The production of baby-leaf lettuce under floating crop covers
25 June 2013Mechanisms and management of insecticide resistance in Australian diamondback moth
30 July 2013A subgroup to further advance the concepts presented at the Future Technologies Seminar 2012 was convened on 2 April 2013, at the Australian Industry Group Conference Centre, 20 Queens Rd Melbourne. The aim of the meeting was to assess project proposals prepared by speakers from the Future Technologies Seminar 2012, to evaluate research and technology that could be developed into useful R&D projects that align with the overarching goals of the vegetable industry’s Strategic Investment Plan. The participants consisted of a subgroup of representatives of the Farm Productivity, Resource Use and Management Design Team, AUSVEG and HAL. The subgroup participants were briefed on the latest ideas from researchers that had participated in the Future Technologies Seminar 2012. The researchers were asked to present a potential R&D project to the subgroup for their consideration. The forum gave the subgroup members the opportunity to explore these project ideas and establish new research and development priorities that would provide the vegetable industry with long-term benefits. The mix of participants made the forum a valuable exercise in determining the best investment of available research and development levy dollars in future technologies that may benefit the vegetable industry. The subgroup identified four areas that could benefit from further research and determined that further liaison between researchers, funding bodies and industry was needed to work up meaningful R&D projects in the short-term. Projects recommended by the subgroup included: – Development of innovative packaging solutions suitable for export markets. – Investigating how the vegetable industry can participate in the further development of microwave technology for the management of weeds. – Funding the research necessary for a fully automated robotic harvesting solution. – Development of vegetable varieties that are able to be more effectively machine harvested.