Updating & Republishing Valuable Vegetable Industry Resources
The purpose of this project was to review the many books, field guides, management tools, fact sheets, posters, e-tools and other resources that are outputs from vegetable industry related projects. A selection of these was then to be prioritised for updating and republication. This would ensure that valuable information is not lost but refreshed and made readily available to vegetable growers. Part of this process aimed to explore new methods of communication. Information is increasingly online, rapidly changing and available anytime, anywhere. It was thought that some resources could be reformatted to make them available electronically, easily searchable by smartphone or tablet, and with links to other materials as needed. Nearly 300 resources were collated and reviewed. It was surprising to find that some only a few years old were already difficult to locate. Changes within the state departments of agriculture / primary industries mean there are few central repositories for either publications or the materials used to generate them. Where staff have left or changed roles materials have already been lost. A steering committee was formed with grower representatives as well as HIA, AUSVEG, the (former) vegetable industry advisory committee (IAC) and the project team. The collated materials were reviewed and it was agreed that pest, disease and disorder identification guides were both highly valued by growers and suitable for republication.