets are profiled in detail in the ‘Fresh Intelligence Report’ available in the Berries Australia Export Hub berries.net.au/home/export 2021 1 yr chg 5 yr CAGR* 2,762 -25.0% -6.2% (A$ million) 26.3 23.7 -9.9% -5.2% A$ per kg $8.59 20.1% 5.4% Key Markets (Tonnes) 2020 2021 1 yr chg 5 yr CAGR* Thailand 901 686 -23.9% 4.2% Singapore 782 547 -30.0% -7.6% Malaysia 558 446 -20.1% 7.9% Zealand 595 460 -22.8% -11.1% United Emirates 179 -37.2% -31.9% Hong Kong 257 -32.7% -13.0% 187

$7.15

SWAN HILL 186-188 Beveridge Street, Swan Hill VIC 3585 03 5033 harvestswanhill@madec.edu.au0025 COFFS HARBOUR 103-105, 24 Moonee Street, Coffs Harbour NSW 2450 02 6648 2300 harvestcoffsharbour@madec.edu.au GRIFFITH Shop 3, 104 Yambil Street, Griffith NSW 2680 02 6963 2200 harvestgriffith@madec.edu.au Electra Street, Bundaberg Central, QLD 4670 07 4339 harvestbundaberg@madec.edu.au3100

SHEPPARTON Suites 1 & 4 461 Wyndham Street, Shepparton VIC 3630 03 5829 3600 (Select Option harvestshepparton@madec.edu.au2)

NURIOOTPA 45 Murray Street, Nuriootpa, SA, 5355 08 8565 harvestnuriootpa@madec.edu.au8708

DEVONPORT 3/59 Best Street, Devonport TAS 7310 03 6420 harvestdevonport@madec.edu.au3900 facebook.com/MADECHTS 062 332

BUNDABERG 35

Western Australia is the main exporting state followed by Queensland, with most trade occurring from July to October. According to FAOSTAT data global strawberry production reached 8.9 million tonnes in 2020. The US, Mexico and Spain were the largest producers. In 2021 global export trade was 947,000 tonnes according to ITC TradeMAP, or around 10.6 per cent of global production.

CABOOLTURE 2/77 King Street, Caboolture QLD 4510 07 5294 harvestcaboolture@madec.edu.au7000

59 We can help. 1800 062 www.madec.edu.au/harvest-services/harvest-trail-services332MILDURA 126-130 Deakin Avenue, Mildura VIC 3500 03 5022 harvestmildura@madec.edu.au1797

RENMARK 8 Ral Ral Avenue, Renmark SA 5341 08 8586 1900 (Select Option harvestrenmark@madec.edu.au2)

Contact your MADEC Harvest Trail Oﬃce or Contact the Harvest Trail Information Services on 1800

*1800 numbers are free to call in Australia from landlines and mobiles. Harvest Trail is a no-cost service funded through the Australian Government and managed by MADEC, a not-for-proﬁt organisation.

Need a hand finding workers?

ROBINVALE 68-72 Herbert Street, Robinvale VIC 3549 03 5051 harvestrobinvale@madec.edu.au8080 SALE 2/424 Raymond Street, Sale VIC 3850 03 5169 harvestsale@madec.edu.au7300

He said it was about enticing shoppers to buy two different types of berries, with the hope this would grow to purchasing three or four types in one trip.

A “berry patch” in supermarkets could be the secret to lifting sales in Australia, according to experts. The concept of the “berry patch” was given airtime at BerryQuest International 2022 held on the Gold Coast from 25-28 July 2022.

The ‘berry patch’ means a display of all types of berries in one area within a supermarket or greengrocer. Live streamed from California, Driscoll’s America president Soren Bjorn said seeing a full berry patch was incredibly powerful for retailers. “If you can get consumers to buy all four berries, they come to the source with much greater frequency,” Mr Bjorn said.

The rise of berries as a category ensures presence (shelf space) and promotability, according to Mr Bjorn.

Mr Allende said there were new players entering the berry market which meant working together would be key. “There is not enough collaboration within the industry. There are some very good opportunities to do that,” Mr Allende said. “Trust and network are probably the most important assets of this business.”

The berry patch idea has been heavily pushed in the US by companies such as Driscoll’s, with some supermarkets in Australia also cottoning onto the trend.

Berries Australia Executive Director Rachel Mackenzie said the “berry patch” concept stood out for her as an avenue to pursue for the national body. “That’s something we at Berries Australia should focus on. We are fortunate to represent the whole berry basket,” Ms Mackenzie said. “How can we market that better to deliver more returns back to all of you (the growers)?” Both speakers acknowledged there were still some points of resistance and challenges with lifting berry consumption. “We still have areas where berries are a little marginal,” Mr Bjorn said.

Another live-streamed international speaker, Hortifrut SA chief executive officer Juan Allende echoed those thoughts. “Quality, consistency and year-round availability drives demand,” he said.

Ashley Walmsley, Editor, Good Fruit & Vegetables

Mr Allende said there was “still a lot of work to do” when it came to the improved marketing of berries. He also said most berry supply chains were inefficient, and called for a greater focus on greener credentials. “We all talk about sustainability, but we need to do more about it,” he said. “Genetics in general today; there are several programs which are very good. They will be valuable in battling some of these challenges we have.”

The blues all year round Australia should capitalise on its ability to produce blueberries for 52 weeks of the year. This was another of the recommendations to come from speakers at BerryQuest International 2022. Driscoll’s America Soren Bjorn told the audience there was tremendous value in a consistent supply. “It makes a big difference if you can buy something every week and if you can just sometimes buy them,” Mr Bjorn said. He showed figures from the US industry supporting his call that yearround availability created value. “The higher the income in the household, the higher the berry consumption,” Mr Bjorn said.

INDUSTRY60 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

While new berry breeding goes on, Mr Allende said an eye should be kept on companies who may not be playing the game correctly. “We are seeing in some countries the protection of intellectual property is not as it should be,” he said.

Berry patch concept essential to drive retail sales

Mr Bjorn said Driscoll’s research had shown that a bad blackberry eating experience meant the consumer would not come back to purchase again for four months.

Article

The audience tunes into one of the sessions at BerryQuest International 2022 held at Sea World Resort, Gold Coast, Qld.

There are benefits for both the industry, and the retailers, in presenting various types of berries in one display. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley 61

Berries Australia chair Peter McPherson delivered statistics on the blueberry industry saying blueberry sale volumes have grown by 20 per cent since 2012. However, the sector experienced a sales price decrease of 4.5 per cent per year during the same period. The growth in volume came from regional expansion and gains from genetically improved varieties.

Mr McPherson said it was a notable achievement that Australia was the first country in the world to do 52 weeks of blueberry production. In addressing the Australian industry specifically, Mr Bjorn said there was a lot to be confident about. “You have some big problems to solve but you’re not alone. You may be on the forefront of activity on climate change,” he said. He said high prices at the retail level were “really bad” for the category, driving people away. He reinforced the idea of getting a berry patch in prominence up the front of major stores. Mr Allende was also hopeful of Australia’s berry-growing capacity. “Australia has such a great reputation for food,” he said. “The year-round factor is very important. As you continue to develop that great reputation you have and more and better genetics.” While having berries available was one thing, quality of fruit was also imperative. “Long gone are the days of late season, really poor varieties just to have them available,” Mr Bjorn said. He said flavour was the number one driver for berry purchases, followed by freshness, then price.

Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

Hortifrut SA Chief Executive Officer Juan Allende, Chile (left on screen) and Driscoll's America President Soren Bjorn, US (right on screen), taking questions from the floor at BerryQuest International 2022, facilitated by Berries Australia chair, Peter McPherson. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

of Good Fruit & www.goodfruitandvegetables.com.auVegetables

Berries Australia Chairman Peter McPherson says blueberries have experienced a remarkable climb in value over the past decade.

Acknowledgements courtesy

INDUSTRY With the previous BerryQuest conference held over four years ago in Tasmania, the high attendance at this year’s event is a clear indication that it was time for the broader berry industry to reconnect with colleagues, associates and friends, and learn more about what is on the horizon for the Australian berry industry. Sea World Resort and Conference Centre hosted the conference and provided a relaxed and family-friendly environment for delegates with on-site accommodation and discounted tickets to Sea World and other Village Roadshow theme parks in the Gold Coast region. With a two-day conference program, full day of farm tours, an Emerging Leaders program, a trade show with 30+ exhibitors and plenty of social networking opportunities held throughout the course of the event, delegates were kept busy and engaged, and the Gold Coast laid on the charm with some beautiful weather!

AFTER BEING POSTPONED TWICE DUE TO COVID-19, BERRYQUEST INTERNATIONAL 2022 FINALLY CAME TO FRUITION IN JULY WITH A PACKED THREE-DAY PROGRAM & ALMOST 500 PEOPLE ATTENDING FROM ACROSS AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND BEYOND. A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO THE SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS WHO MADE THIS EVENT POSSIBLE! WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE AGAIN IN 2024! BERRIES AUSTRALIA InternationalBerryQuest 22 Sea World Resort & Conference Centre Gold Coast, Queensland Jen Rowling, Conference Manager, Berries Australia

495 PEOPLE PARTICIPATED IN BERRYQUEST INTERNATIONAL 22, INCLUDING DELEGATES, SPEAKERS, EXHIBITORS & THE BERRIES AUSTRALIA CONFERENCE MANAGEMENT TEAM at least 1 PREMIUMMILLIONBERRIES consumed BQI22 KEY STATISTICS 34 TRADE EXHIBITORS 58 PRESENTEDSPEAKERSON52SEPARATETOPICS NINE SPEAKERS presented either via live-stream or pre-recorded video, with SIX of these being INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS

including

Delegates

RECEPTIONWELCOME dessert bar mingling at the Welcome Reception Monday 25 July 2022. Photo credit: Jen Rowling Registration Desk at BQI22 with Dani Westport & Wendy Morris, Berries Australia. Photo credit: Jen Rowling

Berry Grazing table at the Welcome Reception Monday 25 July 2022. Photo credit: Jen Rowling

George Margin from Hort Innovation provided data based insights into the Australian berry market landscape. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

Sachin Ayachit from Fair Farms.

CONFERENCE sessions Andrew Bell from Platinum Sponsor, Mountain Blue. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley Peter McPherson opens the Conference. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley 'Dr Food' Professor David Hughes is a highly entertaining speaker. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley & Helen Newman

Blair Brown, Growcom giving us the low down on the Gen Z Uprising. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

Jeff Scott from the ATGA sharing some of the export success that industry has achieved. Photo credit: Helen Newman

Delegates enjoying the talks delivered in the Plenary room. Photo credit: Jen Rowling

CONFERENCE sessions Conference Delegates Alexis Tang, Driscoll's & Catherine Nitz, Burlington Berries. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley Dr Cooper Schouten provides informative and important information about Varroa Mite.Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

Photo credit: Jen Rowling There was no shortage of delicious berries available throughout the Conference. Photo credit: Jen Rowling Delegates were treated to a Dolphin Show prior to the Conference Dinner — all sponsored by Driscoll's. Jen Rowling & Ashley Walmsley

EVENTS

Social

Tom Gunther, Mountain Blue & David Parnham, Berry Sweet WA enjoying a Berry Sour beer. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley Angela Atkinson, Helen Newman, Aileen Reid & Jen Rowling — all from Berries Australia - enjoying the BBQ at the Boatshed.

Photo credit: Helen Newman Part of the IPM demonstration at Bugs for Bugs Photo credit: Jen Rowling Linda David, Bugs for Bugs. Photo credit: Helen Newman Nick Salbulis, TGD Global taking a closer look at some bugs.

Photo credit: Helen Newman

FARM Tours

68 BERRY Richard McGruddy, Queensland Berries kindly provided a tour of the farm site at Caboolture. Photo credit: Melissa McGruddy Dave Fairweather, Stothart Family Farms gives a talk about Taste 'n' See during the Farm Tour.

Photo credit: Jen Rowling & Helen Newman Arman Berkett-Saleh (Stothart Family Farms) Laura Wells (TSL Family Farms), Mark Slater (Berries Australia/Fruit Growers Tasmania) & Dave Fairweather (Stothart Family Farms).

Jake Byrne, Biological Services & Catherine Nitz, Burlington Berries. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

TRADE Exhibition Roger Broadley & Adrian Schultz from Australasian Plant Genetics. Photo credit: Supplied, APG Martin Inderbitzin, Kureen Farming & Josh McGuinness, Mountain Blue. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley Henrietta Child, Agpick. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

Aiden Worth, A&D Australasia demonstrating the latest in measurement solutions. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

Scott Mason - MG Marketing, Cam Lewis - Lewis Farms & Mark Woodhead - Haygrove. Photo credit: Ashley Walmsley

BYSUPPORTED SPONSORPLATINUM BYSUPPORTEDBYYOUTOBROUGHT InternationalBerryQuest 2022

Tamara and her family run “Murrakei” a mixed farming enterprise at Red Hills near Deloraine in Tasmania’s northwest and have been farming in the area for the last 100 years. Tamara is the eldest of four and after travelling overseas for a brief period, returned home to study ag science at the University of Tasmania (UTAS). While she was studying, her family was approached by Driscoll’s to consider growing berries. After much discussion with her family, Tamara and her parents took up the berry challenge and she juggled the last few years of her studies helping to establish the berry business. After gaining her honours at UTAS she has dedicated her time to managing the berry business full-time.

Murrakei Farms — the tunnels currently cover 14 hectares with more to come.

Mark Salter, Berry Industry Development Officer, Fruit Growers Tasmania

RUBUS Grower Profile :

Photo credit: Tamara Clark, Murrakei Farms

Murrakei Farms, Tasmania

They have also established accommodation onsite, which Tamara sees as a big plus making the management of staff much more streamlined and meaning staff are readily available when needed.

Production Murrakei Farms produce both strawberries and raspberries grown in substrate under Haygrove tunnels.

The farm currently has 10 hectares of the Driscoll’s strawberry variety Amesti which are grown on tabletops and four hectares of the Driscoll’s raspberry variety Maravilla which are grown in pots. Both strawberries and raspberries are fed hydroponically through two Priva automated controllers. The Priva units adjust nutrient mixes throughout the production cycle depending on the growth stage the plant. Water is sourced from farm bores providing exceptionally clean water with a low EC of 0.2, ideal for hydroponic production.

72 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

She adds “any business is only as good as the people in it” and is keen to pass on responsibility to her key staff allowing her to attend to other activities.

Tamara also employs a crew from the local Bhutanese community for planting and other activities throughout the year. She shares the crew with another local berry farm enabling the workers to have employment over an extended period and giving both farms the flexibility to employ a stable and returning work force.

Locals make up the positions of her permanent staff. Tamara is keen to mentor her key permanent staff and provides them with the opportunity for further education and training.

Tamara explains the fruit is picked and packed in the field, and this process works well for them as fruit handling is kept to a minimum and alleviates the need for a dedicated packing shed. After the fruit is harvested it is transferred directly to the cool room to remove the field heat and from there the fruit is transported to local and interstate markets.

Labour Tamara – just like most berry producers – highlights that a stable source of labour has been critical particularly over the last season with the escalating COVID outbreaks creating very challenging times.

Tamara is constantly looking at ways to minimise her chemical use and is keen to adopt the latest IPM techniques and principles to promote natural predators and pollinators. She also has a program to introduce other beneficial insects to control pests like Two-spotted mite.

Long cane raspberries grown in Haygrove tunnel structures at Murrakei Farms. Photo credit: Tamara Clark, Murrakei Farms

Fortunately, Murrakei is an Approved Employer with the Seasonal Worker Program (now PALM) and directly employs labour through the program making the job of recruiting much easier.

Tamara freely admits her pest and disease program runs a slightly higher threshold for pest damage to try to keep the right balance between beneficial insects and pests.

Marketing Selling your berries once they are grown requires a whole different set of skills and all berries produced at Murrakei are marketed through the Driscoll’s marketing program, which suits Tamara as it allows her more time to concentrate on growing and managing other aspects of the farm.

Photo credit: Tamara Clark, Murrakei Farms

Tamara believes there are many challenges facing the berry industry including: • the source and cost of labour, particularly for berries which are very labour intensive • rising input costs including fertiliser, chemicals, packaging, fuel and transport • getting access to materials e.g. plastic for tunnels, packaging, or growing media • sustainability and environmental impacts

Although there are many challenges, Tamara sees a bright future for the family berry business. Murrakei are expanding berry production with more tunnels planned for this year and into the future. While growing the business, Tamara also has a big focus on developing her management team as the business grows.They have also established accommodation onsite, which Tamara sees as a big plus making the management of staff much more streamlined and meaning staff are readily available when needed.

All strawberries at Murrakei are grown in substrate bags on tabletops under tunnels.

Challenges and the future

Tamara Clark.

Photo credit: Tamara Clark, Murrakei Farms 73

Locals make up the positions of her permanent staff. Tamara is keen to mentor her key permanent staff and provides them with the opportunity for further education and training. She adds “any business is only as good as the people in it” and is keen to pass on responsibility to her key staff allowing her to attend to other activities.

• Raspberries are mostly self-fertile but yields of some varieties are improved by cross pollination

RaspberrySecuringPollination

• Polytunnels can confuse bees, so that they have less energy for foraging. Bees also prefer the edges of tunnels. Improvements to ventilation and air flow could improve foraging in the centre of tunnels and bee health

RUBUS74 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

KEY POINTS

Unlike wild raspberries, commercially grown raspberry flowers are self-fertile. Modern raspberry cultivars can ‘self-pollinate’ using pollen from anthers of the same flower, pollen from a different flower on the same plant, or pollen from flowers of neighbouring plants of the same cultivar. However, raspberry flowers have an inbuilt floral timer that encourages cross pollination. Pollen and stigmas on the one flower develop at separate times with most pollen maturing and released before the stigmas become receptive. For some relatively modern cultivars such as Glen Ample and Polka, cross pollination with a different cultivar can significantly increase fruit size and improve productivity.

Securing raspberry pollination has never been more important. The Varroa mite outbreak in July has exposed the vulnerability of horticulture and there is renewed interest in protecting our pollination resources, especially honey bees.

• Alternative pollinators can include wild or managed pollinators. Alternate pollinators are regionally specific. Useful wild pollinators recorded in raspberry include feral European honey bees, reed bees (Victoria) and stingless bees (NSW). They can be encouraged by planting habitat close to tunnels

Self-pollination or cross pollination –which pollen is best?

• Fungicides can reduce pollen germination in some crops, but this has not been evaluated in raspberries

Michele Buntain, Stephen Quarrell & Jonathan Finch, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA), Raylea Rowbottom, seedPurity

In this article we look at how important bees are for raspberry pollination, how we can help strengthen the resilience of honey bees and what alternatives there are if hives become scarce.

• Managed commercially available alternate pollinators with potential in berry crops include stingless bees and flies including the hoverfly Eristalis tenax and the Eastern golden blow fly

Raspberry pollination – how important are bees and other insects?

• Providing areas of permanent natural vegetation near to production areas and minimising the use of agrochemicals during flowering are key ways to encourage and protect pollinators

In raspberries, self-pollination can take place without the help of insects but is usually limited to the outer stigmas that receive pollen passively from nearby anthers. Without insects, particularly bees, the inner pistils are not fertilised, and fruit are small misshapen and crumbly (Figure 1). So, our flying friends are incredibly important to raspberry fruit production. In fact, measures of fruit set in the absence of bees show that 71-82% fewer drupelets are produced. (Willmer, Bataw & Hughes 1994; Cane 2005)

It is widely accepted that placing bees under protective crop covers , whether netting, plastic or glass, negatively affects their health and foraging behaviour.

Mr Lim will also be investigating the health of bees exposed to fungicides and how this relates to field relevant fungicide concentrations.

In Tasmania, TIA PhD candidate Ryan Warren has been closely monitoring bees carrying mini-RFID backpacks. These tags are just like the RFID microchips used to track all sorts of activities and objects including fruit picking and retail clothing.

Keeping bees healthy Fungicides, pollination & bee health PhD candidate, Meng Yong Lim from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) is helping to keep bees healthy and resilient with his research on how fungicides impact pollination, bee health and behaviour.

Helping bees stay healthy and work better under covers

Bees took longer ‘orientating’ - making a mind map of how to get home again - when placed under covers compared to bees in open situations. TIA’s Dr Steve Quarrell explained that bees can be confused by both complex overhead protected cropping structures and the light polarising effect of polytunnel plastic.

Figure 1. Longitudinal section of ‘Willamette’ raspberry flower (recreated from McGregor 1976)

In preliminary trials in cherries, Mr Lim found that some fungicides reduce pollen tube germination by half to one quarter. Whilst this research is specific to cherries, it rings alarm bells as to the potential impact of some common raspberry fungicides on pollination and fruit set.

“I will follow up this research to see how certain common fungicides affect bee foraging and their gut health which is closely linked to how they respond to many diseases,” he said.

Whilst his main study compared bee behaviour under Voen, Cravo and nets, his findings have relevance to polytunnel grown raspberries and blackberries. Figure 2

or airflow at the centre of tunnels may be a practical option to improve bee visits to flowers and the health of bees working under plastic.

76 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

When bees are confused by structures such as polytunnels they can expend a lot of energy getting their bearings rather than foraging. This is likely to adversely affect pollination and hive health, he said.

At Costa’s Corindi raspberry farm, researchers found both honey bees and stingless bees (Tetragonula spp) prefer to work flowers at the edges rather than the centre of 100m long polytunnels. Difficulty navigating under plastic tunnels, higher temperature and humidity in the centre of tunnels and potentially lower nectar sugar concentration are all thought to be factors (Hall et al Improving2021).ventilation

Best food for bees

Raspberries produce generous quantities of nectar, but pollen quantity and quality can be limiting when a bee’s diet is just raspberries. Ryan Warren investigated bee foraging behaviour at a polytunnel raspberry crop in the Coal Valley, Tasmania. He found that despite ample nectar in the crop, bees were actively seeking out other forage. At the Coal Valley site bees only carried around 10% raspberry pollen whether actively seeking pollen or nectar. They foraged at some distance from the crop for prickly box, mallow and eucalyptus. It is still not well understood what makes a quality floral diet for bees. Growing raspberries in monoculture may be like eating one food group for bees and not be nutritionally ideal. However, in the absence of other forage, this may force them to visit crop flowers more often to obtain enough nutrition. Having small areas of carefully selected diverse flowering species within the cropping area is likely to lead to healthier bees, larger forager populations and crop pollination. Access to a diverse flora is also likely to encourage a range of other pollinators and beneficial insects.

TIA PhD candidate Ryan Warren, honey bee researcher. Photo credit: TIA

Stingless bees

Alternative pollinators can be thought of as coming from two camps, alternative managed pollinators, and wild pollinators. However, there is some overlap between these groups. The selection of an alternative managed pollinator depends on where you are located.

Alternative pollinators In many crops wild (feral) European honey bees provide an abundance of free pollination services. In the field, it is impossible to distinguish whether a honey bee is wild or if it has come from a managed hive. This makes it difficult to measure their real contribution to pollination. If the current Varroa incursion cannot be eradicated, it is anticipated that these free pollination services could be decimated within five years (Hafi et al 2012) leaving the horticulture sector solely reliant on both beekeepers and alternative pollinator species.

Back up for bees

Flies are the second most important group of pollinators after bees. Various species of fly can also be purchased at low cost and released to perform pollination services (e.g. Sheldon’s Baits, South Australia).

The eastern golden blow fly (Calliphora stygia) is a large fly that can be imported and released in all states apart from WA, where it does not occur naturally. This fly performs well at pollinating strawberries under glasshouse conditions but may need regular releases to maintain populations within crops.

Flies – the big hairy pollinators

Growers on Australia’s east coast have access to a variety of native stingless bee species that can be purchased or rented as hives from specialist suppliers.

Stingless bees are social bees that form dense colonies like honey bees and are highly effective pollinators for some crops. However, these species will not be suited to very hot or cold climates, where they may struggle to forage or even perish.

The AgriFutures Rural R&D for Profit program funds research investigating bee health and ways to enhance pollination including mechanical pollination and the use of alternative pollinators.

“Managing Flies for Pollination”. Development of prototype mass rearing and deployment systems is well underway and small-scale commercial pollination of vegetable seed crops using this species has shown promising results. When considering using alternative managed pollinators it is important to discuss your needs with suppliers and confirm which species are suitable to import and release in your growing area.

Mechanical pollination is where pollen transfer is assisted by mechanical means. Mechanical pollination research at TIA in cherries and vegetable seed crops uses people power and sprayers to collect and apply pollen rather than bees. TIA’s Associate Professor Alistair Gracie said mechanical pollination’s future use is really designed to supplement bee pollination. “Bee assisted pollination is not always perfect. Moving many of our horticultural crops under nets and plastic covers has put added pressure on our bees, particularly their navigation systems, upsetting both pollination and bee health,” he said.

Tasmanian agricultural research provider, seedPurity Pty Ltd, is working with the vegetable seed industry to develop mass rearing systems for Eristalis. This work is being funded by industry, Tasmanian Government Agricultural Development Fund and Hort Innovation through the Pollination Frontier Fund Project PH16002

The mechanical pollination system is a more natural fit for cherries and vegetable seed crops which require cross pollination, often when two cultivars are not flowering in synchrony. However, for raspberries a less intensive method is being explored by Romina Rader’s team (University of New England and Costa Group personnel), using a leaf blower to mechanically move raspberry pollen around flowers.

Managed pollinators

The hoverfly, Eristalis tenax, is another fly candidate under development as a managed pollinator to compliment honey bees. This large fly, commonly mistaken for a honey bee given its similar appearance, is widely distributed along the east coast of Australia in cool temperate climates. Eristalis has good potential as a pollinator in covered and open field cropping systems and works well in complement to honey bees.

Mechanical pollination

78 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Eastern golden blow fly on avocado flowers. Photo credit: Jonathan Finch Eristalis on blackberry flower. Photo credit: Stephen Quarrell

Providing areas of permanent natural vegetation near to production areas is the best way to encourage native pollinators, including bees, flies, butterflies and moths to visit a crop. Minimising the use of insecticides and fungicides is also likely to benefit pollinator populations. Where spraying is unavoidable, application should always be performed at night when pollinators are less likely to be present in the crop. The use of more selective insecticides and those with shorter environmental persistence is also preferred.

References Cane JH. 2005. Pollination potential of the bee Osmia aglaia for cultivated red raspberries and blackberries (Rubus: Rosaceae). HortScience, 40(6), pp.1705Coates1708.

Wild pollinators Wild pollinators can include other social bee species like stingless bees that are also commercially reared and managed. In the wild, stingless bees live in colonies in tree holes, most often in eucalypts. They will not travel as far as honey bees to forage, usually only flying around 500m from their nest. Maintaining stands of mature trees near to production areas is vital to encourage these species.

Hafi A, Millist N, Morey K, Caley P & Buetre B. 2012. A benefit-cost framework for responding to an incursion of Varroa destructor. In: Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (ed). Canberra, ACT: Commonwealth of Australia.

Figure 2. Relative proportions of visits to raspberry flowers by different groups of insects in the Coffs Harbour region of NSW. (Reproduced from Hogendoorn et al 2021) 71% 26% 3%

Apis mellifera – EUROPEAN HONEY BEE

Tetragonula carbonaria – STINGLESS BEE Homalictus urbanus – GROUND DWELLING BEE 79

Hall MA, Jones J, Rocchetti M, Wright, D and Radar R. 2020. Bee visitation and fruit quality in berries under protected cropping vary along the length of polytunnels. Journal of Economic Entomology 11(3) 1337-1346

JM, Brown J, Cunningham SA. 2022. Wild bees nest in the stems of cultivated Rubus plants and act as effective crop pollinators. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 325, 107741.

The Rural R&D for Profit team monitored the insects visiting raspberry and blackberry flowers in both Coffs Harbour and the Yarra Valley (Hogendoorn et al). In the Coffs Harbour region, honey bees were the main visitors to raspberry flowers, accounting for 71% of flower visitation (Figure 2). Stingless bees, Tetragonula carbonaria, were also frequent visitors to raspberry flowers, providing 26% of visits. Stingless bees are not found in Victoria, Tasmania, or South Australia. However, these states have their own unique bee fauna. In fact, Australia is home to around 1600 native bee species. In Victorian Rubus crops, the most common native bees detected visiting flowers and carrying pollen were reed bees (Exoneura spp.) and furrow or white banded bees (Lasioglossum spp.). At one raspberry and blackberry farm, the density of reed bees was estimated at 3,000 reed bees per hectare. Reed bee nests were most abundant in small, thin (less than 8mm) raspberry canes and native vegetation.

Hogendoorn K, Rader R, Cunningham S, Oldroyd B, Latty T, Brown J, Holmes M, Gellie N, Groom S, Tokmakoff A, O’Connor P, van Dijk K, Lowe A. 2021. Securing pollination for more productive agriculture: Guidelines for effective pollinator management and stakeholder adoption. AgriFutures Australia Willmer PG, Bataw AAM, and Hughes JP. 1994. The superiority of bumblebees to honeybees as pollinators: insect visits to raspberry flowers. Ecological Entomology, 19(3), pp.271-284.

trical.com.au 08 8347 3838 Our customers consistently achieve increased crop value and reduced pest and disease issues with . Treated WHEN

Untreated

Soil fumigation provides the strawberry plant with the ability to grow a larger healthier root system that allows more leaves to be produced quicker which in turn allows the plant to flower earlier with a larger fruit set. The fruit set is also more pronounced meaning that the labor used to pick the fruit is more efficiently used and cost effective per unit of fruit picked.

HEALTHY FIELDS. HEALTHY YIELDS.

Healthy plants also allow the strawberry plant to avoid major side effects from environmental shocks such as temperature extremes and charcoal rot. Healthier plants also allow the fruit to be more robust and to have an improved shelf life.

With fertiliser prices currently being higher than normal, fumigation will increase the efficiency of extraction by a maximum of 30% and provide an overall saving on input costs SIZE MATTERS

When a plant is unfumigated they have a smaller root system which means that water and nutrient uptake is poor. As a result, more water and fertiliser have to be applied to the soil for the stunted root systems to extract both. This increases wastage and input costs.

Not all sprayers deliver the same result

Helen Newman, Berry Industry Development Officer, Agricultural Produce Commission, WA

Figure 1. (a) Turbomiser™ sprayer in action. Photo credit: Bronwyn Walsh, Hort Innovation a

STRAWBERRIES

The Turbomiser™ airboom sprayer was the clear winner, providing uniform coverage of both upper and lower leaf and fruit surfaces (Figure 1). The air induction nozzle sprayer produced variable droplet size, achieved less coverage, and did not provide coverage to the underside of leaves and fruit (Figure 2).

On 1 July 2022, WA growers were treated to a drone demonstration courtesy of Omnidrone and a fluorescent (glow-in-the-dark) night spray demonstration courtesy of Syngenta. Berry Sweet hosted the event and provided two of their sprayers for use in the demonstration – an air induction nozzle boom sprayer, and a Silvan Turbomiser™ airboom sprayer. Both sprayers were assessed for uniformity at 500L/ha

Figure 1 (b, c, d, e) The Silvan Turbomiser™ airboom sprayer achieved excellent coverage of upper and lower leaf surfaces and fruit and had uniform droplet size. Photo credit: (b, c) Malcolm Jones, Syngenta (d, e) Helen Newman, APC b d

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c db 83

Photo credits: (a) Bronwyn Walsh, Hort Innovation (b, c, d) Malcolm Jones, Syngenta a

Figure 2 (a, b, c, d) The air induction nozzle boom sprayer did not apply spray to the underside of leaves and fruit and had variable droplet size. With the same rate of application (500L/ha) this nozzle sprayer also achieved less coverage, 35.7% compared to the 65% coverage achieved with the other sprayer (SnapCard app).

Improve Your Soil Health R&R Fumigation Services P/L, servicing all the major growing regions of Australia with the most comprehensive range of soil disinfestation products and services available today. Contact us today for a consultation to decide if our range of products and services can assist you in better managing your soil borne pests. R&R Fumigation Services P/L 1 Burton Crt Bayswater 3153 Rod Mitchell 0418 585 666 Office 03 9720 9099 AUSTRALIANOWNEDANDOPERATED Figure 3. The drone demonstration courtesy of Omnidrone. Photo credit: Helen Newman

Leaf spot of strawberry caused by Neopestalotiopsis sp.

A number of articles have reported Neopestalotiopsis sp. as an emerging pathogen causing significant production losses, particularly in the USA. In Queensland, Neopestalotiopsis sp. is not a new pathogen. The pathogen has previously been regarded as a secondary invader, typically associated with other known strawberry pathogens such as Colletotrichum sp., Macrophomina sp. etc. and/or with plants undergoing stress. The pathogen has not caused any significant problems hence it was never a major concern.

This article is a follow up from the webinar held in early June 2022 hosted by Berries Australia about the pathogen and was presented by DAF, in conjunction with Dr. Natalia Peres from the University of Florida. Is it a new pathogen?

What are the symptoms?

Neopestalotiopsis sp. can affect most parts of the strawberry plant. Early infections may manifest on the leaves as small, brown circular spots and further develops into larger, irregular-shaped necrotic lesions often joining with other leaf spots, which then results in the death of the leaf (Figure 1). Signs of fungal spores may develop on the surface of the leaf. Based on reports overseas, plants may suffer poor establishment, stunting and dieback, and the fruit starting with small tan lesions and subsequently covered by dark fungal spores. Bear in mind, symptoms caused by Neopestalotiopsis sp. may be caused by other common pathogens, such as Colletotrichum sp., Phytophthora sp. Gnomoniopsis sp., hence, accurate diagnosis is important to ensure correct management practices are applied.

Studies in the University of Florida (UFla) found that Neopestalotiopsis is favoured by warm and humid conditions, and about 20oC is the optimal temperature, although the pathogen can manifest within a wide temperature range. According to Dr. Peres, it is leaf wetness (water on the surface of the leaves), rather than temperature, that plays a critical role in the infection and development of disease. The pathogen can be spread in the field by wind, water (overhead irrigation and rain), farm equipment, and field workers during harvesting and other farm operations

STRAWBERRIES

Is the pathogen found in other hosts?

Apollo Gomez, Queensland Department of Agriculture & Fisheries

Based on a several studies, Neopestalotiopsis sp. appears to have a wide host range, including apples, avocado, blueberry, macadamia, mango, etc. and in many weeds. It has also been reported commonly occurring in soil, leaf litter and bark of trees. 85

The extended period of rainfall at the start of Queensland’s winter production presented many disease challenges for strawberry producers. Several pathogens were identified, including a higher-than-normal recovery of the fungal pathogen Neopestalotiopsis sp.

What conditions favour disease development?

Will hygiene reduce disease inoculum?

A recent study in Brazil found the pathogen in unwounded eucalyptus leaves. Laboratory isolations from eucalyptus leaves collected in the vicinity of cultivated strawberry plants growing in the Sunshine Coast in June 2022 concurred with the study, suggesting that eucalyptus may be a potential source of the pathogen (Figure 2). However, it is not known if this isolate is the same as the isolates found on strawberry plants.

Fungicide efficacy studies by researchers at UFla on management of Neopestlotiopsis sp. found active ingredients thiram, captan and cyprodinil +fludioxonil reduced incidence of the pathogen. These fungicides are currently registered in Australia for strawberry. A small assay was conducted at DAF Nambour to investigate effectiveness of thiram and cyprodinil + fludioxonil. Infected leaves (cv. Parisienne Kiss) were sprayed till the point of run-off and allowed to air-dry in the laminar flow cabinet for two hours. A small leaf tissue with disease was isolated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and stored in an incubator. Untreated leaves were also isolated as controls. Four days after treatment, the pathogen was recovered from all the untreated controls. Leaf tissues treated with thiram and cyprodinil + fludioxonil had less recovery of the pathogen and/or reduced growth development on PDA compared with isolates that grew from the untreated control. However, it did not eradicate the fungus. Although considerations must be taken given the leaves were only given one spray of each fungicide and sampling in this instance, was destructive. In standard commercial practice, if conditions allowed, regular application of crop protectant products would occur and may possibly provide better management of the pathogen.

Hygiene is an important part of any agri-production business. Maintaining on-farm hygiene practices regularly will aid in reducing inoculum sources, potential disease transmission and will optimise the farm’s ability to manage diseases. In a recent observation, Neopestalotiopsis sp.-infected commercial plants (cv. Parisienne Kiss) in Donnybrook, QLD, were ‘cleaned-up’ in late June, i.e., as many of the infected leaves were removed. After 3 ½ weeks, the plants appeared to have grown ‘as per normal’ with flowers and fruit present, and with little to no symptoms. There were also no new plant deaths (Figure 4).

A couple of factors to consider in this instance; the weather conditions during the period of observation were fine and dry with very little rainfall, which may not have favoured disease development, and there were no crop protectant products and fertilisers applied to the plants. Figure 1. Neopestalotiopsis sp. symptoms on strawberry. Photo credit: Apollo Gomez, QDAF

Do our current fungicides work?

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Figure 2. Eucalyptus leaves within commercial strawberry plants. Subsequent laboratory diagnosis was able to recover Neopestalotiopsis sp., suggesting it may be a potential source of the pathogen. Photo credit: Apollo Gomez, QDAF

Figure 3. Growth of Neopestalotiopsis sp. on PDA after one spray of thiram and cyprodinil + fludioxonil four days after treatment, C = untreated control, T = thiram, S = cyprodinil + fludioxonil . Photo credit: Apollo Gomez, QDAF

Take Home Messages

• The pathogen has a wide host range and appear to be ‘everywhere’

• The incidence of Neopestalotiopsis sp. in QLD’s winter production has decreased significantly since early June, and this may be attributed to the little to no rainfall experienced in the June–July period

• As fungus may persist, encourage field staff to work in ‘clean’ blocks first and finish in the ‘less clean’ blocks

• Extended periods of rainfall from the start of the production season have exacerbated several fungal infections, including Neopestalotiopsis sp.

• Thiram and cyprodinil + fludioxonil can reduce disease incidence

• Neopestalotiopsis sp. is not a new pathogen of strawberry (in Queensland)

• Limit farm operations and working with the plants when they are wet to avoid spread of the fungus

Figure 4.(a) 21 June pre-removal of diseased material, (b) 21 June, post-removal, (c) 15 July inspection.

• Leaf wetness is a major factor in the pathogen’s spread and disease severity

• If you do suspect Neopestalotiopsis sp., submit a sample for diagnosis to confirm the causal organism

Photo credit: Apollo Gomez, QDAF a b c

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• On-farm hygiene will optimise integrated disease management

• Wash clothes and come in clean the next day If you need more information, please contact Apollo Gomez, Senior Plant Pathologist, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Nambour, Queensland, E: apollo.gomez@daf.qld.gov.auM:0404026543

Although the incidence of Neopestalotiopsis sp. has significantly reduced since, there is a forecast of the La Niña weather pattern to continue, which may produce the same (or if not, worse) outcome we observed. If conditions do favour the pathogen next season or other leaf diseases, growers should have a fungicide program ready and apply early if necessary. Further study is warranted to extend on the initial observations presented in this article to better understand the biology of the pathogen and its management in strawberry production in Australia. DAF would like to acknowledge the fruit producers who supported and provided samples to do this work.

There are issues with both methods. Hand-pollination can damage the flowers or apply excessive pollen to the stigmas. The response to supplementary pollination depends on the abundance of the native and introduced pollinators at the experimental site. The density of the pollinators in caged experiments is often higher than that in the natural environment.

• It can be concluded that fruit set in commercial fields is limited by the availability of insect pollinators and pollen

Pollen limitation is higher in self-incompatible than in self-compatible plants. In some cases, pollen limitation is due to poor pollen quality rather than to inadequate pollen supply. Some authors used the term “pollinatorlimited” to indicate a shortage of pollinators to transfer pollen. Insects can visit the flowers of plants but not carry sufficient pollen for satisfactory seed- or fruitset. Individual plants species can be pollen- and pollinator-limited, while others can be pollen-limited but not pollinator-limited. 89

Strawberry plants are dependent on insects for successful pollination. Pollinator exclusion experiments indicate the degree to which a plant depends on insects for pollination. In contrast, pollen supplementation (supplementary insect pollination or hand pollination) indicates the degree to which the reproduction is limited by the availability of pollen. Plants can be dependent on pollinators but not limited by the availability of pollen.

Pollen limitation in plants Pollen limitation can be estimated by comparing the fertility of plants with and without supplementary insects. Alternatively, it can be estimated by comparing the fertility of hand- and open-pollinated flowers.

Christopher Menzel, Principal Horticulturist, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Research indicates that the yields of strawberry were 20% higher after plants were given supplementary pollination compared with those pollinated under natural open conditions. It can be concluded that fruit set in commercial fields is limited by the availability of insect pollinators and pollen. This issue may become more important with the loss of pollinating insects under global warming and the fragmentation of natural habitats.

Introduction Seed set in strawberry depends on the transfer of pollen from the stamens (male part of the flower) to the stigmas (female part of the flower). Pollination is better with insects than with wind or gravity (see PAGE 65 SPRING 2021 Edition 8). In some plants, the availability and transfer of pollen limit seed or fruit set. Pollen limitation (PL) or pollination deficit (PD) varies across different populations of wild and crop plants and with the methods used to assess seed or fruit set. Low values of pollen limitation are associated with abundant pollinators and frequent visits of pollinators to the flowers.

Yields in commercial strawberry fields are limited by the availability of pollen & insect pollinators

• Strawberry plants are dependent on insects for successful pollination

• Research indicates that the yields of strawberry were 20% higher after plants were given supplementary pollination compared with those pollinated under natural open conditions

STRAWBERRIES

This article examines whether the yields of commercial strawberry fields are limited by the availability of pollen or pollinators. A small pollen limitation (e.g., 3% decrease in fruit set) can reduce the profitability of high value crops such as strawberry.

The results of pollinator exclusion experiments indicate the degree to which a plant depends on insects for pollination. In contrast, the results of pollen supplementation (supplementary insect pollination or hand pollination) indicate the degree to which the reproduction is limited by the availability of pollen. Plants can be dependent on pollinators but not limited by the availability of pollen. A small pollen deficit can have a strong effect on the profitability of a high-value crop. The results of the current analysis indicate that the yields of strawberry were 20% higher in plants given supplementary pollination compared with plants pollinated under natural open conditions. It can be concluded that fruit set in commercial fields is limited by the availability of pollen and insect pollinators.

Photo credit: Chris Menzel, QDAF

The relationship between fertility and the supply of pollen in strawberry was assessed across several studies (Table 1). The fertility of flowers that were exposed to supplementary insects was compared with fertility under natural open pollination. Pollen limitation (PL) was calculated as PL = (Ps – Po)/PMax , where Ps is the number of seeds, etc. from the hand pollination treatment, Po is the number of seeds, etc. from the control treatment (open pollination) and PMax is the larger of the two values.

Sáez et al. (2022) assessed the productivity of 30 crops across various studies and reported that hand pollination increased yield by 34% compared with open pollination, suggesting a significant pollen limitation. Managed honeybees decreased pollen limitation in the selfcompatible crops but not in the self-incompatible crops.

Mean pollen limitation was 0.03 ± 0.11 (N = 11, P = 0.307), suggesting a small and variable pollen limitation.

Burd (1994) found pollen limitation at some time or at some sites in 159 out of 258 plant species (62%). Bennett et al. (2020) reviewed seed and fruit set across 1247 plant species around the globe. They found that there was a 63% increase in reproduction following supplementary pollination compared with natural open pollination.

Conclusions

The yields of strawberry fields were 20% higher after plants were given supplementary pollination compared with those pollinated under natural conditions.

Pollen limitation in strawberry

Mean (± SD or standard deviation) pollen limitation based on yield data was 0.20 ± 0.17 (N = 20, P < 0.001).

There was a moderate, but variable pollen limitation across the experiments (Figure 1). This means that the yields of the plants that were exposed to additional insects were 20% higher than the controls. There was a different response when estimates of pollen limitation were based on fruit weight. ean pollen limitation was 0.06 ± 0.18 (N = 25, P = 0.106) (Figure 1). This means that the fruit from the plants that were exposed to additional insects were slightly larger than the controls. Seed set after supplementary pollination should be higher or at least equal to seed set under natural conditions (zero or positive values of PL). Negative values of PL reflect experimental error or excessive pollen loads.

A second analysis was conducted to estimate pollen limitation based on a comparison of hand- and openpollination. Different indices were used, including fruit weight, fruit width and the number of achenes per fruit.

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Paydaş et al. (2000a) greenhouseOpen Apis mellifera & Bombus terrestris introduced into a section of the greenhouse. 0.41 0.30

Petersen (1983) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera. 0.12 ± 0.06 0.12 ± 0.04

Paydaş et al. (2000b) greenhouseOpen Apis mellifera introduced into a section of the greenhouse. 0.17 0.17 91

Lackett & Burkhardt (1979) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera. 0.44 0.08 Lackett & Burkhardt (1979) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera. 0.41

Petersen (1983) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera. 0.13 ± 0.06 Partap (2000) Field Cages with a colony of Apis cerana 0.32 0.17

Deodikar (1975) Field Addition of Apis mellifera 0.23

Paydaş et al. (2000a) greenhouseOpen Bombus terrestris introduced into a section of the greenhouse. 0.30 0.29

Paydaş et al. (2000a) greenhouseOpen Apis mellifera introduced into a section of the greenhouse. 0.41 0.21

forlimitationPollenyield clonesAdvanced

Muttoo (1952) Field Colony of Apis mellifera added to plot. 0.31

Free (1968a) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera 0.10 -0.01

Table 1. Effect of supplementary insect pollination on yield and fruit weight in strawberry. The flowers were pollinated with insects under natural open conditions (OP or Open Pollination) or with the addition of bee or other insects, etc. (Supplementary Pollination). Pollen limitation (PL) was calculated as PL = (Ps – Po)/PMax, where Ps is the number of seeds, etc. from the supplementary pollination treatment, Po is the number of seeds, etc. from the control treatment (open pollination) and PMax is the larger of the two values. Data from the studies indicated in the table. Data show mean values (± SE or standard errors where available). Reference systemGrowing Experimental system used to supplement insect pollination

Antunes et al. (2007) Tunnel Two colonies of Tetragonisca angustula added to the tunnel. 0.19 ± 0.04 0.04 ± 0.06

Alpionita et al. (2021) Field Cages with Apis cerana. 0.05 0.10

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MacInnis & Forrest (2020) Field Wild bees allowed to pollinate some of the flowers. 0.26

Nagar & Chaudhary (2006) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera 0.17 0.26

Silva et al. (2020) Field Each flower had three visits from Nannotrigona testaceicornis -0.21

MacInnis & Forrest (2019) Field Honeybees (Apis mellifera) allowed to pollinate some of the flowers. -0.20

Trillo et al. (2018) tunnelOpen Two colonies of Bombus terrestis introduced to a tunnel. 0.04

Alpionita et al. (2021) Field Cages with Tetragonula laeviceps. -0.26 -0.11

Gogate et al. (2018) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera -0.01 -0.02

Silva et al. (2020) Field Each flower had one visit from Nannotrigona testaceicornis. -0.21

Paydaş et al. (2000b) greenhouseOpen Bombus terrestris introduced into a section of the greenhouse. 0.21 0.13

Witter et al. (2012) Greenhouse Two colonies of Plebeia nigriceps added to a section of the greenhouse. 0.91

Antunes et al. (2007) Tunnel Four colonies of Tetragonisca angustula added to the tunnel. 0.21 ± 0.05 0.02 ± 0.07

Sharma et al. (2014) Field Cages with a colony of Apis mellifera 0.21 ± 0.02 0.21 ± 0.02

Silva et al. (2020) Field Each flowers had two visits from Nannotrigona testaceicornis. -0.34

Paydaş et al. (2000b) greenhouseOpen Apis mellifera & Bombus terrestris introduced into a section of the greenhouse. 0.05 0.11

Acknowledgements

Figure 1. Box plots showing the effect of supplementary pollination on yield (Yield, N = 20) or fruit weight (AWT, N = 25) in strawberry cultivars. The flowers were exposed to supplementary pollinators such as bees (SUPP) or exposed to insects under natural conditions (OP). Pollen limitation (PL) was calculated as PL = (Ps – Po)/PMax, where Ps is the number of seeds, etc. from the supplementary pollination treatment, Po is the number of seeds, etc. from the control treatment (open pollination) and PMax is the larger of the two values. In the box plots, the lower parts of the boxes show the lower quartiles (0.25) and the upper parts of the boxes show the upper quartiles (0.75). The lines within the boxes show the median. The whiskers show the data within 1.5 times the interquartile range (IQR) which is the distance between the lower and upper quartiles. The circles are values outside this range.

lmitationPollen Yield AWT 93

The Queensland Government has funded the research through the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Many thanks to the Florida Strawberry Growers’ Association (FSGA) for financial support, and Dr Penny Measham (DAF) for reading an earlier version of this article. -0.4-0.2-0.00.40.60.2

The result of this is that strawberry plants do not receive much of the fertiliser applied to them, and what they do get they get mostly as nitrate. The form of nitrogen alters where strawberry plants allocate growth.

Although nitrate, ammonium and amine nitrogen forms all contain nitrogen but are chemically quite different and processed differently.

Amine nitrogen is processed in roots and is more quickly and easily converted to proteins requiring less energy. Amine nitrogen accumulation leads to increase in production of the cytokinin growth hormone causing more reproductive growth.

1. STABILITY IN THE ENVIRONMENT

HOW GROWTH PARTITIONING INCREASES YIELD IN STRAWBERRIES CONTENT

This graph shows how Lono-K (stabilised with Levity’s LimiN™ technology) produces higher flowers and fruit numbers than a conventional formula with identical nutrient analysis. This increase in fruit and flower production is partly due to more of the nutrients being taken up, and a process known as ‘growth partitioning’ whereby the plant invests more in reproductive growth. Field trials in California confirm the effect on farm, demonstrating significant increases in yield when used alongside standard fertiliser programmes.

2. HOW FORM AFFECTS GROWTH PARTITIONING

When crops allocate more of the growth from nitrogen to reproductive growth, yields increase. A phenomenon known as ‘growth partitioning’.

For

Experiments at Levity’s Myerscough University College research site show how applying stabilised amine N alters strawberry growth, compared to the same nutrients without stabilisation.

To understand why nitrogen tends to favour vegetative growth ahead of fruit development we need to consider two factors.

Nitrates are processed in leaves, where the plant converts them into amine nitrogen using nitrate reductase enzymes taking time and energy. As nitrates accumulate in leaves plants start to make more of the growth hormone auxin, leading to vegetative growth.

The table and graph show the comparison in strawberry yield results between Lono-K and a standard fertiliser program supplying the same nutrients in un-stabilised form. Lono-K gave progressively higher yield as the crop invested more in growing at the right place. Indeed, the trial ended early as the farmer turned the whole crop over to the treatment. more information contact: Joel Supple, Senior Crop Adviser +61

481 999 987 | Joel@prodoz.com.au 4.03.52.02.50.51.01.53.00 Urea K Lono-K NumbersFruitGreen&Flowers

LimiN™ technology stabilises amine nitrogen, preventing leaching and encourages the crop to allocate more resources to flower and fruit production.

ADVERTORIAL

Strawberries are not good at capturing applied nitrogen with some studies showing < 8 to 20% of applied nitrogen being taken up by the crop. The reason so much lost is largely due to the instability of nitrogen in the environment. Nitrogen is taken up by plants as one of three forms: Amine (NH2), Ammonium (NH4) or Nitrate (NO3). Plants compete for nitrogen fertiliser with microorganisms, these microorganisms change the form of nitrogen rapidly from amine to ammonium to nitrate. Nitrogen changes from stable form to gaseous form NH3 which is volatile, and leachable forms (nitrates) which leach to groundwater. The nitrogen not taken up is lost from the system via volatilisation, leaching, and competition organisms (weeds and microorganisms).

100012006004002008001600180014000AcreperHarvestedCrates 17 th July 2017 24th July 2017 Pick Date 1st August 2017 Pick Date Crates Harvested per Hectare Control Lono-K 17 July 17 373 391 24 July 17 448 540 1 August 17 1080 1703ControlLono-K

When producing strawberries farmers must balance feeding the plant enough nitrogen without getting excessive vegetative growth. Because of this, growers have to take care not to give plants too much nitrogen as more growth can mean lower yield and quality.

Innovation. Quality. Solutions. ® Flute is a registered trademark of Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. ® Kenja is a registered trademark of Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd. 220727 • Effective control of grey mould in berries • Flexible use pattern • Strong protectant action • Highly effective on powdery mildew in strawberries • Nil withholding period • Translaminar & vapour action FUNGICIDE ® 50 EW FOR THE B BERRIESEST Proudly servicing growers on the Sunshine Coast since 1989!

A major issue facing Perth strawberry growers with a quality focus is market returns – there is no appreciation (price incentive) for quality, so growers focus on quantity over quality. The market needs to pivot quickly to give better prices for quality if people start growing it, otherwise growers will just go back to producing large quantities of poor-quality fruit. It’s a vicious cycle.

In this profile, we hear from Vince in his own words:

Our retail customers visit our shop three times per week to stock up on fresh strawberries, and we also supply a premium fresh produce home delivery business and premium retailers. We would like to expand and supply high-quality fruit daily into smaller shops, even into export if that’s possible.

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Vince’s family originally grew tomatoes in Kingsway north of Perth before the area underwent urban development in the early 2000’s. The family moved to their Russell Road property, 30 kilometres south of Perth, in 2003 and expanded to a nearby site on Thomas Road in 2005. They currently have 160,000 strawberry plants across both farms with a focus on premium quality. They also grow zucchini, garlic chives, daikon radish, and ginger and plan to grow watercress in the future. A large proportion of their produce is sold through their popular shopfronts on Russell and Thomas Roads, managed by Vince’s wife Vy and well known for their delicious ripe strawberries. A small portion of their fruit is also sold to premium retailers in Perth.

Also, customers need time to accept the new quality and price point. Our customers are happy to pay extra for the high quality fruit we produce, and our prices remain stable year-round, not dropping to the lows seen in the broader market during times of oversupply.

We have a strong focus on quality Strawberries are such a delicious fruit, and we can grow them almost all year round. Our aim is to produce consistent high-quality strawberries with a little acid and good sugars (but not too much sugar). We pick our fruit when it’s fully ripe, harvesting our Albion strawberries twice per week in the peak season. We also grow Festival which has excellent flavour up until October (but you must get the fertiliser right) and we are trialling Scarlet Rose this season.

Profile: Vince Ngo, Russell Road Farm: A rising star in WA strawberry production

Cold chain and transport logistics are very important to maintain fruit quality; you need to cool the fruit quickly after harvest and keep it cool until it reaches the consumer, and it also needs to be distributed quickly.

And people don’t seem to tire of strawberries like they do with other sweeter fruits like grapes. We have customers that purchase three kilograms of fruit for their family three times per week consistently throughout our season, often eating a kilogram at a time. People love our fruit!

Helen Newman, Berry Industry Development Officer, Agricultural Produce Commission, WA

Vince took over management of the family farm in 2017 and has big plans when it comes to adopting new technology and expanding his premium strawberry business.

If it’s good people are willing to pay for it.

We want to throw away the old way of doing things (the plastic waste, soil fumigation, old ways of watering and fertilising etc.) and move to a growing system that utilises the latest technology.

We are reducing risk and driving expansion with technology

We plan to double our strawberry plant numbers in the coming year (up to 320,000) and hope to convert all our strawberry growing operations to substrate over the next three years (finances permitting).

Water quality in our 130 foot (40m) bore at our Russell Road farm has been declining, going from an electrical conductivity (EC) of 1 in 2003 to 2.4 today, which is not suitable for substrate production. Water quality at our Thomas Road site has also been in decline with the EC increasing from 0.7 to 0.9 over the last four years; Chloride and bicarbonate have also been an issue at this site. To get around this problem, I made my own Reverse Osmosis (RO) system. An off-the-shelf model was going to cost $48,000 which I couldn’t afford so I made my own under the guidance of a specialist on the field for $28,000.

Vince showing off the tasty Albion strawberries he grows in his substrate system. Photo credit: Helen Newman 97

We currently grow 35,000 Albion strawberries in a triple substrate system at our Russell Road property. The fruit quality is excellent, and we can have good control over nutrient and water applications, there are also labour savings. The environment is better off too; we use more than 60% less water and there are less nutrients leaching into the ground.

Farming is too hard when you rely on the climate and groundwater quality, especially when we can use technology to get around these problems!

We have even more future technology plans

There is so much new technology being developed and applied to strawberry growing overseas; we have an exciting future to work towards. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to look at the crop instead of looking by eye is my next challenge – this sensory data will give feedback to the controller to make irrigation, nutrition, and pest management decisions.

To provide the most consistent crop you need the right technology. My ultimate aim is to have a factory-like production system where I can produce a consistent crop every day of the year.

While we still have plants in the ground, we are also working on better ways to manage water and nutrients there as well. We recently installed a series of soil moisture probes to help us improve irrigation management across the different soil types on our properties. I have also created a custom irrigation and fertigation system that has environmental inputs (including radiation) so that I can optimise my water use and protect groundwater quality.

Premium quality strawberries from the farm packed for retail sale. Photo credit: Vince Ngo

98 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Once our business is financially stable, we plan to invest heavily into research so that we can continually improve all aspects of our business – postharvest handling, cold chain management, communication with our customers, traceability. We want to use the latest technology to bring our growing costs down so that great tasting fruit is accessible to all.

Harvest records have been another focus. I have made a wireless automatic weighing system that records workers pick rates. [You may have guessed – Vince has an electronics background and a passion for automation!]

Labour management is another key issue. Piece rates are often used in our industry to drive efficiency (a faster pick rate) but that doesn’t work well when you are harvesting ripe fruit which is more susceptible to bruising, it needs gentle handling. That’s why we have dreams of moving towards factorylike production that uses oscillating tables that move up and down during harvest. This type of system also allows much higher density planting – you can fit four to six times more plants on the same area of land which is helpful when land close to markets is so expensive.

Lý Lịch Nông Gia: Vince Ngô, trang trại Russell Road. Một ngôi sao đang vụt sáng trong ngành sản xuất trồng trọt dâu tây ở WA

Gia đình Vince ban đầu trồng cà chua ở khu vực Kingsway, phía bắc của Perth trước khi nơi này trải qua quá trình phát triển đô thị vào đầu những năm 2000. Gia đình anh sau đó chuyển đến trang trại nằm trên đường Russell cách Perth 30km về phía nam vào năm 2003 và mở rộng sang một trang trại gần đó trên đường Thomas vào năm 2005. Hiện họ đang trồng 160,000 cây dâu tây trên cả hai trang trại với sự chú trọng cao vào chất lượng. Gia đình anh cũng trồng bí ngòi, hẹ, củ cải daikon, gừng và dự định trồng cải xà lách xoong trong tương lai. Một phần lớn các sản phẩm thu hoạch được bày bán tại các cửa hàng của gia đình nằm trên đường Russell và Thomas, được quản lí bởi chị Vy vợ anh và rất được yêu thích bởi chất lượng của những quả dâu chín mọng. Một số lượng nhỏ cũng được bán cho các nhà bán lẻ cao cấp ở Perth. Trong hồ sơ này, chúng tôi nghe được từ Vince bằng cách nói của riêng anh ấy: Chú trọng vào chất lượng

Và dâu tây dường như không gây chán như những loại quả ngọt tương tự chẳng hạn như nho. Chúng tôi có những khách hàng mua 3 kí mỗi lần và 3 lần mỗi tuần cho gia đình liên tục trong suốt mùa dâu, thường ăn một kí một lần. Mọi người rất yêu thích trái cây của chúng tôi bán. 99

Helen Newman, Berry Industry Development Officer, Agricultural Produce Commission, WA

Vince bắt đầu tiếp quản trang trại của gia đình vào năm 2017 và có những kế hoạch lớn trong việc áp dụng công nghệ mới và mở rộng việc kinh doanh sản xuất dâu tây cao cấp của mình.

Dâu tây là một loại trái cây rất ngon, và chúng ta có thể trồng chúng gần như quanh năm. Mục đích của chúng tôi là cho ra những quả dâu với chất lượng cao một cách ổn định, chứa ít hàm lượng acid và độ ngọt tốt (nhưng hàm lượng đường không quá cao). Chúng tôi thu hoạch giống dâu Albion hai lần một tuần vào mùa cao điểm, và chỉ hái khi trái đã chín hoàn toàn. Chúng tôi cũng trồng giống Festival, chúng cho chất lượng tuyệt vời cho đến tháng mười (nhưng với điều kiện phải bón phân đúng cách), và đang trong quá trình thử nghiệm trồng giống dâu Scarlet Rose trong mùa này. Dây chuyền lạnh và việc vận chuyển đóng vai trò rất quan trọng trong việc giữ gìn chất lượng trái, bạn cần phải làm lạnh chúng một cách nhanh chóng ngay sau khi thu hoạch và duy trì dây chuyền lạnh cho đến khi quả dâu đến tay người tiêu dùng, và chúng cũng cần được phân phối một cách nhanh chóng. Các khách hàng bán lẻ ghé thăm cửa hàng của chúng tôi ba lần mỗi tuần để mua dâu tươi, chúng tôi cũng cung cấp cho một doanh nghiệp với dịch vụ giao nông sản tươi tận nhà và các nhà bán lẻ cao cấp khác. Chúng tôi hi vọng mở rộng việc kinh doanh và cung cấp trái cây chất lượng cao hàng ngày cho các cửa hàng nhỏ hơn, thậm chí xuất khẩu nếu có thể. Một vấn đề chính mà những người trồng dâu tây chú trọng vào chất lượng ở Perth gặp phải là lợi nhuận của thị trường, không có sự đánh giá cao (khuyến khích giá cả) đối với chất lượng, vì vậy người trồng dâu tây tập trung vào số lượng hơn là chất lượng. Thị trường cần nhanh chóng xoay chuyển để đưa ra giá tốt hơn cho sản phẩm có chất lượng cao, nếu không người trồng sẽ quay lại việc sản xuất số lượng lớn trái cây kém chất lượng. Đó là một vòng lẩn quẩn. Ngoài ra, khách hàng cũng cần thời gian để chấp nhận chất lượng và giá cả mới. Khách hàng của chúng tôi không ngại ngần chi trả cao hơn để mua các nông sản với chất lượng cao mà chúng tôi sản xuất, và mức giá của chúng tôi ổn định quanh năm, không giảm xuống mức thấp như được thấy trên thị trường vào các thời điểm cung vượt cầu. Nếu chúng thực sự ngon, họ sẽ sẵn sàng trả tiền để mua chúng

Chất lượng nước tại chan trại Thomas Road của chúng tôi cũng đã suy giảm với EC tăng từ 0,7 lên 0,9 trong bốn năm qua; Chloride và bicacbonat cũng là một vấn đề tại trang trại này. Để giải quyết vấn đề này, tôi đã tạo hệ thống thẩm thấu ngược (RO) của riêng mình. Một mô hình bán sẵn không chính thống sẽ có giá 48.000 đô la mà tôi không đủ khả năng chi trả, vì vậy tôi đã tự sản xuất dưới sự hướng dẫn của một chuyên gia về lĩnh vực này với giá 28.000 đô la.

Vince cho mọi người xem giống dâu Albion anh ấy trồng bằng chất nền trên hệ thống mặt dàn. Ảnh: Helen Newman 100

Chúng tôi muốn dần bỏ đi cách làm nông nghiệp cũ (rác thải nhựa, hun trùng cho đất, cách tưới nước và bón phân v.v.) và chuyển sang một hệ thống trồng trọt sử dụng công nghệ mới nhất.

Việc làm nông nghiệp sẽ rất khó khăn khi bạn phụ thuộc vào khí hậu và chất lượng nước ngầm, chúng ta có thể sử dụng công nghệ để giải quyết vấn đề này!

Giảm rủi ro và thúc đẩy mở rộng với công nghệ

Chúng tôi hiện đang trồng 35.000 cây dâu tây Albion trên hệ thống mặt dàn 3 tầng tại cơ sở Russell Road của chúng tôi. Chất lượng trái cây cho ra tuyệt vời, và chúng tôi có thể kiểm soát tốt các ứng dụng dinh dưỡng và nước, đồng thời tiết kiệm được nhân công. Việc đó cũng mang lợi ích tích cực cho môi trường, lượng nước sử dụng ít hơn khoảng trên 60% và có ít chất dinh dưỡng bị di trực xuống đất hơn. Chúng tôi đang có kế hoạch tăng gấp đôi số lượng cây dâu tây của mình trong năm tới (lên đến 320,000) và hy vọng sẽ chuyển đổi tất cả các hoạt động trồng dâu tây của chúng tôi sang trồng chất nền trong ba năm tới (nếu tài chính cho phép). Chất lượng nước trong giếng khoan sâu 130 foot (40m) tại trang trại Russell Road của chúng tôi đã suy giảm, đi từ độ dẫn điện (EC) 1 vào năm 2003 đến 2.4 hiện tại, không phù hợp cho viện trồng sản xuất chất nền.

BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Trong khi một số cây dâu tây vẫn còn được trồng xong đất, chúng tôi cũng đang nghiên cứu những phương pháp tốt hơn để quản lý nước và chất dinh dưỡng trong đó. Gần đây, chúng tôi đã lắp đặt một loạt thiết bị thăm dò độ ẩm của đất để giúp cải thiện việc quản lý tưới tiêu trên các loại đất khác nhau trên trang trại của mình. Tôi cũng đã tạo ra một hệ thống tưới tiêu và phân bón tùy chỉnh sử dụng các dữ liệu từ môi trường (bao gồm cả bức xạ) để tôi có thể tối ưu hóa việc sử dụng nước và bảo vệ chất lượng nước ngầm.

Tôi đã tạo ra một hệ thống cân tự động không dây để ghi lại tốc độ thu hoạch của công nhân.

[Bạn có thể đoán - Vince có kiến thức sâu về điện tử và niềm đam mê kỹ thuật tự động hóa] Các kế hoạch về công nghệ trong tương lai Để cho ra một vụ mùa ổn định nhất, bạn cần có công nghệ phù hợp. Mục đích cuối cùng của tôi là có một hệ thống sản xuất giống như một nhà máy, nơi tôi có thể sản xuất vụ mùa ổn định mỗi ngày trong năm.

Quản lý lao động là một vấn đề then chốt khác. Tỷ lệ khoán thường được sử dụng trong ngành của chúng tôi để tăng hiệu quả (tỷ lệ hái nhanh hơn) nhưng việc đó không mang lại lợi ích khi bạn đang thu hoạch trái cây chín vì dúng dễ bị dập hơn và cần được xử lý nhẹ nhàng.

Chúng ta có một tương lai thú vị để hướng tới khi có rất nhiều công nghệ mới đang được phát triển và áp dụng cho việc trồng dâu tây ở nước ngoài.

Các thông số thu hoạch cũng là một trọng tâm khác.

Sử dụng Trí tuệ nhân tạo (AI) để xem xét cây trồng thay vì nhìn bằng mắt là thách thức tiếp theo của tôidữ liệu cảm quan này sẽ cung cấp phản hồi cho bộ điều khiển để đưa ra các quyết định về tưới tiêu, dinh dưỡng và quản lý dịch hại.

Đó là lý do tại sao chúng tôi luôn hi vọng hướng tới việc sản xuất trong nhà máy và sử dụng bàn dao động di chuyển lên xuống trong quá trình thu hoạch. Loại hệ thống này cũng cho phép trồng với mật độ dày đặc hơn - bạn có thể trồng nhiều cây hơn gấp bốn đến sáu lần trên cùng một diện tích đất, điều này rất hữu ích khi các mảnh đất trang trại gần các khu chợ quá đắt đỏ. Khi hoạt động kinh doanh của chúng tôi ổn định về tài chính, chúng tôi có kế hoạch đầu tư mạnh vào nghiên cứu để có thể liên tục cải thiện tất cả các khía cạnh của hoạt động kinh doanh - xử lý sau thu hoạch, quản lý dây chuyền lạnh, giao tiếp với khách hàng, truy xuất nguồn gốc. Chúng tôi muốn sử dụng công nghệ mới nhất để giảm chi phí trồng trọt, khi đó tất cả mọi người đều có thể tiếp cận được trái cây ngon. Dâu tây chất lượng cao từ trang trại được đóng gói để bán lẻ. Ảnh: Vince Ngo 101

Why should I pay the voluntary 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: • Maintaining a a dedicated marketing campaign • Research & development into registered chemicals + IPM + Integrated Disease Management programs • Funding legal advice to support appropriate planning conditions • Progressing 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 • Communication and engagement with members –industry journal, e-news, website, conference • Promoting positive industry stories and addressing negative media • Providing 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: Quarter Period Covered Payable by Q1 1 July – 30 September 31 October Q2 1 October – 31 December 31 January Q3 1 January – 31 March 30 April Q4 1 April – 30 June 31 July How do I pay the levy? Follow the steps below: 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: Reference:Account:BSB:Bank: Australian Blueberry Growers’ Association GROWER181033Westpac107471 NAME + Financial Quarter (e.g. “Joe Bloggs Q2 levy”) My agent deducts levies — 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 What about confidentiality of the information provided? Any information provided will be kept confidential. I need help, who do I contact? Wendy Morris Email: admin@berries.net.au | Phone: 0491 751 123 VOLUNTARY LEVIES SUPPORT YOUR INDUSTRY TO SUPPORT YOUR BUSINESS! The ABGA is funding a major marketing & export program – please contribute your share

Talk to A&D today about how to reduce giveaway and improve product quality. Locally Stocked and Supported in Australia. Inspection Systems | Metal Detectors | Checkweighers | Data Capture PREVENT PRODUCT RECALL REDUCE PRODUCT GIVEAWAY or visit: www.andinspection.com.au 1800 241 434 www.legrogroup.com ‘‘Our customers have to deal with all kinds of challenges, so they need to know they can rely on a stable substrate. At Legro we invest in our own production facilities, so we can always ensure raw materials of the same quality. And that means we can guarantee high quality substrates, year after year. Contact me or one of my colleagues and let us know what you expect from your ideal substrate.’’ Phil Badgery Sales Manager Australia & New Zealand +61 (0) 3 95555267 info.aus@legrogroup.com your blend for life

A tale of two cover types and the pollination of blueberry flowers by honey bees

Here we report on a case study of pollination in highbush blueberry (cultivar 11-11) grown as an evergreen crop underneath bird net and under high tunnels covered with plastic film. Data collected on honey bee visits to flowers, floral nectar and berry quality, were used to evaluate pollination success in this crop under the two cover types with some unexpected results.

In our research we wanted to answer the question ‘Do tunnels present a barrier to pollination success in blueberry?’ and we conducted our study on a commercial farm in northern NSW in three 100-metrelong tunnels and under bird net (Figure 1). The honey bees were placed in two groups of 16 hives outside and the honey bees had to enter through bird net covering the sides of the adjacent blocks in order to access the plants in the tunnels and under bird net (Figure 2).

BLUEBERRIES

Previous research has shown that crop covers can be a barrier to honey bees, limiting their access to the crop and its floral resources. Whilst bird net generally has holes large enough for honey bees to pass through, in contrast, a plastic film-covered tunnel is less accessible with entry possible only via the tunnel ends.

In July 2021 over two days, we counted bee visits to flowers and collected floral nectar and tagged individual flowers for later assessment of berry weight and berry sugars indicated by total soluble solids (Degrees Brix), under both covers. For the control treatment, mesh bags were placed over some flowers to prevent honey bees entering and taking the sweet nectar and also to prevent the entry of pollen via bee activity which would otherwise facilitate pollination (Figure 3). Sensors were also placed within the crop to record temperature, relative humidity and wind characteristics.

Honey bee counts

The number of honey bees landing on flowers were counted for 5 minutes at the 36 experimental plants on four occasions across the day and these counts appeared to be little influenced by the type of crop cover, except perhaps in the tunnels where the presence of bees was sometimes greater towards both ends of the tunnels. In contrast, the day of recording appeared more influential with the second day having 25% fewer bees than the first, probably related to cloudier and cooler conditions.

The maximum temperature was 25°C on the first day compared with 21°C on the second day and the researchers counting on this day noticed a complete absence of bees when there was cloud cover.

Sugars in floral nectar

The floral nectar was extracted by shaking flowers in a small vial of water. The total sugars analysed in these suggest that the honey bees were actively harvesting sugars from the flowers under both cover types to a similar degree. The total weight of nectar sugars in the open flowers in the early morning, before the honey bees were flying, was about 1 milligram (mg) per flower but this declined to below 1 mg per flower in the afternoon compared with those flowers where bees were excluded. With bees absent, the sugars in the bagged flowers accumulated during the day to about 2-3 mg per flower. 105

Sophie Parks, Melinda Simpson, Leanne Davis and Madlen Kratz, NSW Department of Primary Industries

Methods

106

Figure 2. The honey bee hives placed outside the blueberry crop next to the tunnels. Other hives were placed outside near the intersection between the tunnels and bird netted crops. Photo credit: Sophie Parks, NSW DPI

Fruit quality

This study shines a light on the importance of pollinator presence for fruit development in the 11-11 blueberry variety since fruits from the pollinated flowers were almost 2.5 times the weight of fruits from the unpollinated flowers. In contrast, the effect of the cover types on fruit weight appeared negligible as berry weights from pollinated flowers were similar under both (2.8 grams per berry). However, the sugar levels in the berries from the tunnels at 16.6 Degrees Brix appeared to be higher than those under bird net at 13.1 Degrees Brix (although we have yet to confirm the statistical significance of these results).

The tunnel plants were not rain fed and were receiving more fertiliser via fertigation compared with the bird netted crop and may have had superior nutrition and therefore a greater capacity to support the developing fruits such as having a larger canopy. We are currently collecting canopy size, and flower and fruit load data from photos taken of each experimental plant to explore this hypothesis further.

Photo credit: Sophie Parks, NSW DPI 107

Given the similar presence of honey bees and characteristics of floral nectar between the two covers, factors other than pollination appear to be contributing to the higher fruit sugars from the tunnels.

This project is being delivered by Hort Innovation with support from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment 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. Figure 3. One of the mesh bags placed over a blueberry flower used to exclude pollinators from entering the flower. This was the ‘no pollination’ control. Three to five of these were placed on each experimental plant.

Conclusion Although a plastic-covered tunnel can present some challenges for honey bees accessing crops, in this case study we do not believe the tunnels have inhibited pollination success in this blueberry variety. Honey bee abundance was similar, and the floral nectar appeared to be as well utilised, under both crop covers. Here, we have not only highlighted the value of the presence of honey bees and the role of floral nectar to pollination and berry development in variety 11-11, but also the importance of non-pollination factors to fruit quality.

Acknowledgements

Blueberries (and other berry crops) depend to a greater or lesser extent on pollination by insects for good yields and high fruit quality. Many growers manage honey bee hives on their properties, but inevitably any crop flowers outdoors or in polytunnels are also visited by wild insects. These may include some wild honey bees, native bees, as well as flies, moths, butterflies and other insects. As a grower, this may raise a number of questions that can be very hard to answer. What level of pollination do the managed honey bees provide? Are the bees you pay for pollinating the weeds on your property, or perhaps the flowering crops on your neighbour’s farm? How much value do they contribute compared to the value provided by the ecosystem services of wild insects? Are your crops adequately pollinated? What gains might be had if pollination could be improved? These are the kinds of questions my research team is investigating using new technology we have developed through discussions with growers and beekeepers. The latest project, “Precision Pollination: Data-driven enhancements to boost crop yield”, is supported by the Australian Blueberry Growers Association (ABGA), Costa Group and the Australian Government (through the Australian Research Council Linkage program). It links these partners with researchers at Monash University, Western Sydney University, University of New England and CSIRO to provide a step-change in the way Australia’s berry industry understands and addresses pollination.

2. Honey bee computer simulation & forecasting – We will research and develop novel computer simulations of individual insect-flower interactions to suggest to growers and beekeepers environmental conditions, planting and co-planting layout, hive locations and site-specific management strategies to eliminate pollination "dead spots" and boost crop yield and quality.

BLUEBERRIES BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

Associate Professor Alan Dorin, Monash University

Precision Pollination of berry crops is not a pipedream

In collaboration with J Cook (UWS), R Radar (UNE), H Parry (CSIRO), A Toosi (Monash), our students and post-doctoral research teams, Costa Group, Australian Blueberry Growers Association, and supported by ARC Linkage Program grant LP210200213.

1. Digital pollination monitoring –We will establish formal methods, computer vision and animal tracking software and portable video monitoring hardware to facilitate rigorous, continuous, dynamic, data-driven insect-pollinator monitoring across expansive (semi-) protected cropping infrastructure.

3. Site-specific management of honey bees & cropping infrastructure – Based on monitoring and simulation output data, we will develop standardised, reusable, protected cropping interventions. These will be designed to enhance real insect pollinator behaviours that boost food security, yield and quality while maintaining bee health. 108

The project has three main objectives:

Simulation output provides management recommendations for implementation (move/add hives, open/close bee entry/exit points, add attractant plants).

1 I feel that the AgTech industry’s assumption that “AgTech is the solution” is fundamentally problematic – it is going to get us (further) into trouble if we allow ourselves to be seduced by this position. I am saying this from the perspective of a person who has spent most of his life engaged with technology and who has made technology his career focus!

HONEYBEE SIMULATION & FORECASTING.

POLLINATION MONITORING. Tracks live bees,validated against traditional field data. Informs growers of pollination deficits and provides simulation calibration data (honeybee numbers, speed, direction, flower visits)

Figure 1. Overview of the cyclic process we are researching to improve berry crop pollination.

Iteratively recalibrates model against monitoring data, validates against known pollination deficit regions, then the improved model of bee/crop identifies hive placement, polytunnel entry/exit locations and attractant companion plant locations to minimise pollination deficits and maximise pollen flow. 2 109

DIGITAL POLLINA TORING. Tracks live bees,validated against traditional field data. Informs growers of pollination deficits and provides simulation calibration data (honeybee numbers, speed, direction, flower visits)

Our process works in an iterative cycle to “adaptively manage” insect-plant interactions. The cycle is informed by both expertise on the ground (growers, apiarists, and researchers), digital data our researchers and technological system collects, and computer simulations (Figure 1). Here’s how the process works. Stage 1 The process begins by obtaining information through discussions with stakeholders such that site-specific features and issues can be understood collectively.

High yield, high quality, large fruit assessed by industry metrics. Outcome

We recognise that these are ambitious goals, but we have reason to believe they can be achieved based on our previous trials conducted with the valuable assistance of Sunny Ridge berries (Boneo, Victorian site), Rijk Zwaan (Daylesford, Victorian site), Costa Group (Coffs Harbour, NSW), the ARC, AgriFutures and other partners.

High yield, high quality, large fruit assessed by industry metrics. Outcome

In Stage 1, technology is focussed on obtaining hard digital data beyond the observations of expert growers and apiarists about insect behaviour. We distribute small computers equipped with video cameras across the rows of any polytunnel of interest. These collect extensive video footage that is analysed using Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence software we have written to determine which species or varieties of insects are visiting the crop, how often, at which times of day, how long they spend on flowers, the directions they tend to move, and the locations within the crop that seem to be more or less densely attended to by insect pollinators. We also work with the growers to try to acquire crop yield and quality metrics for different regions of the crop, even within a block if possible, corresponding to the areas we have monitored for insect activity. We sometimes monitor nearby weeds and other unmanaged vegetation too to see what insects might be doing there.

SITE-SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT. Simulation output provides management recommendations for implementation (move/add hives, open/close bee entry/exit points, add attractant plants).

If we think we can help tackle a pollination issue, only then would we proceed further with this process

HONEYBEE SIMULATION & FORECASTING.

SITE-SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT.

DIGI2TAL

• Bees don’t disperse evenly across crops

Bee hives placed within the berry orchard to boost pollination. Photo credit: Jane Richter

There are many options to consider.

• Bees prefer to forage on my neighbour’s farm!

The data from stage 1 informs stage 2. The data may confirm the suspicions of the growers about issues with pollination. But not always. Sometimes it might reveal new understanding, or new issues that also could be important. To explore the situations leading to pollination issues, we tweak complex computer simulations of bee behaviour to attempt to replicate the observations from stage 1. These simulations operate very much like computer games where the characters are all under computer control. These virtual bees (imagine the ghosts in a Pacman game) act under their own volition to move across virtual crops (imagine the Pacman maze and its “power ups” arranged like polytunnels, crop rows and flowers) that represent the current planting arrangements. We model bee colour vision, bee decision-making, bee learning, bee memory, bee scent-marking and other parameters to build a simulation with thousands of bees. If we run this simulation thousands of times under different conditions, it can inform us about the possible reasons for the issues noted by stakeholders and supported by the digital data. Additionally, we can alter conditions in the computer simulation to test hypothetical ways to improve the situation... What if we move the beehives? What if we add more managed honey bees? What if we change the planting layout? What if we try to attract bees to one area of the polytunnel, or reduce their access to one part of the crop? What if we better utilise wild insects by planting wildflower strips in field verges?

• Bees become disoriented and confused under polytunnels

• Bees prefer to visit nearby weeds along the access road than to visit crop flowers

Stage 2

BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 110

• Bees are reluctant to move from outdoors to areas under polytunnels

Stage 3 If growers and beekeepers agree that our program’s suggested management strategies are worth trying, with their assistance and insight, we try them! And then, we return to stage 1 to repeat the loop. If all goes to plan, the outcomes we target are improvements in pollination, increased yields, better quality fruit and healthy, happy bees. Through our process, and with the novel technology we are developing, we really feel that Precision Pollination is feasible. So far, some problems we have discussed with industry growers and beekeepers include:

• Bee row following behaviour makes cross-pollination difficult to achieve • Bees don’t “like” all crops equally. So, planting co-flowering crops (for instance raspberries with strawberries) in proximity can result in most bees visiting one crop (raspberry) and hardly any the other (strawberry)

WHAT POLLINATION PROBLEMS ARE YOU HAVING? Please let us know, we’d love to hear from you. Your insight could help all berry growers by allowing us to better understand the pollination issues you have, the management strategies you have employed, and your successes and difficulties. Get in touch with Alan alan.dorin@monash.edudirect: 111 It’s the technology, engineering and grower-centric support that makes an Australian Frost Fan outstanding in its field. • FrostBoss® composite fan blades provide excellent coverage, fuel efficiency and low noise • FrostSmart® provides real time monitoring for peace of mind • Dedicated, passionate team - it’s all we do forFanslife Ian CallMasonusnow 1800 797 629 or +61 448 111 384 E orinfo@aussiefrostfans.com.auvisit aussiefrostfans.com.au

A recent global study1 conducted by Salesforce, the biggest Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software company in the world, highlighted that “65% of customers said they have changed to a different brand because of a poor experience”, and “89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience”.

Rachel Mackenzie, Berries Australia

A consumer recently sent the ABGA a photo highlighting their dismay at being charged $6.50 for a punnet of low-quality berries in one of our retail chains. We can all tell just by looking at them that these berries would not provide a quality eating experience.

Photo of blueberries sent in by unhappy consumer.

The true cost of poor quality

Photo credit: ABGA

Growers and packers need to understand that blueberry customers tend to be highly affluent customers who value quality, consistency, flavour and shelf life. Whilst attracting more customers with cheap fruit might seem superficially appealing and can gain individual growers a short-term return it actually means our loyal customers are turned off the category in general.

An update from NielsenIQ Homescan2 for a 52-week period up until March this year highlighted that customers reduced the number of times they purchased blueberries from 11.4 times to 9.8 times in that period (Figure 1). Whilst this drop can be partly attributed to reduced store visits as a consequence of COVID-19, the trend is concerning. This means that over the 52-week time period to 27 March 2022, households are only buying Blueberries every 5.3 weeks on average, and we need to focus on how we can increase this without devaluing our product. Interestingly one of the barriers to online purchase of fruit is that customers can’t choose the product for themselves and there is a perception that they receive lower quality when it is chosen for them.

BLUEBERRIES112 BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12

The Australian Blueberry Growers’ Association (ABGA) actively invests $400,000 of grower levy money into marketing programs to promote our blueberries as a fantastic quality snack food. All that good work can be quickly undone by poor quality fruit being sent to market.

With the Blueberry category in Australia being worth approximately $440million at farm gate, we only need consumers to purchase blueberries on one more occasion to increase our industry by around $40m collectively, but poor-quality fruit can send it quickly in the other direction.

Figure 1: Data from NielsenIQ Homescan shows the frequency of purchase across the year for Blueberries, shown here with other fruits for comparison.

To keep customers engaged and not wanting to switch out of the category and into another, we must ensure they have positive experiences and not one where they leave the category. Brands and categories that have focused on quality in 2021 saw growth in those brands. At the time of writing, we can see that premium strawberries and blueberries are retailing at double their “standard” offerings.

You can see more data from NielsenIQ Homescan by visiting www.harvesttohome.net.au Access to this data has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the Australian Horticulture research and development levies, and contributions from the Australian Government. Nielsen Homescan® is a continuous panel of 10,000 households who record all take-home packed and fresh grocery from all retail outlets. The sample is demographically and geographically representative of the Australian household population. Each household is equipped with either a small handheld terminal or an app on their mobile phone through which details of all purchasing are entered –product, quantity, price and outlet. This information, along with the date of purchase, is linked with demographic details of the household and the household purchasing history. Data are projected to represent take-home purchases of the Australian household population.

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1References:Datainthis report is from a double-blind survey conducted from July 16 through August 18, 2020. Respondents represent 27 countries across six continents. Data was weighted to accurately represent the general population. All respondents are third-party panelists. You can view the whole report at **https://www.harvesttohome.net.au/fruitmushroomnuts/what-households-buy/blueberrieshttps://c1.sfdcstatic.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/documents/research/salesforce-state-of-the-connected-customer-4th-ed.pdf

The marketing program seeks to proactively address this issue, but we need growers to think about the damage to the category caused by sending low quality fruit to market.

Whilst not everyone can be a premium grower, all growers can ensure that they send their best offering to market which will ultimately benefit the whole industry.

Total Fruit: 58.9% | Prior Year: 60.4%

Australian owned and operated crop protection company Imtrade CropScience presents Ecydpro® 700 WP, an IPM friendly insecticide now on permit for control of Light Brown Apple Moth in Blueberries (APVMA No. 88780).

• Using Ecdypro® will not cause secondary flare up of mites or other pests. For more information on Ecdypro® or other Imtrade products visit www.imtrade.com.au or contact your local rep today.

• Ecdypro® works best on 1st and 2nd instar larvae, so early detection and targeting critical damage windows will provide the best level of control.

MODE OF ACTION

ECDYPRO® IS A COST-EFFECTIVE INSECT GROWTH REGULATOR (IGR), TARGETING LIGHT BROWN APPLE MOTH AS WELL AS SELECT LEPIDOPTERAN PESTS.

• UNIQUE SITE OF ACTION: Ecdypro® is a Group 18 insecticide, providing a valuable rotational tool to products from the commonly used Groups 1, 3 & 28.

USING ECDYPRO®

As an IGR it works by mimicking hormones in young insects, preventing the hatching of eggs, the development of larva into adults and causing sterility in adults.

• Ecdypro® causes a rapid cessation to feeding, however live larvae may still be visible up to 7 days post application. Further damage will not generally occur during this interval.

SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN, NATURALLY EFFECTIVE ADVERTORIAL CONTENT

WHY USE ECDYPRO®?

• NARROW TARGET SPECTRUM: Ecdypro® is active against key lepidopteran pests while being relatively non-toxic to off target invertebrate species.

The presence of Light Brown Apple Moth is an ongoing issue for Australian berry farmers, requiring frequent sprays during the high-pressure periods for adequate control. This creates an over-reliance on existing chemistry, increasing the risk of resistance development. As a result, emergency permit (APVMA No. 88780) has been introduced to include Imtrade Ecdypro® for control of Light Brown Apple Moth in Blueberries.

• ECONOMICAL: Ecdypro® has significant price advantages compared to other insecticides in its class.

• Ecdypro® is primarily active via ingestion and exhibits limited systemic activity in host crops. Thorough coverage of the crop with suitable water rates is required for best results.

• IPM FRIENDLY PROFILE: Exhibits very low toxicity to beneficial insects and will not cause secondary flare up of mites and other pests.

Marketing Update — ABGA teams up with Wavemaker Brisbane

What will this years’ campaign include?

Meet Wavemaker Global Wavemaker Global is one of the world's largest media agencies that positively provokes growth for domestic and international clients. Shaping the decisions and experiences through media channels, Wavemaker can tap into online and offline content and technology to deliver impressive solutions. Wavemaker Brisbane recently won the Australian Blueberries account and are extremely excited to be working on this amazing superfood.

BLUEBERRIES

Social media and other digital channels supported by offline activity will effectively reach consumers and help to get more Blueberries in more baskets.

The media strategy will focus on shifting Blueberries from being an impulse purchase, into a grocery basket staple. A strategy that focuses on encouraging purchases amongst new and existing customers is key to building the number of households buying blueberries.

Claudia Neill, Delaney Lang-Lemckert & Sam Chadwick, Wavemaker Australian Blueberries have teamed up with Wavemaker Brisbane for the 2022/2023 season.

The Wavemaker Team Sam Chadwick Social & AssociateeCommerceDirector Jake Whitten National Head of SEO & CRO Kate Piercy Client & ManagerPerformance Delaney Lang-Lemckert Client & ExecutivePerformance Brooklyn Naylor Client Coordinator 115

With the support of market-leading data, tools and expertise, this campaign will get more blueberries in grocery buyers’ baskets. The media strategy has been designed to build ‘mental availability’ of blueberries all year round – meaning we will attempt to make blueberries a staple item on the shopping list, rather than an occasional purchase. This will position blueberries as being the answer to that 3pm energy slump and being the regular, ultimate super-snack, that all families and grocery buyers (still mainly Mums!) need.

This team of powerhouses – supported by Tracey Fawcett, Client Partner - will work to transform Australian Blueberries from an impulse purchase into a grocery basket essential and the ultimate super-snack.

We know that many people look to trusted influencers that they follow in their social media feeds to get inspiration and ideas, and we will be leveraging this to highlight blueberries in a variety of recipes and snacking occasions. We will be using the VAMP influencer platform to access consumers on TikTok and Instagram.

When will activity be visible? PRE-SEASON PEAK SEASON LATE SEASON JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER Lead up Launch “Always-on” Media Christmas audienceswithCommunicatingourexistingsocialmedia(organic)andusingretailactivitytoleadintothenewAustralianBlueberriesseason Season launch activity (radio, OOH, momentumbuildinginfluencers)oncreatedthroughorganicsocialandretail Influencer content – recipe creation and inspiring snacking occasions

The core audiences for this campaign are Grocery Buyers and Mums. Through the above strategy and channels, the blueberries campaign will transform the ways in which blueberries are perceived and turn our humble blue balls of bliss into a grocery basket staple.

Social Media Influencers

We know that reminding people about a product when they are close to the place where they buy that item can be very effective. So, we will be using Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising in close proximity to key retail locations and we are working with specialist creative content production agency Hogarth – part of the worldwide WPP agency – who have designed the impactful new Australian Blueberries creative messaging, putting blueberries absolutely front and centre in consumers’ minds.

activity within proximity to retail stores to capture customers at the point of purchase Radio activity reaching parents/mums during peak day parts (school pick-up and drop-off) Wrap up activity before Christmas If you have any questions about the current season or if you’d like to be a part of the grower content, please contact: berriesaustralia@wmglobal.com | www.australianblueberries.com.au | FACEBOOK-SQUARE instagram australianblueberries

Advertising that reaches people when they are out & about

BERRYAUSTRALIAN JOURNALSPRING 2022 EDITION 12 116

Finally, retail activity across Coles and Woolworths will provide a direct platform to drive sales of blueberries.

OOH

What communication channels are we planning to use?

The campaign will be under-pinned by key, and high reaching channels.

Who are we talking to?

Airing during School Pick Up times on key networks, radio is a perfect channel to support the other activity and reinforce our messaging about Australian Blueberries.

Radio Radio is an efficient, and high-reaching channel which aligns with our strategic direction of the ‘3pm slump’

• Keep physical distancing in public spaces.

• Have the COVIDSafe app.

• Practise good hygiene.

Let’s BE COVIDSAFE

• Wear a mask when needed.

Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra

For translating and interpreting services call 131 450.

• Have the COVIDSafe app.

• Practise good hygiene.

For translating and interpreting services call 131 450.

• Wear a mask when needed.

Visit health.gov.au for more information, or call the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080.

We need to all keep making COVIDSafe choices to help stop the spread.

• Keep physical distancing in public spaces.

• Protect others and stay at home if you’re unwell. If you’re experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms get tested for COVID-19.

Let’s BE COVIDSAFE

Togethertogetherlet’skeepgoingandstay safe. Visit health.gov.au for more information, or call the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080.

We need to all keep making COVIDSafe choices to help stop the spread.

• Wear a mask when needed.

Let’s BE COVIDSAFE

• Have the COVIDSafe app.

Togethertogetherlet’skeepgoingandstay safe.

• Protect others and stay at home if you’re unwell. If you’re experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms get tested for COVID-19.

Togethertogetherlet’skeepgoingandstay safe. Visit health.gov.au for more information, or call the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080.

Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra

We need to all keep making COVIDSafe choices to help stop the spread.

• Protect others and stay at home if you’re unwell. If you’re experiencing cold or flu-like symptoms get tested for COVID-19.

For translating and interpreting services call 131 450.

• Practise good hygiene.

Australian Berry Journal - SPRING 2022 - Edition 12

Articles inside

BQI22 Insights: Berry patch concept essential to drive retail sales

Accessing the Horticultural Netting Grants

Would you like to save money on your annual Freshcare audit?