March 2018 HIN event

1. Fruit Growers Tasmania

• Cherry and apple industries are the main fruit industries for Tasmania
• FGT has 80% of apple & cherry growers, and in berries covers 90% of production but only 30% of growers
• DPIPWE Tasmania (Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water & Environment) in conjunction with FGT are developing a database of growers for the state

2. Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture/University of Tasmania

• TIA is a joint venture between UTAS and Tasmanian government
• TIA has a strong industry focus – role is to source globally relevant technology/research and translate it for Tasmanian farmers
• ARC industrial transformation training centre for innovative horticultural products, fostering close partnerships & research collaboration between university based researchers, other researchers & end users through PhD’s that spend 12 months in industry – key partnership with Woolworths (10 projects)
• Many researchers involved with secondary & tertiary agricultural education as well as extension

3. Sorell Fruit Farm

• Initial development of the business considered location & planted crops that could be self-picked by customers over a long growing season (28 years ago)
• Self-picking has had no negative impact on the plantations/tree architecture
• Bob Hardy, former owner & now consultant with entomology background, has implemented an IPM program for the property
• Customer base has changed recently from domestic/local to a more international focus with 50% of the visitors now from Hong Kong

4. Kate's Berry Farm, Swansea

• Location of premise important – between Hobart and Launceston on highway – just before national park – gets visitors either going to or coming back from national park as a break & toilet stop
• Value adding is a major component for the success of this business eg making her own ice cream, jams, etc
• Her business is promoted as part of a tourist package by Tourism Tasmania to international visitors

5. Websters' Swansea Walnut Orchards

• Websters is currently 80-85% of the industry & once all orchards come into production, they will be 90+% of production
• Market – Japan is the best destination for Tasmanian walnuts because of the price premium for taste; kernel:shell ratio is better; plus colour – pay 20% more for Lara from Tasmania
• Tase of Tasmanian walnuts is different to mainland walnuts & receive price premium but have lower yields
• Receive a premium price for the taste of the Tasmanian walnuts – Websters therefore sell Tasmanian walnuts & Australian walnuts
• Possums are a significant pest in walnut orchards causing nut & tree damage
• Developed own fertilisation program based on analysis of nuts and kernel removal as well as leaf samples
• Concern over lack of available skilled workforce within Australia

6. Hazelbrae at Hagley

• Bought into already established orchard in an easily accessible location
• Value add their product & sell to high value niche markets – 50% direct to customer, other 50% healthfood stores & restaurants
• Taste of fresh Australian hazelnuts is significantly different to imported produce
• Hazelnuts is an emerging industry in Australia (200-250 t produced in Australia)with Turkey producing 80% of the world’s hazelnuts

7. TIA Vegetable Research Centre, Forthside

• Farm is a mixture of research trial plots and commercial crops
• Researchers carry out trials for industry, in addition some of the research trial plots are leased annually to industry partners eg Simplot, Premium Fresh
• Offer farm to businesses as a technological sandpit for proof of concept trials eg dones
• Open day every year & work closely with RMCG
• Work with emerging industries eg hemp for grain & fibre

8. Botanical Resources Australia - pyrethrum production

• BRA is producing 60-70% of the world’s production of pyrethrum (Tasmania 80%, Ballarat 20%) (not much room for expansion)
• Mostly sold to USA
• Approximately 120 growers with 2,000 ha; 18 months to grow and harvest

TIA presentations, Sandy Bay Campus

TIA contacts

TIA Forthside Vegetable Research Centre presentation Download PDF in new window (Note: this document does not meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines)

’Great to see some young people heavily involved in the industry development - need to continue to support the young people taking on industry roles both at a State and National level’

’Good to see Government investing in Hort  R&D with UTAS’

’I feel that it is vital to know what research capabilities currently exist within the wider Australian research community as you never know when collaboration opportunities will be required’

’The aha moment is clearly to develop your business around the consumer; the right product, the right location and focus on quality’

’The list of contacts from this trip along with all our other trips is most valuable’

‘Thanks again for all the effort you put into this group, as a relatively young person in Horticulture, these events are such a great opportunity for me to meet other people in the hort industry and also to learn and gain experiences of a broad range of horticulture products’

‘The education and training program model that has been developed at TIA/UTAS and introduced into the system. Is the model transferrable to Victoria? Maybe something the HIN could take forward to the AgVictoria hierarchy and have discussions with the Education Department and the Universities’

‘The extension model that is being used (by TIA/UTAS) to take information to the growers – something I will be following up’

‘On this day I learnt so much about the production system of Walnuts, although this doesn’t directly relate to my role it was great to hear about the irrigation and management practices all add to your knowledge and help in questioning improvements that can be made in your own industry’.

The ‘study tour’ is a useful extension tool for growers and enables PIB’s and RDC’s to deliver important messages regarding new R&D opportunities or simply to provide new networking opportunities allowing growers to learn from and mentor other growers.  That’s why the recent HIN study tour of Tasmania was an overwhelming success.  It allowed the HIN leadership group to provide new networking and learning opportunities for the PIB’s that we can in turn, use for extension to our growers’