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FACILITATORS:
Project VG15704 has been recently completed by Project
Leader Ian Layden from the Queensland Department of
Agriculture and Fisheries.
INTRODUCTION
The grower study tour of New Zealand examined precision
vegetable production on the North Island, where delegates had
the opportunity to visit fully integrated chain businesses, farms,
organic growing operations, a kiwi fruit farm and a separate kiwi
fruit packing operation.
The group also attended the two-day LandWISE agricultural
and technology conference. LandWISE promotes sustainable
production through leadership, support and research. The theme
of the 2016 event was: The Value of Smart Farming.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The overall aim of VG15704 was to provide vegetable producers
The overall aim of VG15704 was to provide vegetable producers
in Australia with an opportunity to travel and learn from each
other while visiting New Zealand-based precision horticultural
farms and research sites.
Representatives from 14 vegetable businesses from
Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania participated in the 10-day
study tour.
For the purposes of this project, precision practices are defined as:
• Soil mapping and strategic sampling programs.
• Yield monitoring.
• Prescription mapping and variable rate inputs (soil ameliorants,
nutrients and irrigation).
• Biomass mapping/crop sensing.
• Minimum or strategic tillage.
Mr Layden said selecting appropriate producers to participate in
the study tour was crucial.
“We wanted to bring together Australian vegetable growers who
were not only interested in these types of farming approaches
but were already committed to investing in these technologies in
their own operations,” he said.
“Getting people together to share ideas and to generate new
relationships within a precision production theme was a clear
and obvious potential benefit.”
Mr Layden said New Zealand offered something that was
close to Australia but served as a point of difference to the
local industry.
“There is significant variability in the New Zealand industry –
within a very small area of the country you can see a diverse
range of farming businesses,” he said.
“Based on the feedback received, the New Zealand tour
reaffirmed the participants’ commitment to using and optimising
precision farming tools and techniques.
“Growers felt validated that the work they were doing in this
space was not always easy within a production system that
is busy in any case, but their New Zealand counterparts were
experiencing the same issues.
“Importantly, all are continuing and some have ramped up their
precision farming activities. For example, after spending time with
the tour group, one of the growers made a decision to get all
their spatial data organised and more useable.”
MAJOR FINDINGS
Mr Layden said while the technology or the hardware employed
in a New Zealand context was not necessarily new to participants,
learning about the way the industry was applying it in New
Zealand and its vision to go forward was of crucial importance.
“While we visited some domestically-focused businesses,
the New Zealand industry is very export focused. The great
potential of applying the technology to vegetable production
was obvious,” he said.
“The complexity is a lot higher in vegetable systems. It can be
quite difficult for vegetable producers to implement and adopt
and derive value from the investment.”
CONCLUSION
Mr Layden said the major outcome of the tour was a new
network of like-minded Australian-based growers interested
in precision vegetable production.
“It is challenging to measure the industry impact of study
tours like this,” he said.
“For a modest industry investment, the net business and
personal benefits can be significant. Study tour participants
are leveraging this network beyond the study tour, where
they have developed strong relationships across borders and
growing regions.
“After seeing others in the group using social media, some
of the participants have begun to use these platforms to keep
in touch with each other. Tasmanian-based study tour
participants have visited Queensland growers and two New
Zealand growers have travelled over to Australia to visit the
producers involved in the tour.
“It is an excellent business practice to be connected with
other similar businesses.”
Mr Layden said another outcome for participants was an
understanding of the current status of New Zealand precision
agriculture research and adoption in vegetable systems.
“Participants are making changes to progress the application
of precision technologies in their farming system,” he said.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project has been funded by Horticulture Innovation
Australia Limited using the research and development National
Vegetable Levy with co-investment from the Queensland
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and funds from the
Australian Government.
VG15704: GROWER STUDY TOUR
OF NEW ZEALAND – PRECISION
VEGETABLE PRODUCTION