Precision orchardsPrecision Summerfruit Orchards (SF23000)
- developing profitable management strategies for Summerfruit growers
Technology in the Stonefruit research orchards at Tatura
Researchers at Agriculture Victoria are testing technologies to determine their application to support research, automation and on-farm capability.
- AI
- Mobile sensing
- UAV
- Fruit imaging and sorting
Production researchSummerfruit production research
Research focused on Production, Harvest, & Post-harvest
Video: Research and results for Summerfruit Industry from the Horticulture toolresources YouTube channel. (14 min 37 Sec)
00:00 Introduction
00:30 Production research
05:44 In the field technology
07:53 Harvest - Post harvest maturity
08:42 Export research
Agriculture Victoria, with the support of the Summerfruit industry and Horticulture Innovation Australia, is investigating future production systems to increase productivity and grower returns through improved eating quality and consumer satisfaction.
Profitable Stonefruit Newsletters
- NATIONAL ROADSHOW video recording of presentation on the stonefruit orchard research results
- Big data: Mobile sensing in orchards
Production research results
- Results from the experiments for the 2021-2022 season from the Stonefruit research orchard, Tatura SmartFarm
Summerfruit production research results
Videos - results of:
- canopy research
- rootstock research
- cropload research
- irrigation research
Supply Chain Research
- Preconditioning fruit to reduce storage disorders
- Cultivar performance for export
- Predicting impacts on fruit quality
- Effect of air freight temperature on fruit quality
- How to use monitoring technologies
- Using remote loggers to monitor temperatures of export fruit
Webinars recorded from recent summerfruit industry events
- August - webinar 1: Production research, Ag Tech research
- September - webinar 2: Supply chain research
Grower Protocols - Current recommendations and guidelines
- Rootstock performance
- Irrigation protocols
- Canopy design options
- Crop load management
- Canopy - Crop load study
- Rootstock - Crop load study
- Deficit irrigation study
- Stonefruit Cultivar Performance and more
- Stonefruit Delayed Cooling
- Using real-time loggers and dashboards. Includes Video from Summerfruit webinar series 2020 'Managing fruit for export quality'
- Video interview: Monitoring fruit temperature during export (Rowan Little, Chief Innovation Officer at Montague)
- Summerfruit research improves fruit quality for domestic & export markets
- New DA meter software to make using the DA meter easier, & help determine fruit harvest timing
- DA meter database - 20 cultivars
- Measuring fruit maturity with the DA meter
- Grower Protocols, and results of field and fruit quality 2016-2020, for:
- Stonefruit canopy & crop load experiments
- Stonefruit rootstock experiments
- Irrigation experiments
Orchard managementSummerfruit orchard management
Some orchard management techniques from the Stonefruit research orchard at Tatura.
Orchard from the air
An aerial view of Agriculture Victoria's Stonefruit Research Orchard at the Tatura SmartFarm
video
Harvest / Post harvestHarvest & post-harvest research
- Research on non-destructive technologies to optimise fruit maturity at harvest
- Understand how fruit maturity affects storage and impacts fruit composition and quality
- Impacts of Methyl bromide fumigation treatment on fruit for export .
- Monitoring and modelling stonefruit export fruit along the supply chain to improve the quality of Australian fresh produce into Asian markets (Serviced Supply Chain project)
- Consumer preference research for stonefruit (summerfruits) was conducted in China and Indonesia to help growers determine the best varieties to meet each market’s requirements.
Stonefruit maturity & fruit quality
Modified Atmosphere Packaging
Minimal impact of phytosanitary irradiation on plum quality after long-term cool storage
Effects of fruit position within a tree and orchard location on fruit quality & storage disorders
Stonefruit: Preconditioning fruit to reduce storage disorders
Stonefruit: Cultivar performance for export
Stonefruit: Predicting impacts on fruit quality
Stonefruit: Effect of air freight temperature on fruit quality 
Stonefruit: Using remote loggers to monitor temperatures of export fruit
How to use monitoring technologies
Using non-destructive equipment to measure stone fruit quality 
Handheld Sensor: Prototype for fruit chain quality management technology
DA Software
DA meter IAD maturity classes: Database
Stonefruit Methylbromide fumigation experiments for export markets
Stonefruit export market research
Stonefruit maturity and fruit quality
The research project, SF15001 Comparing Stonefruit ripening, quality and volatile composition, was funded by Agriculture Victoria with co-investment from Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited using the Summerfruit levy and funds from the Australian Government.
Stonefruit harvest maturity impacts fruit quality
Christine Frisina from Agriculture Victoria discusses how important it is to have ethylene production occurring in stonefruit prior to harvest. This ensures high quality fruit get to customers.
video: Harvest maturity impacts fruit qualityConsumer preference research
Full copies of the consumer preference research reports are available to levy payers and members of Summerfruit Australia
Summerfruit Australia
Researchers & eventsResearchers and grower meetings
Meet the researchers involved in stronefruit science.
See the events that growers and industry members attended from 2016 to 2021 (includes information from past events).
Stonefruit grower events 2016-2021
Stonefruit Research Roadshows highlighting research from the Stonefruit research orchard in Tatura and research from Agribiosciences, Bundoora.
Learn more