Vale Graphics 2013

Transcription

Vale Graphics 2013

CONTENTS
Vol. 9 Issue No. 1
February/March 2016
Australian Fruitgrower
Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) is a
not-for-profit organisation that supports and
provides services to Australia’s commercial apple
and pear growers.
Australian Fruitgrower is published every
two months.
Publishers
Apple and Pear Australia Limited
Suite G01, 128 Jolimont Road,
East Melbourne VIC 3002
t: (03) 9329 3511 f: (03) 9329 3522
w: www.apal.org.au
REGULAR FEATURES
Juicy bites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
APAL CEO’s report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
APAL news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
State Roundup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
R&D Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Weather, quiz and crossword . . . . . . . 35
Managing Editor
Sophie Clayton
Communications Manager, APAL
e: cm@apal.org.au
Technical Editor
Angus Crawford
e: acrawford@apal.org.au
OUR COVER:
Thomas Griggs on his family farm in
Tasmania (read more on page 18).
EVENTS
Post-harvest seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
HortCon2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Online Manager
Richelle Zealley
e: rzealley@apal.org.au
Kalei field day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Advertising
Summer marketing update . . . . . . . . .14
The publishers accept no responsibility for the
contents of advertisements. All advertisements are
accepted in good faith and the liability of advertising
content is the responsibility of the advertiser.
Enquiries: Hyde Media
t: (03) 5659 5292
e: max@hydemedia.com.au
MARKETING
PROFILE
Thomas Griggs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Graphic Design
Vale Graphics
t: 0409 887 706
e: angie@valegraphics.com.au
Copyright
All material in Australian Fruitgrower is copyright.
NO material can be reproduced in whole or in
part without the permission of the publisher.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy
of contents, APAL accepts no liability for
the information.
Disclaimer
Australian Fruitgrower’s content is intended for
general informational purposes only and may
not be suitable for your particular purposes. In
particular, APAL is not responsible for any
information which is supplied from external sources.
You should obtain independent expert advice if
you are considering relying on any information
published in Australian Fruitgrower. APAL is not
responsible for any loss, damage, cost or expense
incurred by you or any other person as a result of
any error, omission or misrepresentation in the
contents of Australian Fruitgrower.
ISSN 1447-5618
www.apal.org.au
11
New HIA marketing team . . . . . . . . . .16
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
Pre-harvest orchard check . . . . . . . . .22
22
Introducing PIPS2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Orchard fertigation research . . . . . . . .26
INDUSTY ISSUES
Levies: where your money goes . . . . .30
INDUSTY DATA
Export profits, currency exchange rates . .32
Edition
Apr/May 2016
Jun/Jul 2016
32
Booking and Editorial copy deadline
7 March 2016
9 May 2016
Ad material deadline
11 March 2016
13 May 2016
APAL would like to thank our partners who provide us with funding and support.
AUSTRALIAN FRUITGROWER FEBRUARY/MARCH 2016
03
FROM THE
EDITOR
Drones for bird management
T
his year has already started on a high with
APAL’s Post-harvest Seminar being well attended
and covering some great topics. Angus Crawford
reports on some key learnings from the day. There
are more great events lining up for the year including
the Kalei apple field day and the 2016 National
Horticulture Convention (HortCon2016).
Harvesting is also imminent, if not already started by
the time you read this. Perfect timing to do a pre-harvest
orchard appraisal to check the performance of your
trees. AgFirst’s John Wilton shows us how to prepare
you both for this harvest and, importantly, to get
your trees ready for next season.
If you get bamboozled with numbers and currency
exchange rates, but want to know in which countries
Australian exporters are gaining an advantage
because of changes in the rates then you will find
Yang Song’s article a must read. Yang is an economist
with APAL and helping us decipher lots of industry
data – you’ll be getting more insightful industry data
in the magazine this year to help you make more
informed business decisions.
On the marketing front we have an update from Olivia
Tait on APAL’s short stint in helping Hort Innovation
with their marketing work. We’re also happy to
welcome two new people to the Hort Innovation
marketing team – Graeme Yardy and Lisa Troy. Graeme
will head the new team and Lisa’s role will be wholly
on supporting marketing for apples and pears.
As a reminder this year will see us produce six hard
copy editions of the magazine. But there will still be
plenty of great content and even more across the
APAL website so you won’t miss out on anything.
South Australian orchardist
Matthew Hannaford shared
a great video clip of him
using a drone to chase
birds off his orchard.
Follow him on
Twitter for his
#orchardtweets
@matthanno
Pouch bags boost apple sales
US grower and packer
Columbia Marketing
International is now the
#1 selling apple brand
in US supermarkets,
attributing its success
to its pouch bags.
Photo: freshplaza.com
Using SmartFresh with pears
APAL interviewed Dr Hannah James, AgroFresh, at
our Post-harvest Seminar on using SmartFresh to
store pears and how to ripen them after. Catch her
video interview on YouTube.
Sophie Clayton
/applesnpearsau
@applesnpearsAU
/applesnpearsAU
Subscribe to
industryjuice
tinyurl.com/APALnews
04
Submit your photos and ideas to cm@apal.com.au
www.apal.org.au
FROM THE CEO
More to good profits than
harvesting a good crop
By John Dollisson
CEO, APAL
W
elcome to 2016 and the first of our bimonthly
magazines that will carry more detailed analyses to
complement the daily apple and pear news emails,
weekly Industry Juice newsletter and social media updates. If
you are not getting these and would like to, please contact
Sophie Clayton (03 9999 2701 or cm@apal.org.au).
APAL commenced 2016 with a Post-harvest Seminar that
recognised the importance of post-harvest in delivering first class
apples and pears. By the time this magazine is out, we will have
completed another successful round of Future Orchards® walks.
Well done Angus Crawford on both fronts.
The 2016 crop looks like another good crop of apples and,
following the devastating hail storms in the Goulburn Valley,
a leaner crop of pears. In the period up until harvest, we need
to be vigilant watching weather, birds, bats and all the other
threats to our crop.
Having a good crop is only great if we can sell it at reasonable
prices. As we know from last season, probably the worst pricing
for some years, we need to manage the markets and marketing
well to ensure an equitable share of profits to everyone involved.
For domestic marketing, APAL has prepared a detailed analysis
of the market research to establish why Australians are not
buying more apples and pears. We met with the major retailers
to see how the industry can work better with them and improve
everyone’s profitability.
APAL has also prepared briefs for both an apple and pear
campaign to address these barriers and, now that Hort Innovation
is staffed in the marketing area, we will be working with them
to implement the campaigns.
However, it’s not just about the domestic market. If we want to
grow as an industry, we need long-term, reliable export markets
for our apples and pears. The good news is that 2015 saw great
growth in pear exports that were up by 46 per cent – representing
14 per cent of our fresh pear crop. Apple exports were up
111 per cent, but off a small base. We still export less than 2
per cent of fresh apple production – we need to be at 10 per
cent! The good news is that the declining Australian dollar is
assisting by improving our trading position with 15 countries
that we trade or compete with.
to be exported and this can be done by 10-20 committed
exporters with a particular focus on Pink Lady™ apples. We will
also be focusing on new markets for Australian apples and pears.
This brings me to the 2016 National Horticulture Convention,
which is scheduled for 23-25 June on the Gold Coast. The key
challenges mentioned above will be covered at the Convention
with equal attention to pre- and post-harvest issues and,
importantly, ways to improve both our domestic sales, pricing
and growing exports.
I look forward to seeing many of you there this year and to
meeting as many of you as possible in my field visits around the
growing regions this year. All the best for 2016. :afg
John Dollisson | t: (03) 9329 3511 | e: ceo@apal.org.au
Nominations sought:
APAL Directors:
Queensland and Tasmania
Apple & Pear Australia Ltd (APAL), Growcom and
Fruit Growers Tasmania are seeking nominations
from Class A Members of APAL who are interested
in being a Director on the Board of APAL to represent
Queensland and Tasmania.
Nomination forms can be obtained from Growcom
and Fruit Growers Tasmania and must be submitted
to them by Friday 18 March 2016.
For more information please contact:
Christine Walker, Growcom, on
cwalker@growcom.com.au or 07 3620 3861
Phil Pyke, Fruit Growers Tasmania, on
phil@fruitgrowerstas.com.au or 03 6231 1944
Leanne Groves, APAL, on office@apal.org.au
or 03 9329 3511
APAL is also working on more cost effective ways to export to
make us more competitive, for example, packing in export bins
for those markets that repack our fruit locally. We don’t expect
everyone to export, but we do need a significant volume of fruit
www.apal.org.au
05
APAL NEWS
Aussie Apples
quality specs
Levy may rise to
address exotic fruit fly
APAL will be seeking the permission of the Minister for
Agriculture and growers to increase the Emergency
Plant Pest Response (EPPR) levy from zero to positive to
eradicate three species of exotic Torres Strait Fruit Fly.
I
n August 2007, Australian apple
and pear growers agreed to
implement an EPPR levy to pay for
the eradication of exotic pests affecting
the apple and pear industry.
T
he Aussie Apples: Guidelines, specifications
and product description language
document has been completed.
The document provides apple producers
and packing sheds with written and pictorial
quality parameters covering a number of
common apple varieties.
It is not designed to replace existing
specifications or specific retailer specifications
but rather provide a base level of understanding
of quality parameters for Australian apples
supplied into the domestic and export market.
APAL welcomes feedback from members on
the document that is available to download
from the APAL website. :afg
06
industry contributions,” says APAL
Industry Services Manager Annie Farrow.
Since then, State and Federal
biosecurity systems and the good work
of biosecurity officers, has ensured that
no incursions of exotic pests that affect
the apple or pear industries has occurred.
“However, because apples and pears
are hosts of two of the predominant
flies – melon fly (Zeugodacua cucurbitae)
and oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis)
– the apple and pear industry under
the EPPR Deed is obliged to contribute
to funding an on-going annual
eradication program.
This is now expected to change
because APAL, other affected plant
industry representative bodies, and the
State and Federal Governments have
agreed to jointly fund the eradication of
three exotic Torres Strait Fruit Fly species.
“If the Minister and growers agree,
then it is likely that governments
would fund 80 per cent of the costs of
eradication and the affected horticulture
industries combined would fund 20
per cent.
These flies occasionally appear on a
seasonal basis on Torres Strait islands
and are likely to have significant
economic impacts on Australia’s plant
industries if allowed to establish in
mainland Australia.
“The costs to the apple and the pear
industries are expected to be less than
$30,000 per annum, so growers are
unlikely to see a visible change in the
amount of levy they each pay.”
“Up until now, the annual eradication
program for these Torres Strait Fruit Fly
species has been funded by the State
and Federal Governments without
The APAL Board supports the need to
trigger the EPPR levy. :afg
www.apal.org.au
APAL NEWS
NEWS
SNIPPETS
Apple and pear
exports up
More say for growers
From January to November 2015 Australia’s apple
exports increased by 111 per cent and pears by 46 per
cent compared to 2014.
E
xports of apples totalled 3,612
tonnes of apples with a value
of $10.32 million. Trade to
Thailand reached 550 tonnes, a five
fold increase over 2014, while the
much stronger Pink Lady™ apple trade
to the United Kingdom also influenced
export results.
Australia exported 9,785 tonnes of
fresh pears – valued at $15.7 million.
New Zealand and Indonesia were the
major market destinations. Trade to
Hong Kong lifted off a low base to
1,109 tonnes.
“Of course whilst the percentage
increases on last year are truly impressive,
it is important to acknowledge that we
are coming off a relatively low base,
particularly for apple exports,” says
Olivia Tait, APAL Market Development
Manager.
“The encouraging aspect is that
we are seeing a turn around and a
renewed interest in pursuing export
opportunities as an additional market
channel/route to market.
“Interest in exporting coupled with
favourable exchange rates and the
ability to identify and act on supply
windows as they present themselves
has helped to drive the increase in
exports.” :afg
APAL and other industry representative bodies
could soon become voting members of Hort
Innovation, according to Assistant Minister for
Agriculture and Water Resources Anne Ruston.
APAL is currently excluded from membership
of Hort Innovation but Assistant Minister
Ruston says “peak industry bodies have a
legitimate right to have a big say in how
research and development dollars are spent
and most particularly marketing dollars.”
Source abc.net.au
NZ apple exports up
New Zealand’s apple exports are expected to
grow by 5.5 per cent on last year, according
to industry body Pipfruit New Zealand.
In terms of value, New Zealand’s apple
exports are forecast to hit a record
NZ$700m in 2016, up from NZ$630m the
prior season.
Source: fruitnet.com
Quarterly levy reports
Hort Innovation has started publishing
quarterly apple and pear levy reports on their
website as they shift to becoming more open
and transparent.
These reports show what projects are currently
being funded and how much has been spent
on each project thus far in the financial year.
Source: horticulture.com.au
VOH fights award changes
The Voice of Horticulture is looking to
fight changes proposed by unions to the
Modern Horticulture Award that could make
employing labour increasingly costly and
impractical for growers.
A survey is underway to gain evidence from
growers to present at the Fair Work
Commission hearing in March 2016.
Source: voiceofhorticulture.org.au
@applesnpearsau
www.apal.org.au
07
EVENTS
Post-harvest seminar focuses
on improving quality
By Angus Crawford
Around 100 packing shed managers, orchard managers and industry advisors from across
the country participated in APAL’s Post-harvest Seminar to learn about research and ideas
to improve post-harvest quality in apples and pears.
F
irst up, horticultural consultant
Marcel Veens advised us that
achieving quality commences during
development on the tree. His talk highlighted
the orchard factors that contribute to
better storage and post-harvest losses.
Marcel explained that picking at the correct
stage of maturity for the intended market
“is probably the single most critical factor
affecting quality to the consumer.” The
stage of maturity at harvest is linked to
storage behaviour, enabling growers to
pick to maturities to target marketing
windows. Fruit that is harvested at earlier
maturation will generally store longer
when starch patterns are high, but when
the same fruit is harvested later the starch
reduces and the storage life diminishes.
“
Marcel explained that the “keeping quality
of the fruit is affected by weather and/or
orchard factors such as fruit load.” For
example, rootstock influences vigour,
nutrient uptake, crop load, tree age, water
stress and pruning. During harvesting,
quality can also be lost through bad
handling and incorrect chemical application.
Commonly grown apples that are
particularly sensitive to calcium deficiencies,
which can lead to the storage disorder
bitter pit, include Granny Smith, Jazz™ and
Kanzi®. Varieties such as these require a
calcium program to reduce the chances of
developing the disorder as well as a careful
mineral balance of nitrate, potassium and
magnesium. Cropping levels, adequate
water, fruit size and excess vigour also need
to be managed in the tree. When the
trees are out of balance we see shoots
taking away valuable nutrients and water
from the fruit leading to low calcium levels.
Managing diseases before
storage
Late-season broad spectrum fungicide
applications will help alleviate a lot of the
risk of carrying diseases from the orchard
into storage. These programs should
begin from about six weeks before harvest.
Dr Robert Holmes, Department of Economic
Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources,
Victoria (DEDJTR), who is a post-harvest
expert and plant pathologist, outlined
the many causal factors of post-harvest
diseases including poor hygiene of bins
and other equipment, no late season
broad spectrum fungicides, heavy rain,
and no post-harvest fungicides.
Robert explained that diseases harboured
in the orchard should be controlled.
Neofabraea alba, which causes target
…picking at the correct stage of maturity for the
intended market is probably the single most critical
factor affecting quality to the consumer.
08
rot, can be reduced with the removal of
mummifed fruit, while Antracnose can be
reduced by removing perennial cankers
caused by Neofabria perennans.
The most prominent diseases in NSW,
Victoria and South Australia are blue
mould, caused by Penicillium; target
rot caused by N. alba and N. perennans;
and Botrytis. Queensland has a different
spectrum with lenticel spot (Phoma,
Botryosphaeria), blue mould, Alternaria
and bitter rot Colletrotricum.
Fruit ripeness and flavour
Dr James Mattheis, United States Department
of Agriculture, defined what it means for
fruit to mature. Many factors change as
fruit matures in the field: fruit colour
develops; starch and firmness decrease,
sugar and acidity increase; aroma
(volatiles) changes; and greasiness develops
– these changes occur differently for each
variety in different regions.
On the topic more of fruit flavour, James
explained the importance of volatiles as
important chemical compounds that give
the fruit its characteristic flavours and
aromas. More complex flavours develop
during ripening, but when apples are picked
at an earlier maturity for long-term storage
a lot of volatiles that create these flavours
are simply not present.
Flavour in apples is defined by aroma,
basic tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, astringent)
and texture (mouthfeel). On the flip side,
if too many volatiles are produced it is
often associated with the apple being
overripe. The significance of this is that
while long-term storage does very well
to maintain quality it also suppresses the
production of volatiles and flavours, which
u
we get in riper fruit.
www.apal.org.au
EVENTS
u In
one study James reported on, consumers
were asked to compare freshly picked
apples imported from Chile with US-grown
apples stored for several months – with
the consumers not knowing the source
or storage status of the apples. Consumers
were mixed in their preference, with a
similar number preferring the stored fruit
as to those liking the newly harvested fruit.
Measuring maturity
Maturity is largely measured with starch
tests using iodine. Indicators such as
pressure testing for measuring fruit
firmness, soluble solids test for measuring
sugar levels, and background colour testing
are used more for quality, but can help
gauge maturity too.
James added that for fruit maturity we
could use titratable acidity as well, a
measure which provides useful linkages to
the eating quality. He explained that “one
of the goals of storage management and
ensuring a good quality product to the
consumer is to maintain acid at a relatively
high level.” The way to do this is to have
good storage protocols that maintain
respiration to a very low level.
“For varieties which have a sweet, tart
flavour when the acidity gets too low it
changes the way the consumer perceives
the taste,” James explained.
During storage, soluble solids will be fairly
similar to what is measured earlier, but it
is more the acid component which gives the
intensity, tartness and the perceived quality
of the apple delivered to the consumer.
“Even in Fuji which is not a sweet, tart
variety, a loss of acid really affects the
eating quality,” said James.
A potential tool for easier measuring
and management of maturity is the DA
(Difference of Absorbance) meter. Dr Dario
Stefanelli, DEDJTR, explained that the DA
meter is not destructive and estimates
fruit maturity based on loss of chlorophyll
and ethylene production rate. In Dario’s
trials, the DA meter was used on both
Cripps Pink and Rosy Glow from pre-harvest
and these measurements were continued
through the entire time in storage.
The DA meter could be useful for our
industry, but Dario explained that more
research is needed to capture and
www.apal.org.au
A demonstration of the effects of different applications of SmartFresh on apples at the APAL
Post-harvest Seminar, 13 January 2016.
understand regional and varietal differences
that occur. However, once fully developed,
the DA meter could be used along the
supply chain from identifying optimal harvest
dates in the field to measuring fruit maturity
during storage and storing the fruit at
the best time, to deliver a more consistent
product and improve consumer satisfaction.
Mature versus mature
There are two types of maturity:
physiological and horticultural maturity.
Fruit is physiological mature when it will
ripen after harvest if picked. Physiologically
immature fruit picked too early will suffer
moisture loss, shrivel, and never reach
optimal condition. Fruit may be picked at
physiological maturity so it keeps better
in long term storage even though it is not
ready for sale yet. Horticultural maturity
refers to the appearance and marketability
of the fruit or its ‘ripeness’.
Product applications
The use of DPA was topical and mentioned
in several of the presentations. In particular,
Stephen Tancred, Orchard Service, presented
a trial comparing SmartFresh (1-MCP)
with DPA. He concluded that SmartFresh
controls scald well under high pressure
Australian conditions, and it maintains
fruit firmness and acidity. Data from the
trial re-affirmed why SmartFresh needs to
be applied within the first seven days after
harvest. When SmartFresh was applied
after the first seven days the control of scald
and maintenance of firmness diminished.
To further this point, the mechanism behind
why this timing is so critical was explained
by James. The ethylene produced in that
short seven day period will produce
pre-cursor compounds which then oxidise
and cause scald. Applying SmartFresh early
prevents these compounds from being made.
Dr Hannah James from AgroFresh spoke
about the complexities of pears and how
SmartFresh can be used effectively on
pears alongside other methods to ensure
a consistent consumer-ready pear.
More information
Presentation slides from each speaker at the
seminar are available on the APAL website.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to event sponsors Campbell
Chemicals, Isolcell and Sumitomo
Chemical, and APAL corporate sponsors
E.E. Muir & Sons and AgroFresh for their
ongoing support. APAL would also like to
thank the presenters and participants who
all helped make this event worthwhile
and successful. :afg
Angus Crawford, Technical Manager, APAL
t: (03) 9329 3511 | m: 0427 111 852
e: acrawford@apal.org.au
09
EVENTS
APAL Chair invites
growers to HortCon2016
By Michele Allan
APAL Chair Dr Michele Allan encourages apple and pear
growers to participate in the 2016 National Horticulture
Convention (HortCon2016) to learn the latest insights and
technologies for our industry, build business relationships
and get involved in export displays for buyers.
T
he horticulture industry is on track to become the second largest agriculture
industry in Australia and has the potential to double in size by 2015. It is currently
valued at almost $10 billion at the farm gate, employs more than 60,000 workers
and includes more than 20,000 enterprises.
It is a great time to be involved in horticulture.
I strongly encourage all members of the apple and pear supply chain to attend the
Convention. It provides a great platform to connect and network with like-minded
colleagues and develop an understanding of broader, horticulture-wide issues.
It’s important to recognise that even though you may grow a different commodity,
or service a different area of the supply chain, as a whole, if we work together, we can
strive for greatness in this exciting industry. You may even develop a new business idea!
This year, the apple and pear program will look at how to increase domestic
consumption and exports. We will also delve into pre- and post-farm gate practices
and how a strong focus in these areas can add value to the industry.
Collaboration is an important part of business practice and I foresee the relationships
built during HortCon2016 will lead to greater opportunities throughout the year. Sharing
contacts, knowledge and building relationships with members along our supply chain
could also lead to building better working relationships with our major retailers in Coles,
Woolworths and Aldi.
The apple and pear program will
address all areas of the supply chain,
focusing on pre- and post-farm
gate; risk mitigation; and market
opportunities. And will be filled with:
» Apple and pear focused speaker
sessions
» Dedicated apple and pear social
events
» Apple and pear industry updates
» Reverse Trade Mission, exporter
produce display
» ‘Pome Zone’ meeting area
» An extensive trade show
» Highly regarded key note speakers
» Business development planning
sessions
» Apple and pear panel discussion
» APAL Annual General Meeting
» Gala dinner
The RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast offers sophisticated facilities in a
secluded, relaxing atmosphere. I look forward to meeting with attendees and discussing
the exciting future of our industry and hope to see you there. :afg
10
www.apal.org.au
EVENTS
UPCOMING
EVENTS
Kalei apple
field day
®
Apple growers are invited to attend a Kalei apple field
day at the Queensland Department of Agriculture and
Fisheries (DAF), Applethorpe Research Station, to learn
more about this new variety.
A
PAL is managing the marketing
of Kalei – an apple variety bred
by DAF in Queensland. The Kalei
variety is not a ‘club’ variety and is available
to all interested growers.
“Kalei apples are sweet and stay fresh
for longer, and the best part is the variety
can withstand apple scab in the orchard,
providing financial benefits to growers
along with environmental benefits,” says
Mr Garry Langford, APAL Intellectual
Property Manager, who leads the team at
APAL that is marketing and commercialising
Kalei apples.
Kalei is a productive variety that is wellsuited to high density growing systems.
At the field day Dr Simon Middleton, the
Principal Horticulturist involved in the
®
Prevar Field Day – Piqa Boo
Hawkes Bay, NZ
18 Feb 2016
development of Kalei at DAF, will talk
about growing and managing Kalei apple
trees in new plantings through to mature
orchards.
Kalei apples can successfully be produced
organically because of their scab resistance
and when they are grown in a certified
organic orchard and meet specific trade
mark quality specifications may be sold
under the brand name Azana®.
APAL’s plans for expansion and marketing
of the Kalei variety and Azana® brand will
be discussed at the field day. Refreshments
will be provided.
For more information contact APAL
Trade Mark Attorney Rebekah Jacobs on
rjacobs@apal.org.au or 0419 599 734
:afg
Date:
Monday, 4 April 2016
Gulfood 2016
Dubai World Trade Centre
21-25 Feb 2016
®
®
Prevar Field Day – Piqa Boo
Nelson, NZ
25 Feb 2016
The Apple and Grape Harvest
Festival
Stanthorpe, Qld
26 Feb – 6 Mar 2016
Cider and Pork Festival
5-6 Mar 2016
Swan Valley, WA
Harcourt Applefest
Harcourt, VIC
12 Mar 2016
Donnybrook Apple Festival
Donnybrook, WA
26-27 Mar 2016
2017 Nuffield Australia scholarship
Applications open
1 Apr 2016
Kalei apple field day
Applethorpe Research Station, QLD
4 Apr 2016
Time:
1.00 – 4.00pm
Food & Hotel Asia
Singapore
12-15 Apr 2016
Where:
Applethorpe Research
Station, Rossler Ave,
Applethorpe, Queensland
HortCon2016
Gold Coast, QLD
23-25 Jun 2016
More event info:
apal.org.au/events
APAL’s Rebekah Jacobs shows
Asian buyers Kalei apples at
the 2015 National Horticulture
Convention – growers can learn
more about Kalei at the
upcoming field day.
www.apal.org.au
We want to know about your
local events for fruit growers!
Please submit your events to
cm@apal.org.au to get listed
here and on APAL’s website.
11
S TAT E R O U N D U P
State Associations
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Pomewest
(08) 9368 3869
www.pomewest.net.au
NEW SOUTH WALES
NSW Farmers Association
(02) 8251 1700
www.nswfarmers.org.au
New South Wales
NSW growers are happy after a good cherry season in Orange
and are looking forward to harvesting their apples at the best
time to get consumers a great taste experience to bring them
back again and again.
QUEENSLAND
Growcom
(07) 3620 3844
www.growcom.com.au
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Apple & Pear Growers
Association of South Australia
(08) 8389 8300
www.apgasa.com
TASMANIA
Fruit Growers Tasmania Inc
(03) 6231 1944
www.fruitgrowerstas.com.au
VICTORIA
Fruit Growers Victoria Ltd
(03) 5825 3700
www.fgv.com.au
www.apal.org.au/
about-apal/our-partners
As I write this we are just
getting over the last day of
extreme weather conditions in
the mid 30s, I don’t think the
trees or myself could have
taken much more. In Orange,
most apple growers have
diversified into cherries. After
two disastrous years, 2015
was faultless for most growers;
perfect rain and sunshine
combined with great prices.
We’re already looking forward
to next year and hoping for a
repeat performance.
In the Orange district, apple
harvest should be starting
Western Australia
WA continues its effective quarantining
of Queensland fruit fly (QFF), with
reports the crop is looking promising
across the state.
2016 crop outlook
Susie Murphy White, our Pome
Projects Manager, reports that
overall our crops are looking
very good.
On the netted project site in
Manjimup, Pink Lady™ apples
are bigger in size compared
to where they were at the
same time as last year. WA
has had a good chill year
and the flowering of most
varieties was compact and
reached full bloom five days
earlier than the last few
years. However, there is
12
evidence of increased insect
pressure from mites.
Growers have provided their
crop observations across WA’s
growing region:
• Donnybrook – crop is
looking good and above
average in potential yields.
• Bridgetown – good crops,
with Pink Lady apples
comparatively a little light on.
• Pemberton – crops slightly
down on last year but still
should see good yields.
around mid-February, hopefully
the weather will be kind to us
and all other districts. Just
something to think about;
apple consumption in Australia
is reported to have decreased.
Maybe a good start would be
for our industry to pick our
fruit when it doesn’t taste like
a potato or to the other
extreme, pick fruit when it is
like a marshmallow.
to eat more and more
apples. The better the fruit
the greater the demand, and
the greater the demand the
better for all growers. I had
better stop now before I get
into trouble but I am sure
you get my drift.
February, March and April
should be the optimum time
for consumers to be eating
fresh fruit from the tree and
enjoying the fruit and wanting
Guy Gaeta
• Manjimup – initial projections
show that yields could be
better than 2015, hampered
only by mites due to mild
conditions with more sprays
being used.
detected in the Outbreak Zone
or Outbreak (Quantantine)
Area south of Perth since 23
November 2015. Property
inspections and weekly baiting
continue in this program.
Baiting is expected to conclude
in early March, and provided
no flies or larvae are found
re-instatement of QFF Area
Freedom to the area will
be sought.
• Perth Hills – Galas are
looking very good, quality
and quantity generally are
also looking very promising.
No mite problems currently.
QFF outbreak
QFF affected industries are
continuing to support the
Department of Agriculture
and Food in WA to eradicate
the pest. The local council
and community in the area
have been successfully
engaged to quarantine the
movement of fruit and green
waste to help fight the spread
of further contamination to
other areas.
So far, the encouraging news
is that no QFF have been
Till next time, I hope
everyone has a stress free
and successful harvest.
Communication Officer
NSW Farmers Association
Upcoming events
A Future Orchards® walk will
be held on Monday 1 February
hosted by Steven Ghilarducci
of Strathsprey Orchard and
organised by Susie Murphy
White. This time the walk will
take place in the Perth Hills
area in Karragullen followed
by a sausage sizzle to round
off the day.
Nardia Stacy
Executive Officer
Pomewest
www.apal.org.au
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S TAT E R O U N D U P
u
South Australia
A new strategic plan for the SA apple
and pear industry has set a fresh and
competitive focus for the local industry
just as growers head toward harvest
after a hot and dry spring and summer.
This year started off in the
same manner as 2015 finished
– with ongoing hot and dry
conditions. After a sustained
dry spell many growers are
under pressure to manage
their limited water resources
through the remainder of the
season to ensure that good
fruit size and quality is
achieved. The unseasonal
conditions through spring
and early summer have made
it difficult to predict harvest
dates. However, indications
are that growers will be
picking a bit earlier than usual.
By the time this goes to print,
harvest will be well and truly
underway.
The seasonal conditions have
also affected the flowering
of many of the eucalypts this
summer and as a result the
bird pressures on fruit are
very high already. Growers
are reporting that this season
could be equally as bad if not
worse for bird damage than
the challenging year faced in
2014 and we are seeing quite
a bit of throw-over net going
out. Growers also continue to
invest in permanent netting as
they can afford it.
to gain recognition of the
Adelaide Hills as a Pest Free
Area to help assist future
growth opportunities in
exports from this region.
Notwithstanding the
challenges faced, growers are
doing a great job with their
management as there appears
to be a good crop of fruit that
has so far stood up well to
the conditions. The significant
areas of young trees planted
in 2015 are also showing
terrific growth.
We have also finalised our
strategic plan for the South
Australian apple and pear
industry for the next five
years, which provides
direction for a sustainable,
proactive industry driven by
passion, professionalism and
collaboration. The continued
investment that we are seeing
by many businesses into
setting themselves up for
the future, despite the current
challenging economic,
regulatory and climatic
conditions, is placing our
industry in a very strong
position to meet these aims.
While 2015 was a year to
forget for many in terms of
prices, there were some
highlights, with Lenswood
Co-operative building their
export program with good
penetration into Thailand and
the United Kingdom. The Apple
and Pear Growers Association
of South Australia is working
with the SA Government and
the cherry and berry growers
Susie Green
CEO
Apple and Pear Growers
Association of South
Australia
South Australian growers viewing Rob Green’s pruning / picking platform at the Future Orchards walk in the Adelaide Hills.
www.apal.org.au
13
MARKETING
Apple and pear summer
marketing update 2016
By Olivia Tait
APAL’s Olivia Tait reports on what was achieved in the apple and pear marketing domain
during the time APAL was asked to help.
I
t was agreed between APAL and Horticulture Innovation
Australia Ltd (Hort Innovation) that APAL would manage a
range of short-term marketing projects during November and
December 2015 whilst Hort Innovation secured a new dedicated
person to manage the apple and pear marketing program. The
following provides an account of what we undertook to deliver,
what was achieved and a where to from now review.
We found the following for apples:
Data analysis
• Average retail price: $3.82/kg
Before we could proceed with confidence with any marketing
work, it was necessary to get a clear and accurate understanding
of the apple and pear categories, with a focus on understanding
the size of the category, household penetration, purchasing
frequency and the retail market value.
“
Previously, APAL had not been given this data in full. When
Hort Innovation provided us with what data was available and
we had a chance to analyse it we realised there were questions
about its accuracy and integrity.
Freshlogic was engaged to look at what insights we could
extract from the available data because they have extensive
knowledge, insights and experience in the fresh food category
and an understanding of the domestic retail landscape. This
data was overlayed with qualitative findings so we could further
understand purchasing behaviours, motivations and barriers.
We then tested the accuracy and validity of the data and findings
with the main retailers to ensure we were on the right track. This
information not only provided us with a much better understanding
of the current situation, it helped us to identify growth areas and
pathways to improve grower margins and returns.
APAL welcomed the opportunity
to get more involved in the
planning, development and
execution of apple and pear
marketing activities.
14
• Percentage of households buying apples: 90%
• Average number of shopping trips when apples are
purchased per year: 26.5 (Customers are buying apples
every second week)
• Average purchase: 0.89kg (or about 5.5 apples @ 160gms each)
This indicates that for apples we need to increase purchasing
frequency and increase price per kilogram.
For pears we found:
• Percentage of households buying pears: 60%
• Average number of shopping trips when pears are
purchased per year: 11.1 (Customers are buying pears less
than once a month)
• Average purchase: 0.849kg (or about 5 pears @ 170gms each)
• Average retail price: $2.91/kg
For pears, we need to increase the purchasing frequency, market
penetration and price per kilogram.
Category management plans
Category management plans look at all the opportunities for
selling a product throughout the year across areas including
promotions, pricing, packaging, competition, etc. to identify
the most effective strategy to deliver a return.
The development of category management plans for apple and
pear is a vital tool in helping to understand the dynamics within
the retail channel and enables the development of a strategic
plan to co-ordinate the category to deliver improved outcomes.
Previously there has not been an apple or a pear category
management plan.
Securing accurate market data is the foundation of any category
management plan development. With more data now in hand,
a first draft version of the pear category management plan was
developed and shared with Coles, Woolworths and Aldi. We are
keen to secure their buy-in as the plans are developed further.
An apple category management plan is also now in development.
APAL will continue with this work to bring the development of
the plans to completion.
www.apal.org.au
u
MARKETING
Two of the leading characters from
the Hailstorm Heroes pear campaign
designed to promote our hail affected
pears – Battler Pear and Guru Pear.
u
Taste festival
In 2015, funding had been committed to the Taste of Melbourne
festival. There are no records of what has been done for apples
and pears in previous years at the festival, but APAL picked up
the responsibility to deliver the event and worked towards
maximising the benefits and exposure it offered.
The event was run over four days at Albert Park. We set up
the apple and pear stand and sold over 750 pear smoothie and
apple frappé drinks. The stand promoted not only the quality of
Australian fruit but showcased its use in different formats to a
largely foodie audience.
Looking at the cost and the benefit to the industry the Taste
festival might not be the most efficient way to promote apples and
pears alone. Perhaps if it was a horticulture-wide display it may
be worth considering in the future with an educational element.
Social media and website review
Social media and websites provide us with a great opportunity
to engage with current and potential consumers. Once we saw
the investment being made into these areas for Aussie Apples and
Australian Pears it became apparent that we could be getting a
lot better value for money.
APAL conducted an extensive review of the apple and pear
Facebook and Twitter accounts, websites, and the contracts with
the respective service providers. We identified a number of ways
to improve returns across these mediums and have submitted a
number of recommendations to Hort Innovation to ensure better
value for money and improved performance. Our work in these
areas must be aligned with other marketing activities and focused
in increasing sales and consumption of apples and pears.
Pear marketing campaign
The Rediscover the Pear campaign has run for the last three years,
with the pear cookbook as the main marketing piece. Whilst this
campaign has played an instrumental role in helping consumers
understand the versatility of the pear, it had run its course. Indeed,
the third cookbook released in 2015 simply repeated recipes
from the previous cookbooks and used the same imagery.
APAL has developed a new pear campaign that targets the
following key message pillars: health and nutrition; snacking;
versatility; product attributes; and provenance. The campaign
comes to life with pear characters who each tell a story.
In addition to the core campaign, we developed two unique
characters, Guru Pear and Battler Pear that are part of our
Hailstorm Heroes team. These characters aim to tell the story of
the hail storms that hit the Goulburn Valley and encourage customers to buy hail-affected fruit. All the creative work has been
completed under APAL’s management and shared with pear
growers in the Goulburn Valley. The execution of this campaign
now sits with Hort Innovation.
Export market development funding
APAL took on the role of reviewing the application and reporting
process of export market development funding that is used by
growers to help them promote their apples and pears overseas.
APAL has presented Hort Innovation with a series of
recommendations as to how this process could be better managed
to ensure the money invested in overseas export markets is spent
across initiatives that will drive sales and increase the exposure
of Australian fruit across key export markets.
A wrap
While it was a busy few months, APAL welcomed the opportunity
to get more involved in the planning, development and execution
of apple and pear marketing activities. All that work has now
been handed back to Hort Innovation with the appointment of
Lisa Troy as the Marketing Manager for Apples and Pears who
is now responsible for delivering marketing.
Collectively we have worked to get the apple and pear marketing
efforts back on track after what’s been a pretty turbulent period.
Open, transparent and collaborative behaviours will need to be
adopted to ensure the successful delivery of apple and pear
marketing efforts and to ensure far more effective and efficient
use of the apple and pear marketing levy funds. :afg
Olivia Tait, Market Development Manager, APAL | t: (03) 9329 3511 | m: 0427 111 852
www.apal.org.au
I e: otait@apal.org.au
15
MARKETING
Welcome to the new
Hort Innovation marketing team
Two new staff have joined the Hort Innovation marketing team: Lisa Troy, the new
Marketing Manager for Apples and Pears, and Graeme Yardy, the new overall Marketing
Lead. We invited them to introduce themselves, share their observations about marketing
for apples and pears and give us an update on all marketing activities.
Graeme Yardy
I
join Hort Innovation with a background as a senior marketing leader for Mars both in
Australia and North America, with responsibilities for their food business, incorporating
brands such as Masterfoods, Dolmio and Uncle Ben’s Rice.
My primary focus has been developing strategic growth plans to guide the Mars marketing
activities and innovation plans. I’m a big believer in keeping marketing simple and focused,
backed by solid data, and always with the end consumer in mind.
“
Graeme Yardy, Marketing
Leader, Hort Innovation
t: 02 8295 2300
e: graeme.yardy@horticulture.com.au
My family is from country NSW, with strong ties to the Northern Rivers/Tweed area, and so
I’m looking forward to getting back to my rural roots in this role. My wife and I live on the
Central Coast of NSW and we have a young son born at the end of last year. I’m a keen surfer,
photographer and have a passion for food – both cooking and eating it.
At Hort Innovation, I will oversee all industry programs, and the first few weeks have been
busy, engaging with the many and varied groups that make up the galaxy of industries that Hort
Innovation services. My initial observations are that there is so much great work being done out
there to grow and improve the profitability of the horticulture sector. The work that APAL has
been doing recently to help Hort Innovation to ensure apples and pears are top of mind for
consumers, is an example of this great work. This gives the industry and my team here at Hort
Innovation a fantastic springboard to build further returns for growers.
The opportunity for us as an industry is to collaborate on building and executing engaging
consumer facing activities. Apples and pears, like all industries and products, continually face the
challenge of relevance in people’s lives – whether it is their go-to snack, as a core ingredient, or
some other purpose, we must be consistent and focussed in winning their hearts and minds.
Efficient use of levy funds to drive returns for growers is fundamental, and while I’m aware of
the challenges of 2015, my goal is to work hard to bring great growth plans to market, in a
transparent and inclusive way. I’m looking forward to the support of the APAL team in helping
me to achieve this.
Lisa Troy, who will be your Marketing Manager, will be a fantastic resource for the apple and
pear industry. She has a wealth of experience of what works and what doesn’t in the food space,
and has hit the ground running. I’m looking forward to supporting Lisa to continue, and to create,
some great work on apples and pears.
Efficient use of levy funds to drive returns for growers is fundamental,
and while I’m aware of the challenges of 2015, my goal is to work
hard to bring great growth plans to market, in a transparent and
inclusive way.
16
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www.apal.org.au
MARKETING
u
Lisa Troy
M
y work background is in food and beverage marketing in both brand and trade marketing
roles, having worked most recently for Weight Watchers managing the Weight Watchers
branded range sold in the Grocery channel across Australia and New Zealand. Previous
to this, I worked for Goodman Fielder on various brands such as MeadowLea, Praise and White
Wings and at Diageo, on Johnnie Walker, Bundaberg Rum, Baileys and Smirnoff.
On a personal note, I have been somewhat of a nomad as I am originally from Sydney, grew up in
Wagga, spent time living in Germany, Japan and Singapore and am now living back in Sydney. I am
passionate about fresh, seasonal food and enjoy cooking and eating out in my spare time.
When I started, it was a priority to get up and running in the role as quickly as possible and to get
to know as many people within Hort Innovation and the industry. My first weeks included meetings
with the APAL team, a visit to Sydney Markets and meetings with various suppliers to gain insight
into the industry and updates on the marketing activity to date. I appreciate the work that APAL
and other members of the Hort Innovation team have been doing while the marketing role was
vacant and have been learning from their experience in the industry.
I am currently working on delivery of the marketing activity that has been agreed for the remainder
of this financial year until June 2016 and moving forward on the planning process for 2016/2017.
In March, we have two major sponsorship activities planned with the Sydney Royal Easter Show
from 17 to 30 March 2016 and the Run for the Kids Fun Run in Melbourne on Sunday 20 March
2016. Both events are a great opportunity to promote Aussie Apples with Run for the Kids attracting
over 30,000 runners and the Sydney Royal Easter Show expecting around 900,000 visitors in 2016
with extensive media coverage of both events as well.
Lisa Troy,
Marketing Manager,
Hort Innovation
t: 02 8295 2336 |
m: 0439 005 381 |
e: lisa.troy@horticulture.com.au Additionally, I am looking forward to working with APAL and the new Advisory Panel to progress
the work that APAL has done, with renewed energy and a collaborative approach.
Looking forward, I expect that as a team, we will be busy prioritising ideas and opportunities to
deliver the greatest return on our investment as there is certainly no shortage of either!
According to research conducted in Jan 2015, only 2 per cent of Australians are eating two serves
of fruit and five serves of vegetables each day despite this being the daily intake recommended by
the National Health and Medical Research Council. Overall, the health messages are more and more
confusing with consumers bombarded with information and misinformation about the health benefits
of various diets and lifestyles. We have an enormous opportunity to tap into this consumer interest
in health and fitness and communicate more meaningful and on-trend health messages.
Also, with the proliferation of the foodie culture, cooking shows, ‘food porn’ and so on, consumers
are more aware of where their food is coming from and want to increase and show off their food
knowledge. We can build on this by showing consumers which variety of apple or pear to select
for different cooking and eating occasions.
With awareness and household penetration of apples and pears high, we need to focus on
encouraging consumers to purchase both fruits more often and will ensure the marketing plan is
focused on delivering to agreed strategic goals and objectives :afg
www.apal.org.au
17
PROFILE
Growing
A
Future
By Richelle Zealley
Born to an apple-growing family and working at Hansen Orchards in Tasmania
got Thomas Griggs interested in the apple industry, but it was his time spent
completing a Diploma of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham that gave new momentum
to his horticultural career.
D
uring the last 12 months Thomas has formed life long
friendships with people from a range of backgrounds
within agriculture. He has also developed his knowledge
of the industry and is looking for an internship to continue
his professional development.
Thomas is a seventh generation apple grower
who, like many young people with a passion
for growing apples, would like to take over
his family orchard, Griggs Bros, one day.
“I am still quite young with a lot to learn but
my goal is to one day take on the management
of my family orchard,” says Thomas.
“Since then, Dad and his brothers, Stuart and Bradley, have
gradually been repurchasing land and increasing their orchard
and have just bought another 40 acres. Hopefully that will be
planted out this year or next.
“Growing apples is more of a passion for them, they
all have other jobs but the vision is to build their
orchard to become their main source of income.
The Griggs mainly grow apples – Gala, Pink
Lady™ and Fuji, they also have a small area
planted with Envy™ and Rubigold® – and
cherries but also have a few hectares of
blueberries.
“In reality there aren’t many young people entering
“My uncle Stuart manages the packing shed for
Geeveston Fannies
the industry – not like there were when my dad was
Reid Fruits. He is also the only paid employee at Griggs
looking to choose his career. I guess back then there wasn’t
Bros and works there for about eight months of the year,
much choice – if your dad and grandfather grew apples then
but it’s getting to the stage where they could use him full time.”
it was quite likely that you would too.”
Thomas’ dad also has about four hectares of his own that they
It’s due to this lack of interest that Thomas sees potential for
tinker around in together.
himself in the industry.
“I don’t have a lot to do with the main farm – it’s for Dad, his
“It’s an exciting time for apples. It’s not as competitive to enter
two brothers and Pop and they kind of do it all,” says Thomas.
horticulture as it is to enter the broad acre or cattle industries,”
“I’d like the business to get to the point where I could work
Thomas explains.
on it and help build it up a bit more. But it’s up to them if they
Thomas likes the challenge of establishing an orchard, which
want to keep or sell it, if they want me to come and be involved
can take anywhere up to seven years before you start to make
in the business I would happily do so. But for now, Dad’s got
good returns – compared to broad acre cropping which provides
his little nursery at home that we can slowly build for ourselves.
returns in the first year.
“At the same time there’s a really big opportunity with Howard
Planning for a future
(Hansen) that I would like to build too. Hansen’s are just getting
bigger and bigger by the day and there I could be anything from
The Griggs family has been growing apples in Tasmania for
farm manager to being involved with marketing and could go a
many years and when Thomas’ father Tim was younger severe
u
long way.”
bushfires destroyed their orchard so they had to sell their farm.
18
www.apal.org.au
PROFILE
Study has opened Thomas’ mind to the opportunities
the horticulture industry can bring, he hopes to develop
the skills to one day manage his own orchard.
u
A holiday job has led to a career
Thomas has been working at Hansen Orchards in the Huon Valley
in Tasmania for the last four years.
“My family send their apples to Hansen’s packing shed. Dad was
doing a drop off one day and came home and said ‘you’re going
to work at Howard’s (Hansen Orchards) next week,’ so I started
working there during my year 10 school holidays,” says Thomas.
Thomas completed year 12 in 2014 and commenced a schoolbased apprenticeship, Certificate III in Production Based
Horticulture that has a practical focus on growing trees, while
working at Hansen Orchards. However, he put completing it on
hold to take up the opportunity to study the diploma at Marcus
Oldham, but plans to finish it when he returns to Tasmania.
Indeed it was Howard Hansen who recommended that
Thomas attend Marcus Oldham and encouraged him to
apply for the New Horizons Scholarship. Howard was the last
horticulture-focused person to go through Marcus Oldham so
was well aware of the benefits.
Learnings after 12 months’ study
The main stand outs from the last 12 months of Thomas’ study
is that to make a business viable you need to have strong cash
flow and it’s imperative to diversify to reduce the risk factor.
“One thing we’ve learnt at Marcus Oldham is the importance of
diversification. At home we grow cherries, apples and blueberries
and they all have the same risk factor – frost, rain, hail. If you
had something completely different on-farm, such as cattle,
that would be a good way to manage your risks and get a
more regular cash-flow for your business,” says Thomas.
“They basically say to us ‘in business cash is king’ – which is key
I suppose.
www.apal.org.au
u
19
PROFILE
u
“ ”
“I’ve learned that to succeed in fruit growing everything, from
pruning to netting, has to be simple, low-cost and spot on. It’s
also important to have a good market too, you can spend a lot
of money putting on a new variety but if something changes
and there is no demand for your product what do you do? You’re
constantly going with the market and need to be aware of many
different factors.”
Staying ahead of the game
Thomas also acknowledges the importance of keeping up to
date with technology.
“At Hansen’s they’ve got all the irrigation set up with solenoids,
controlled through one main digital box at the pump shed,”
says Thomas.
I am still quite young with a lot
to learn but my goal is to one
day take on the management of
my family orchard.
“I think APAL’s quite good with promoting things, including new
technologies, to growers and encouraging them to look at and
have a go at trying new things. You also learn things through
word of mouth and by attending events like the National
Horticulture Convention.”
Thomas has also found benefit in studying at Marcus Oldham
even though none of his classmates are focused on horticulture.
“I have developed some great networks here that I wouldn’t
have if I’d stayed in Tassie working on the farm. There will be a
certain percentage of my classmates who will go into agribusiness
– the banking and financial side of the industry – and I can see
how we could work together in the future.”
“One thing Howard said that’s really stuck is that the networks you
create while studying are invaluable – to be able to ring someone
you know and say ‘what’s going on in your part of the world?’
Even though their focus could be different, you can tell them any
issues or problems you may have and get their feedback about it.”
Networking and more
The opportunity to study at Marcus Oldham has also enabled
Thomas to make other connections within the horticulture
industry. As part of his scholarship he was required to attend the
2015 National Horticulture Convention where he listened in on
the Key Stakeholders Roundtable and attended a range of events. u
Drape Net New Zealand
After two years of quite damaging hail storms in a row and hail insurance premiums going up or
insurance companies pulling the pin totally and major damage to structured net, New Zealand
growers are embracing the simple but effective concept of Drape Net.
The Kiwis are very export orientated and that shows
in there high density plantings and trellis systems.
Another good thing for Drape Net is that on such
a uniform system, net can be applied and taken
off with little effort and a lot of speed. We were
putting on net for the first time, after about 1 hour
of training, with a new crew at 100 meters in four
minutes (taking off should be as quick or quicker).
It was sad to see so much damage to fruit that
had a lot of work put into getting it to that stage,
knowing that Drape Net could have saved it all.
Hail damage 2nd year in a row.
Mature 2D growing system perfect
for Drape Net.
Aussie growers please call or keep an eye out for
meetings in your area after the picking season.
CONTACT MICHAEL CUNIAL | m: 0415 663 413 | e: mcunial@bigpond.com
www.drapenet.com.au
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www.apal.org.au
PROFILE
u
Thomas with grandfather Lyell, uncle Stuart and father Tim Griggs in their orchard, Griggs Bros, Castles Forbes Bay.
“At the Convention I talked to some of the bigger growers and
it was really good. A lot of them said I could go and visit their
orchards and I found I learned a lot during the event and just
talking to other growers over a beer afterwards.”
Applied learning through study tours
During the year Thomas attended a variety of local and
international study tours where they would visit businesses
ranging from broad acre cropping, a dairy and ice cream factory
and even a tea farm in China.
“There is definitely a big opportunity to export to China. It was
quite an experience over there, but we didn’t see anything that
was really agricultural – we went to one farm that had bits of
wheat,” Thomas says.
Thomas found their business practices in China quite interesting
and different to those in Australia. “One thing I found really
strange was to go to a business meeting they end up getting
really drunk – which is considered a good thing – and it’s more
about finding a friend. They’re very friendly people.
“I was talking about fruit exports to an Australian guy who
manages a steel manufacturing place there. He suggested that
instead of importing produce through someone else to go there
and market it yourself.
“Apparently the Chinese will pay big money for good product
and if you put a story behind it and market that product well
you’ll get crazy amounts of money for it.
“I experienced first hand their love for Australians in China. It didn’t
matter where we went, if we said we were Australian they loved
us, and the same with our produce, especially Tasmanian apples.”
Opportunities for Marcus Oldham students
Studying at Marcus Oldham has created some unique opportunities
for Thomas who is looking for an internship opportunity this year
to count towards his second year of study at Marcus Oldham.
He will return to the college in 2017 to complete his studies in
Farm Business Management.
“Anyone wanting a career in horticulture and growing fruit
should look at coming to Marcus Oldham to learn and develop
www.apal.org.au
a strong business sense. I think the Agribusiness course would
be really well suited to someone looking to study at the age of
25 or 26 – when you have a bit of experience behind you, and
you’re probably ready to take the next step in your career into
a more managerial role,” he suggests.
“I’ve still got a lot of basic learning to do, I might get to the
stage where I forget what I’ve learned here as I’m not applying
it every day.”
Thomas says the networks he’s made and learning about business
structures and how everything works have been invaluable during his time at Marcus Oldham.
“If you want to further yourself in horticulture and don’t just want
to be a tier one worker, you’ve got to know how to manage a
business, what to look out for and how to keep up with technology.
“It’s really good in general, there’s a great bunch of people here,
the school’s small, you know all the staff and students by name.
We all live here together, everyone’s really friendly and it’s a
good social life.”
What does the future hold?
Attending Marcus Oldham for the last 12 months has shown
Thomas that his opportunities are endless and the horticulture
industry is not only about growing fruit.
“People that come to Marcus Oldham go into banking, agribusiness,
financial investing – all sorts of things,” says Thomas.
“In a large-scale apple operation I could be anything from a farm
manager, marketing coordinator to a director. There’s a big scale
of opportunity in the things you can do.
“In 10 years time I hope to be managing an orchard – maybe my
own place. Or, I could be working in a bank somewhere – who
knows.” :afg
Acknowlegements
Many thanks to Thomas and his family for their time to help
prepare this article and to Fred and Hannah photography for
taking the photos.
21
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
Pre-harvest orchard
performance appraisal
By John Wilton
Just before harvest is a great time to assess the performance of your orchard management
strategy, so there is time to start implementing changes to optimise next season’s crop.
I
consider that just prior to harvest commencing is a key time
to view the orchard and its crop. It is at this stage when any
weakness in crop husbandry becomes most obvious so it is
a good time to formulate future management policies.
Key things to look for are:
• Canopy density.
• Crop uniformity.
• Tree size variability.
• Tree support weakness.
Key things to do are:
• Firm up harvest strategies.
• Prioritise block maturity monitoring.
• Check fruit size ranges.
• Identify where fine tuning of crop husbandry practices are
necessary.
• Check the state of orchard access tracks.
Top dollar returns require perfect fruit
Fruit growing financial success and long term viability requires the
production of high margin products. Buyers and consumers want
a crisp, tasty fruit that meets a consistent quality standard. You
need repeat sales to survive so your buyers and their customers
need confidence that each time they purchase your product it
will give a similar level of satisfaction as the last consignment.
Product consistency is the aim, and this requires a uniform
orchard canopy that has been well thinned, then harvested at
optimum maturity and given best practice post-harvest treatment.
Canopy density
Top quality fruit requires an open canopy that allows good light
penetration down into the fruiting zones. Fruit taste and colour
is very dependent on the fruit having been grown in a good
light environment. Calm, low vigour branches are needed to
produce this light environment.
Identify any areas in the orchard where there is too much vigour
leading to excessive shading of fruiting zones. In later varieties
where the harvest period is four to five weeks away there is
still time to open up the canopy with a bit of judicious summer
pruning or even a leaf plucking if variety value is sufficient to
justify the expense.
Summer pruning to let more light in needs to be very carefully
supervised to avoid taking out too much leading to sunburn
problems, or reducing next season’s crop potential by taking
next year’s fruiting wood.
I generally view this type of summer pruning as a temporary
solution to the problem. The long term solution is to be able
to recognise the characteristics of the branches that are causing
the problem and taking them out before next season.
Crop uniformity
Uniform crop loads are critical for maximising both yield and
fruit quality. It will also tell you whether or not there are biennial
bearing problems. However, in my experience, irregular hand
thinning is the main cause of variable crop loads.
This calm canopy with a well thinned Fuji crop in singles will colour
well and be easy to harvest.
22
Variable crop loads are often linked to tree vigour variation.
Vigorous trees readily shed fruit while weak growing trees hold
u
onto their crop.
www.apal.org.au
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
u
Scion rooting is a major cause of excess vigour in blocks on dwarfing
rootstocks planted too deep. The bud union needs to be 10 to 15cm
above soil at planting.
Leaning trees in the mid row area caused this trellis failure. These trees
each carried around 50kg of fruit so for this high value $75 of fruit
value per tree was lost – a big loss compared to the cost of a few props.
Chemical thinners are generally less effective on low vigour trees
and it’s mighty difficult to get the hand thinners to take enough
fruit off the weaker trees.
some time in the past. Further down the row there will be some
very vigorous trees growing where the lost top soil now resides.
Provided the initial thinning pass has been reasonably good with
fruit singled, or in no more than twos, pre-harvest re-thinning is
possible without running a high sunburn risk. Re-thinning at this
time can be done by fruit size and this means that only trees
with excess crop will be thinned.
In New Zealand, pre-harvest touch up thinning for our premium
high value crops is generally considered necessary in order to
maximise Class 1 packout, as well as spread some of the harvest
labour requirement to a less busy time. Often there is a process
market outlet for these thinnings, which helps defray some of
the re-thin cost.
Where high fruit colour is required it is necessary to have fruit in
singles to avoid the within bunch fruit to fruit shading problem.
Bunchy crops are extremely difficult to manage for both uniform
fruit quality and harvest. Where you are caught with a bunchy
crop now, it is necessary to take out whole bunches, or live with
it and hope that the packing line can sort the mess out, which
they will be willing to do at a price that may not leave you
much margin.
It is also a good time to check pollination. If there is a fall off in
crop density with increasing distance from pollinator trees then
there are not enough of them.
Tree size variability
Uniform tree size is the key to high orchard performance.
Areas of weak-growing or excessively vigorous trees need to be
mapped, and then the reasons for the divergence from the average
tree size investigated.
Weak growing areas are usually related to a problem with root
health, water stress or poor drainage. Often it’s an area in the
orchard where there is shallow top soil due to soil levelling at
www.apal.org.au
Strategies to encourage weak trees to grow are much more
difficult than taking the vigour out of high vigour trees. The best
tools we have to make them grow include:
• Improving drainage.
• Mulching to conserve moisture.
• Reducing flower bud numbers during pruning.
• Removal of any choking branches during pruning.
• Giving good upper tree leader support.
• GA3 sprays to stimulate growth.
Compared with making stubborn trees grow, calming down
excess vigour is relatively easy. The tools we have include:
• Minimal pruning regimes.
• Selective removal of high vigour branches.
• RDI (reduced deficit irrigation).
• Root pruning.
• Trunk girdling.
• Growth regulators, e.g. Regalis®, Ethephon.
Tree support
Once you start pushing up orchard performance, tree support
becomes more critical. Each year we see a few rows fall over
due to insufficient tree support.
The pre-harvest period is a critical time to check tree support
structures are performing as they should. Crop weight is beginning
to rise rapidly at this time so structure weakness is easily spotted.
In intensive plantings be wary of any trees that are leaning off
the row centre. Where central leader trees are vertical their
trunk takes most of the crop weight, but once they get a lean
on it is the support structure that takes the weight.
23
u
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
u
Propping trees to prevent them from falling over is a good
temporary measure to prevent trellis failure. This is a short
prop; a longer one would do a better job.
Reflective mulch improves canopy light levels and has become standard practice for
red, high value varieties.
Check tree ties, trellis attachment to support structures, and
appraise if there are sufficient posts in the trellis to do the job.
Where support structure problems are found an effort should
be made to address the problem immediately. This may involve
aggressive upper tree thinning to re-balance the crop weight,
use of tree props to give added support for the trees, or checking
and replacing tree ties and staples.
Harvest strategies
As part of this programme, gathering data on block maturity
and fruit size range is necessary in order to make rational decisions. Maturity monitoring should begin three to four weeks
prior to the anticipated harvest date.
Checking fruit size six or eight weeks before harvest will give a
good indication of the fruit size range at harvest. There is now
good data on fruit sizing curves available on OrchardNet™
which can be used to forecast harvest size.
Tracking fruit size data will also indicate if the trees can handle
the crop load. Where crops are too heavy, growth rates stall. If
your fruit sizing rate falls behind others in your district, this would
indicate that re-thinning to take off smaller sized fruit will be
well worthwhile.
Having good fruit sizing data will also indicate if it’s necessary to
apply Retain® to hold maturity back. As a general rule, fruit size
increases by about 1 per cent a day through the harvest period.
Delay your harvest by 10 days and you will have a 10 per cent
increase in both yield and fruit size.
For red and partially coloured varieties, laying down reflective
mulch between the rows three or four weeks before harvest can
make a huge difference to fruit colour. This increases crop value
markedly, speeds up harvest, and enables the crop to be harvested
at a more optimum maturity due to improved fruit colour.
24
Stop drop sprays
Pre-harvest drop can be quite a problem in some varieties. We
do not see it much in Royal Gala types, but varieties such as Red
Delicious and particularly Scifresh and Braeburn, fruit drop can
be quite severe.
NAA applied sequentially from about three weeks pre-harvest at
5ppm has been found to be very effective for reducing the drop
problem. Retain® also gives good control of pre-harvest drop.
Orchard tracks
Handling damage, such as bruising and stem punctures can be
a major quality problem. Although the pickers get saddled with
much of the blame, it’s my opinion that their role in the problem
is minor compared to the injury that poor orchard tracks and
rough forklift drivers can cause. Orchard tracks need to be in
good condition at harvest to minimise fruit injury.
We have also noticed over the years that fruit maturity at harvest
has a profound influence on handling damage. Fruit harvested
early in the harvest period always fares much better than that
harvested at advanced maturity.
Acknowledgement
APAL’s Future Orchards® program is funded by Horticulture
Innovation Australia Ltd using the apple and pear industry levy
funds from growers and funds from the Australian Government.
AgFirst is a key Future Orchards partner. :afg
About the author:
John Wilton, Horticultural Consultant, AgFirst – New Zealand
t: +64 6 872 7080 | e: hawkesbay@agfirst.co.nz
www.apal.org.au
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
Introducing PIPS2
By Kristen Sterling and Anne-Maree Boland
With renewed support from Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd, the second Productivity,
Irrigation, Pests and Soils (PIPS) five year program, PIPS2, is now underway and is set to
bring new innovation and improved orchard productivity to the apple and pear industries.
P
IPS2 will build on the successful
outcomes of the first PIPS program
with a new approach to coordination
of research and development activities for
the apple and pear industries that aim to:
• Align investment and enhance
cooperation between research agencies.
• Maximise returns on investment to
industry.
• Reduce duplication of effort by research
agencies.
PIPS1 focused on labour efficiency; water
and nutrients; integrated pest and disease
management; soils; and tree structure, which
will continue to be a focus in PIPS2. PIPS2
will also continue to work with APAL to
ensure that industry is aware of, and can
implement, key findings from the research.
PIPS1
PIPS1 started in 2009 and some of its key
findings included:
Site preparation
• Soil amendment with biochar ameliorates
replant disorder and improves soil water
infiltration.
• Soil tests should include a measure of
hot-water extractable carbon that is an
excellent indicator of soil health.
Orchard system design and tree
management
• Growing systems that do not capture at
least 60 per cent light interception will
have limited yield potential.
• Artificial spur extinction (ASE) to 6 buds
per centimetre of branch cross-sectional
area (BCA) for Cripps Pink and 4-5 buds
per cm of BCA for Gala led to optimal
fruit size and higher pack outs.
www.apal.org.au
• Trees can be operationally set up to
ASE at costs similar to conventional
management, but require less resources
to maintain ASE once established.
Irrigation
• Understanding the mechanisms behind
biennial bearing and identifying cultivars
and crop management approaches to
reduce the incidence of biennial bearing
in apples.
• Crop water requirement in netted
orchards can be estimated from the daily
average fraction of shade cast by the trees
and reference crop evapotranspiration.
RM Consulting Group will independently
coordinate PIPS2 to enable researchers to
focus on their work and to help keep
growers updated with findings.
• Use of deficit irrigation can lead to
significant water savings and does not
increase likelihood of sunburn damage.
Exciting aspects of the PIPS2 program include:
Integrated pest and disease management
• Using genetics to better understand
biennial bearing – from the molecular
level to practical solutions.
• A key parasitoid of codling moth in
Kazakhstan, Mastrus ridens, was
approved for release and successfully
released in the Goulburn Valley.
• Zeroing in on irrigation and fertigation
requirements, and developing a practical
and simple-to-use decision support tool
for growers.
• The existence of at least three different
biotypes of woolly apple aphid in south
eastern Australia was demonstrated.
• Potential for more integrated pest and
disease management to reduce chemical
usage.
• Found that Heringia calcarata, a syrphid
fly native to North America that is the
most abundant predator of Woolly Apple
Aphid in Virginia and Washington, USA,
is suitable for introduction to Australia.
We will keep you updated via Australian
Fruitgrower, Industry Juice newsletter and
the APAL website.
More on the PIPS1 program is on the
APAL website
(apal.org.au/pips-report-now-available).
PIPS2
Acknowledgements
PIPS2 is funded by Horticulture Innovation
Australia Ltd using the apple and pear
industry levy funds from growers and
matching funds from the Australian
Government. :afg
Based on the success of PIPS1, industry
agreed to contribute levy funds to continue
PIPS2 research on:
• Developing more localised and fit-forpurpose approaches to irrigation and
fertigation.
• Setting up and testing the effectiveness
of Mastrus ridens release to control codling
moth across a broader range of orchard
environments.
About the authors:
Kristen Stirling and Anne-Maree
Boland, consultants with RM Consulting
Group and PIPS2 Program coordinators.
t: 03 9882 2670
e: anne-mareeb@rmcg.com.au.
25
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
Precision fertigation to improve
apple orchard productivity
By Nigel Swarts
Over three years, Nigel Swarts and the team at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)
have investigated optimising apple orchard productivity through fertigation to get nitrogen
applications just right to get the most benefit and avoid vigour and poor fruit quality.
I
t is common practice in the apple
industry to apply fertiliser based
solely on standard ‘off the shelf’
recommendations to meet the high nutrient
requirements of apple production. Precision
apple tree nutrition requires consideration
of many factors including irrigation
requirement, crop load, tree size, fruit
quality specifications, the soil’s capacity
to retain and supply nutrients, and
minimising off-site impact. By attending
to these factors and optimising nutrient
inputs, fruit quality and shelf life can
be improved.
Details of fertigation and irrigation trials established at Lucaston
and University of Tasmania sites.
Trial
Location
Variety and
rootstock
N fertigation
Lucaston Park
‘Galaxy’ on
and irrigation
Orchards,
M26 rootstock
trial (2012-2015). southern Tasmania
Treatments
Irrigation:
a) High (3.9 L/hr),
b) Medium (2.3 L/hr)
c) Low (1.6 L/hr).
Fertigation – Nitrogen (N)
supplied as Ca(NO3)2.
a) Control – Zero N
Our Productivity Irrigation Pests and Soils
(PIPS) project aimed to:
b) Split half – 25%N Pre-harvest
and 25%N Post-harvest
(30 kg N/ha/annum)
• Determine the influence of nutrientand water-use efficiency on apple trees
through fertigation.
c) Split full – 50% N Pre-harvest
and 50% N Post-harvest
(60 kg N/ha/annum)
• Facilitate the development of fertigation
guidelines for growers to optimise whole
tree nutrition and fertiliser management.
d) Post-Harvest half – 50% N
Post-harvest
(30 kg N/ha/annum)
To tackle this challenging issue we brought
together a research team from within the
TIA’s Perennial Horticulture Centre (PHC);
the Department of Economic Development,
Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR),
Victoria; and the New Zealand Institute
of Plant and Food Research (PFR).
In this report, we present the outcomes
from three seasons of research trials at
Lucaston Park Orchard, Lucaston, Tasmania,
and the TIA, University of Tasmania.
e) Post-Harvest full – 100%N
Post-harvest equivalent
(60 kg N/ha/annum)
Potassium trial
(2014-2015).
Lucaston Park
‘Galaxy’ on
Orchards,
M26 rootstock
southernTasmania
Potassium (K) applied pre-harvest
at 50kg K/ha supplied as
Potassium nitrate (KNO3) and
Potassium sulphate (K2SO4) and
applied by either foliar spray
or fertigation
N15 trial
(2014 – 2015).
TIA Horticulture
Centre, UTAS
Sandy Bay
Campus
Nitrogen (N) supplied as Ca(NO3)2
enriched with 5% N15.
a) Pre-harvest application
(24g N/tree @5% N15);
‘Jonogold’ on
M26 rootstock
b) Post-harvest application
(24g N/tree@5% N15)
c) Control (zero N15)
26
www.apal.org.au
u
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
u
% Girth increase
6
b
ab
5
4
a
3
2
1
0
0N
15 kg N/ha 30 kg N/ha 30 kg N/ha 60 kg N/ha
pre + post pre + post
post
post
Fertigation treatments
Low
Medium
High
Irrigation treatments
Percentage increase in trunk girth between 2013 and 2015 dormancy measurements under fertigation and irrigation treatments.
How water stress and water surplus affect
nitrogen uptake
The site conditions at Lucaston Park and the significant El Niño
influence for the duration of this trial meant that the study of
water stress was always going to be tricky. Rainfall was evenly
distributed throughout the year and tree roots were found to be
accessing a high water table at this site. Water stress was difficult
to impose. However, varying irrigation treatments still provided
an interesting insight into the relationship between irrigation
rates, nitrogen uptake and fruit quality.
Tree vigour, fruit quality, and dormant buds
Irrigation had a strong influence on tree vigour in the Lucaston
trial. This was measured as both increases in trunk girth and
branch length. Surplus irrigation in the high irrigation (3.9 L/hr)
treatment significantly increased tree girth.
Tree vigour was also influenced by nitrogen treatments. Current
season (pre-harvest) nitrogen application rather than the total
nitrogen applied over a season increased branch length, an
indication of greater tree vigour. This was supported by the
N15 pot trial where the majority of the current season’s nitrogen
supply was found to be present in the canopy.
Flower buds sampled at dormancy received the benefit of both
a pre- and post-harvest nitrogen application. However, the result
wasn’t as clear for vegetative buds. We understand and predict
that increased nitrogen content in the buds at dormancy facilitates
a healthy start to the following growing season.
Irrigation supply was found to have no effect on the nitrogen
content of woody tissue, buds, fruit or leaves. The ready supply
of water from rainfall and ground water meant that a true
deficit irrigation treatment was not possible.
Despite this, irrigation was shown to significantly increase fruit
size under the highest treatment. The low irrigation treatment
produced the smallest fruit with the greatest fruit firmness and
total soluble solids. This indicates that fruit size is likely to be
most affected by a relatively small reduction in water supply,
while nitrogen uptake is less responsive.
How nitrogen application timing and rates
affect yield and quality
The nitrogen application rate had a strong effect on tree nitrogen
uptake and fruit quality for Galaxy apple trees at Lucaston.
Applying nitrogen at the highest rate in the current season always
had the strongest influence on leaf nitrogen content and fruit
quality, although the results were not always significant.
For example, leaf nitrogen in 2015, under the highest pre-harvest
treatment, was consistently higher than other treatments, matched
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27
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
u
2.7
1.5
1.4
Vegetative bud
b
0N
b
15 kg N/ha pre + post
30 kg N/ha pre + post
2.5
Total N (%)
Total N (%)
1.3
b
Flower bud
b
a
1.2
1.1
1
30 kg N/ha post
60 kg N/ha post
2.3
2.1
0.9
0.8
1.9
0N
15 kg N/ha
pre + post
30 kg N/ha
pre + post
30 kg N/ha
post
60 kg N/ha
post
Total nitrogen (%) of flower and vegetative buds at dormancy in 2014 under
fertigation treatments. Error bars denote standard error and letters indicate
significant differences between treatments.
only later in the season by the greatest post-harvest nitrogen
treatment. As you would expect, the response in leaf nitrogen
content to applied nitrogen was most pronounced in the month
after application.
At harvest, on average, fruit nitrogen was greatest with currentseason nitrogen supply; however this result was only significant
in the final season of the trial. These results are important as they
had an influence on fruit quality outcomes. At commercial harvest,
fruit colour indicated that high current season nitrogen delayed
ripening. Fruit red colour was reduced and more green background
colour was observed under high current-season nitrogen supply.
Strong correlations irrespective of treatment between fruit nitrogen
(%) and fruit colour further highlighted its influence.
A strong correlation between fruit nitrogen (%) and firmness
demonstrated the detrimental effect of high levels of pre-harvest
nitrogen. These results were not surprising given the sink strength
of fruit demonstrated by the N15 trial, where over 30 per cent of
current season nitrogen supply was present in fruit.
Other nutrients
We measured the nutrient content (calcium, potassium and
magnesium) of fruit at the final harvest when treatment effects
were expected to have had their greatest cumulative effect.
Nitrogen fertigation treatments affected the ratio of nitrogen
Nov-14
Dec-14
Jan-15
Feb-15
Mar-15
Apr-15
Total nitrogen (%) in bourse leaves of apple trees under fertigation
treatments during the 2014/15 season. Fertigation periods are
coloured transparent bars.
to each of these elements. Fruit nutrient ratios of N:K and N:Ca
increased in a similar pattern to nitrogen supply. High nitrogen
is associated with an increase in tree vigour.
The bigger canopy of the high nitrogen treatment trees may explain
the lower concentration of these nutrients in fruit as they are
directed to the more rapidly transpiring new leaves. The greater
fruit size achieved with the high nitrogen treatment could also
have contributed to the higher ratio of nitrogen to these nutrients
in fruit due to a dilution effect.
Indeed, the highest levels (% dry matter) of potassium (K), calcium
(Ca) and magnesium (Mg) were found in the smallest control fruit.
This treatment effect was not repeated in the leaf nutrient content.
Interestingly, three seasons of nitrogen supply as Calcium Nitrate
(Ca(NO3)2), did not lead to an increase in calcium in the fruit
or leaves. This may be due to the long legacy of (Ca(NO3)2)
applications at the site as seen in the very high calcium level
in the leaves (2.5%).
Potassium treatments did little to increase levels of potassium in
the fruit, however leaf potassium levels one week post application
were increased by foliar potassium treatments. Although not
significant, there was a trend for decreased nitrogen, calcium
and magnesium content in harvested fruit under potassium
treatments and therefore increasing ratios N:K, K:Ca and
K:Mg. No significant differences were found for all fruit quality
parameters with exception to Total Soluble Solids after 10
weeks in storage where the foliar treatments performed
superior to fertigated treatments.
No nutrient deficiencies were observed in the orchard after three
seasons of fertigation and irrigation treatments, however some
preference for nitrogen and potassium nutrient uptake was
observed following nitrogen and potassium fertilisation.
The influence of fertigation on nitrogen
storage and remobilisation
Nitrogen uptake versus remobilisation
Fertigation equipment installed at the Lucaston Park Orchard site of
Galaxy apples.
28
This trial showed that total current season nitrogen uptake did
not vary significantly between applications made pre- and postharvest. Despite similar total uptake, the current-season nitrogen
u
distribution throughout the tree was significantly different.
www.apal.org.au
Total N (% dry matter)
ORCHARD MANAGEMENT
0.45
0.45
0.35
0.35
0.25
0.25
0.15
0.15
4
5
6
7
Background colour
8
8.5
9
9.5
10
Firmness (Guss texture analyser)
Correlations between total nitrogen content in fruit and fruit quality parameters of background colour and firmness.
Pre-harvest nitrogen accumulated predominantly in the canopy
with over half of the pre-harvest nitrogen applied present in buds
and fruit. In contrast, less than a quarter of post-harvest nitrogen
was found in the canopy. This is believed to be a result of the
sink strength of developing fruit and leaves in the pre-harvest
period. There was little difference between trunk N15 content
of pre- and post-harvest nitrogen treatments, however, N15
partitioning towards the trunk was found to increase approaching
dormancy indicating its importance as a storage region.
Recommendations
Post-harvest nitrogen application directed more current-season
nitrogen to the below ground region compared with trees
receiving pre-harvest application. Given that we could only assess
the current season’s uptake, we were unable to determine the
influence that remobilised nitrogen had on current season growth.
• The remaining balance of total nitrogen supply should be
provided post-harvest but this may not be ideal for later
cropping varieties in some regions.
Nitrogen storage
Results show a trend for greater allocation of current season
nitrogen to storage after receiving the post-harvest nitrogen
treatment. This has potential to increase nitrogen availability for
the following season’s early spring growth.
This is not surprising because the pre-harvest treatment diverted
a greater proportion of its nitrogen to fruit (35%), which are
removed from the system. Yet the difference in the quantity of
nitrogen stored between the treatments wasn’t that stark. This is
due to the highly efficient withdrawal (100%) of current season
nitrogen from the leaves back into storage organs.
• The total nitrogen supply needs to be matched to the site/soil
conditions with consideration to tree and fruit responses to
historic fertiliser regimes, which requires accurate records of
fertiliser management and crop response.
• Pre-harvest nitrogen supply should occur no earlier than four
weeks after full bloom and uptake efficiency (avoiding leaching)
will be optimised through providing weekly applications.
Future research
Discussion between the PIPS Precision Fertigation team and an
industry panel comprising growers and advisors during the course
of the project has identified key knowledge gaps that should be
addressed in the next PIPS2:
• What are the sources, temporal patterns, and relative contributions
to nitrogen supply of plant-available nitrogen in the orchard?
• When is the peak nitrogen demand by the tree and how
much is provided by internal tree nitrogen?
• A decision support tool for advisors and growers to assist
with fertigation and irrigation management in all major
apple-growing regions.
Key points
• High rates of irrigation increase tree vigour and fruit size with
a corresponding decrease in fruit firmness.
• High rates of nitrogen pre-harvest increase tree vigour with a
large proportion of this nitrogen being directed to the canopy.
Pre-harvest nitrogen application also increased fruit nitrogen
content. There was a corresponding reduction in the proportion
of calcium, potassium and magnesium relative to nitrogen in
the fruit. This has potential to negatively affect fruit post-harvest
quality. High nitrogen content of the fruit was associated with
delayed ripening, reduced fruit colour and decreased fruit firmness.
• The distribution of nitrogen within the tree was strongly influenced
by timing of nitrogen application. A greater proportion of
nitrogen was directed to the canopy from pre-harvest nitrogen
application whereas post-harvest nitrogen was directed to storage.
www.apal.org.au
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this work
including TIA staff Garth Oliver, Justin Direen, Marcus Hardie,
Sally Bound, Michele Buntain and Dugald Close. Special thanks
to TIA honours students Matthew Morris and James Ridges for
their projects which added significant value to the project.
PIPS2 is funded by Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd using the
apple and pear industry levy funds from growers and matching
funds from the Australian Government. :afg
About the author:
Nigel Swarts, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University
of Tasmania
t: 0422 538 554 | e: nigel.swarts@utas.edu.au
29
INDUSTRY ISSUES
Levies: where your
money goes
By Annie Farrow
All commercial apple and pear growers pay levies to support industry research and development,
marketing, residue testing and biosecurity – but who gets what and how is it really spent?
I
Over the past four years (to July 2015), R&D levies collected have
averaged $1.5 million per year for apples and $0.5 million for
pears. Marketing levies have raised an average of $2.3 million
per year for apples and $0.9 million for pears.
n the news section of this edition there is an article about
the likelihood of the Emergency Plant Pest Response (EPPR)
levy being increased from its current state of zero to a
positive amount to fund the apple and pear industry’s share
of the eradication of three species of Torres Strait Fruit Fly.
But it may be useful to take a step back, to look at the levy system,
outline what growers pay in levies each year, to whom, and why.
Levy collection and disbursement
In total, the Australian Government collects between about $5.2
and $5.8 million dollars every year from apple and pear growers
in the form of levies (depending on production levels). This amounts
to about one cent per kilogram for every apple or pear grown.
The levy funds collected by the Government comprise separate
pools and flow directly from the Levy Revenue Service to the
legislated recipient – no money flows directly to APAL. These
separate pools include the well-known research and development
(R&D) levy and the marketing levy, all of which is disbursed
directly to Horticulture Innovation Australia Ltd (Hort Innovation).
APAL plays an important role in representing grower interests in
assisting Hort Innovation to make decisions about where to invest
the R&D and marketing levies and in disseminating the outputs
and outcomes of these investment activities to ensure that
grower profitability and sustainability is continuously improved.
Chemical residue testing
Often over looked, are the levies collected from growers to fund
chemical residue testing and to support plant health, which are
all critical to domestic and international trade, market access
and biosecurity.
Growers currently pay 0.075 cents per kilogram on fresh apples
and pears sold to support residue testing performed by the
National Residue Survey (NRS) – a division of the Department of
Agriculture and Water Resources. The NRS is important because
it demonstrates that growers manage pests and diseases and
fruit production by complying with the maximum residue levels
and withholding periods established by the chemical regulator, the
Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).
The results of residue testing are published annually on APAL’s
website. This establishes growers as good corporate citizens
to buyers – retailers and consumers alike, and gives us a ‘social
licence’ to operate. The NRS service allows any non-compliance
by an individual grower to be followed up (confidentially) by
relevant state authorities.
Average annual amount of levy funds disbursed*
Apples
Pears
Total
Disbursed to
R&D
$1,533,000
$539,300
$2,072,300
Hort Innovation
Marketing
$2,269,000
$931,600
$3,200,600
Hort Innovation
$160,900
$54,200
$215,100
$22,100
$0
$22,100
Plant Health Australia
$0
$0
$0
$3,985,000
$1,525,100
$5,510,100
National Residue Survey
subscription
Emergency Plant Pest
Response Deed (EPPRD)
Total
Department of Agriculture
and Water Resources
u
* Levies disbursed equals the levies collected minus the cost of government cost recovery.
30
www.apal.org.au
INDUSTRY ISSUES
Apple and pear levy charge rate*
u
Whilst many growers, and especially exporters, outsource their
own testing to meet specific requirements, the NRS has one extra
advantage. The scheme is managed by the Commonwealth
Government which is important to many Asian buyers. Our
industry’s terrific credentials in meeting stringent Australian food
safety chemical residue standards demonstrates our ‘clean, green
and safe’ image to Asian buyers, who place heavy emphasis on
trusted government services.
Plant health and biosecurity
Levies are also collected to fund plant health and biosecurity
activities carried out by Plant Health Australia (PHA). Growers
currently pay 0.02 cents per kilogram (on fresh apples) to fund
these activities which include biosecurity preparedness, contingency
plans, training, and managing the biosecurity relationship between
governments and plant industries.
Pear growers, juicing apples and processing apples do not currently
fund the PHA subscription.
“
APAL plays an active role in assisting PHA in guiding the priorities
for its plant health and biosecurity activities. APAL contributes
to PHA’s strategic and annual operating plans, provides feedback
and input on apple and pear biosecurity needs, assists with the
development of the Industry Biosecurity Plan as well as contingency
plans for high risk exotic pests, and supports the owner
reimbursement framework (which underpins how growers might
be compensated for financial losses caused by any approved
exotic pest eradication program).
More importantly, APAL is the apple and pear industry’s signatory
to the Emergency Plant Pest Response Deed, which is managed
by PHA. This Deed is a legal agreement between the governments
(Commonwealth and States) and plant industry members
(through industry representative bodies).
The Deed documents how responses to emergency plant pest
incidents will be managed and funded, and formalises the role
of the apple and pear industry (through APAL) in decision making.
Most importantly, the Deed provides the framework which
...the Australian Government
collects between about $5.2 and
$5.8 million dollars every year
from apple and pear growers in
the form of levies...
www.apal.org.au
Product
Levy charge rate
Apples**:
1.845 cents per kilogram
Pears (excluding nashi)**:
2.099 cents per kilogram
Juicing Apples:
$2.75 per tonne
Juicing Pears (excluding nashi):
$2.95 per tonne
Processing Apples:
$5.50 per tonne
Processing Pears (excluding nashi): $5.90 per tonne
* Levy rates are current as at 1 October 2013.
**The rates for apples and pears (excluding nashi) include an
export charge.
Note that all apple and pear levies collected that go to
research and development are combined into a single pool
to fund R&D for both apples and pears. However, all apple
levies collected that go to marketing fund apple marketing
activities only and likewise, pear levies fund separate pear
marketing activities.
establishes how each party – the Commonwealth, the States
and industries affected by an exotic pest – would contribute
to the costs of an eradication program. It includes a framework
for establishing how individual growers and packers might be
reimbursed if they face specific financial losses caused by an
eradication program (say, if trees have to be pulled).
In the event of an incursion of an exotic disease agreement
would be sought amongst government and affected parties
that eradication is both necessary and is cost effective. The State
government where the incursion takes place would operate the
eradication effort. They would incur costs and these costs will
eventually have to be repaid by affected industries and governments
according to pre-determined shares. Industry would repay its share
of eradication costs through funds raised via the emergency plant
pest response levy.
Status of the EPPR levy
In August 2007, Australian apple and pear growers agreed, at
an annual Levy Payers’ Meeting, to establish the emergency plant
pest response (EPPR) levy to provide for an emergency eradication
program. The rate was initially set at zero because, at that time,
we were not faced with an incursion from any exotic pests or
diseases. No funds have therefore been collected by the
Commonwealth nor disbursed to PHA for this purpose.
However, as mentioned earlier, the industry will now need
to activate this levy to a positive rate to support industry and
government efforts to eradicate Torres Strait Fruit Fly. Growers
are unlikely to see a visible change in the amount of levy they
each pay because our share of the eradication effort is very
small relative to the overall levy collection for all purposes.
More detail will be provided shortly about the activation of this
levy. :afg
Annie Farrow, Industry Services Manager, APAL
t: (03) 9329 3511 | m: 0408 526 786 | e: afarrow@apal.org.au
31
I N D U S T R Y D ATA
Export profits: making cents
of the currency exchange
By Yang Song
The depreciating Australian dollar has improved the Australian industry’s competitive
position in a significant number of key markets. APAL’s Economist Yang Song, has identified
which countries would benefit most from recent currency exchange rate movements and
therefore would be good for Australian exporters to target.
T
his report analyses the exchange rate movements of
major Australian apple and pear trading partners across
22 countries from 2007 to 2015.
Up until 2013, the Australian dollar (AUD) appreciated strongly
against the US dollar (USD), rising from US $0.7939 in 2007 to
a peak of over US $1.1055 in 2011, making exports of Australian
apples and pears uncompetitive. Then, in June 2013 it started
depreciating, providing an advantage for Australian apple and
pear exporters.
“
This report examines the AUD performance against the currencies
of importers and export competitors. It confirms that Australian
apple and pear export opportunities have improved in certain
countries, especially those countries who fix their exchange rate
to the US dollar (USD).
Exchange rate trends: what they mean for
Australian exporters
The exchange rate has a significant effect on international trade.
An undervalued or depreciating currency favours domestically
produced tradable goods, protecting domestic firms from imports
and giving them an incentive to export.
Measuring the exchange rate, the value of the AUD is generally
reported as a nominal bilateral rate against the USD. This report
shows the value of the AUD, rising and falling against a number
of different currencies.
Currently, 15 countries
analysed offer more favourable
currency trading conditions
than they did in 2011.
32
Up until 2013 when the AUD was appreciating, exporting was
a challenge for Australian producers because it was more costly
for buyers to purchase Australian fruit. The situation also made
the pricing of other Southern Hemisphere apple and pear
producers more competitive compared to Australian producers.
The decreasing value of the AUD since 2013 now provides
Australian exporters with an advantage.
We looked at the percentage changes of the exchange rate
of the AUD against a number of trading partners’ currencies
over the last nine years, focussing on the last two and a half
year period, because this is when we have seen the greatest
depreciation, leading to a significant potential up-side for
Australian exporters.
Currently, 15 countries analysed offer more favourable currency
trading conditions than they did in 2011.
Between 2007 and 2015, the AUD depreciated against nine
countries including our major trading partners the United States,
China and Japan. Of greater relevance today is the results when
we look at the last two and a half years of the depreciating
Australian dollar, showing an improved position in 15 of the
22 countries that we trade or compete with.
When the AUD becomes weaker, Australia’s exported products
become relatively cheaper to Australia’s trading partners. It also
indicates that Australia’s exported products are more competitive
against other producing countries that have a focus on exporting
into like markets.
Which export markets should we target now?
It has become increasingly advantageous over the last two and
a half years to export Australian apples and pears to Hong Kong,
United Kingdom, Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand,
New Zealand and Europe as the AUD has depreciated against
their respective currencies.
It is also worthwhile to note that in APAL’s recent report on
Australian apple exports in 2015 (see Apple and pear exports
up, page 7), that the United Arab Emirates grew significantly
as an export market. Unfortunately at the time of preparing
www.apal.org.au
u
I N D U S T R Y D ATA
Argentina (ARS)
South Africa (ZAR)
Chile (CLP)
Indonesia (IDR)
Malaysia (MYR)
Mexico (MXN)
Canada (CAD)
Poland (PLN)
Europe (EUR)
Japan (JPY)
New Zealand (NZD)
Thailand (THB)
Singapore (SGD)
India (INR)
Index
Taiwan (TWD)
Philippines (PHP)
China (CNY)
Vietnam (VND)
Per cent change in AUD value against trading partners’
currencies over 2.5 years (Jun 2013 - Dec 2015)
South Korea (KRW)
United Kingdom (GBP)
United States (USD)
Hong Kong (HKD)
u
96%
25%
Advantage
3%
-18% -17%
-23% -23% -20% -19% -19%
“
-10% -10% -9% -8% -8%
-15% -14% -13% -13%
5%
7%
7%
8%
Disadvantage
The AUD has appreciated in value against the countries shown in red on the right side of the graph leading to a disadvantage for Australian apple
and pear exporters when exporting to or competing against local product in these countries.
The AUD has depreciated in value against the countries shown in blue on the left, leading to an advantage for Australian apple and pear exporters
when selling produce to these countries or competing against local product in those markets.
this report we did not have the full exchange rate history for
the United Arab Emirates dirham (AED), but in future analyses it
would be interesting to include the AED too. Also of note is the
improved opportunities in India.
Who’s more competitive now?
The percentage change in the AUD against the currencies of
other countries that export apples and pears – our competitors –
also helps us assess opportunities. Unfortunately in the last two
and a half years, the AUD appreciated against key competitors’
currencies including Chile, South Africa and Argentina – making
them more cost-competitive.
Conclusion
The depreciating Australian dollar over the last two and a half
years, means Australia’s exporting opportunities have improved
in comparison to some countries, especially countries whose
currency is linked to the USD.
In the last year, Australian apple and pear export volumes have
increased. And while there is limited evidence to suggest that
this occurred because of a depreciating AUD (it is certainly a
contributing factor), there is an opportunity for Australian
exporters to take advantage of the lower AUD value in certain
markets to improve their export volumes and profit. Plus, the more
we export the better our domestic supply and pricing is. :afg
It has become increasingly advantageous
over the last two and a half years to export
Australian apples and pears to Hong Kong,
United Kingdom, Vietnam, China, Taiwan,
Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand and Europe
as the AUD has depreciated against their
respective currencies.
www.apal.org.au
What this means…
If you were supplying
into Hong Kong in 2011 at
$3.00 per kg, to maintain
that same profit margin,
now you could sell for
$2.30 per kg.
Yang Song, Economist, APAL
t: (03) 9329 3511 | e: data@apal.org.au
33
R&D
International apple and
pear research update
Compiled by Dr Gordon Brown
Research snippets are sourced from abstracts of published scientific papers collated in the CAB direct database. To get the
abstract related to any snippet please contact Gordon Brown on gordon@scientifichorticulture.com.au or 03 6239 6411.
Nurseries and
breeding
Managing laterals
Russia: After removing the
shoot apex the removal of
the remaining top 3-4 leaves
further increases the number
of laterals that develop in
nursery trees.
Nursery fertiliser use
consequences
Poland: The fertilisers used
in the nursery can affect
subsequent tree vigour and
fruit productivity for two years
after planting in an orchard.
Rootstock selection
Romania: The production of
trees using MM111 rootstock
with B9 interstems reduces
tree size compared to MM106
and trees have superior
branch structure and fruit
bud development.
Pear rootstocks
New Zealand: A study of
fruitful dwarfing pear rootstocks
has identified pear rootstocks
have the same dwarfing gene
as M9 rootstocks.
Production
Humic acid applications
Iran: Humic acid (15mg/L)
foliar application at 2, 4 and
8 weeks after full bloom to
Granny Smith trees decreased
growth and increased fruit
yield and sugar with no effect
on fruit size.
34
Nutrient use, Bartlett
pears
India: Bartlett pears have a
positive relationship between
foliar N, P, K, S, Zn, Cu, Fe
and Mn and fruit size, sugar
and yield while Ca was only
associated with improved
firmness and Mg with lower
fruit sugars.
Zinc deficiency problems
China: Trials have shown that
zinc deficiency reduces the
photosystem light-harvesting
efficiency and hence
photosynthesis prior to visual
symptoms of Zn deficiency.
Pollinator successes
Romania: Dalinette apples
pollinated with Idared were
firmer and larger at harvest
than those pollinated with
Priam or Golden Delicious.
Root pruning in Fuji
China: Root pruning and
nitrogen fertilizer of potted
Fuji in October improved
photosynthesis, the number
and length of fine roots and
inhibited vegetative growth
while promoting reproductive
growth.
Nitrogen ratio effects
Iran: Two apple cultivars
were grown in different
nitrate:ammonia ratios and
while ammonia had little
effect on most fruit quality
parameters it did lead to softer
fruit at harvest.
Pests and
diseases
Alternaria in pears
Netherlands: Alternaria
infection of pear trees causes
partial or complete necrosis of
flower buds during winter
leading to the death of most
flowers and decay of buds at
flowering.
Reducing apple ring rot
China: Application of GA4+7
to apples reduces the area of
lenticels on the fruit skin and
increases cuticular wax thickness
reducing the fruit susceptibility
to apple ring rot infection.
Natural aphid control
Hungary: Trials in Hungary
and the UK have shown that
providing ants with sucrose
reduces their protection of
rosy apple aphid, causing
increased numbers of aphid
predators allowing for
natural pest control.
Black spot in pears
South Africa: A study of
pear black spot has found
that, unlike apple black spot,
twig infections can occur
and these have an important
role in the life cycle of black
spot of pears.
Acid soils reduce fungus
Measuring pear sugar
South Africa: Arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungal infection
of apple roots is reduced in
acidic soils.
China: Research has shown
that dielectric spectroscopy has
potential to non-destructively
measure pear sugar and
firmness.
Post-harvest
Predicting fruit sugar
China: NIR was used on Fuji
apples and found to accurately
predict fruit sugar and moisture
content, adequately predict
acidity but could not predict
firmness.
Improving apple colour
China: Application of 10
mg/litre of 5-aminolevulinic
acid to apple trees 10 days
before harvest improved apple
colour and sugar content and
decreased acidity.
Ozone to reduce fungus
Reducing listeria, apple
slices
USA: The application of
bacteriophages in Listshield™
to Listeria contaminated apple
slices significantly reduced the
Listeria population.
Italy: Ozone at 0.5µL/L in
the storage atmosphere of
Penicillium infected Gala and
Golden Delicious apples
reduced fungal populations
and patulin production.
www.apal.org.au
W E AT H E R A N D Q U I Z
Temperature and rainfall data
1/1/2016 – 31/1/2016
Ave
Temp
Min
Ave
Temp
Max
Ave
Ave
Humidity Soil
Temp
Ave max
wind
speed
km/h
Evaporation Ave leaf
mils
wetness
for the
per/day
period
Rainfall
for
period
Rainfall
to date
from 1st
Jan 2016
Degree
Total
Days for Degree
the month Days from
1st Sept
Frost Hrs
under
1ºC for
period
Ave
daylight
hr/day
Orange NSW
15
28
67
21
32
100
14
111
111
288
939
0
14
Huon TAS
11
25
64
20
32
130
2
35
35
212
681
0
14
Manjimup WA
11
22
70
18
25
95
n/a
47
47
168
852
0
12
Stanthorpe QLD
14
27
77
23
26
152
26
33
33
299
n/a
0
13
Ardmona VIC
17
34
62
29
34
118
6
60
60
404
1428
0
15
Lenswood SA
13
30
69
25
26
96
7
69
69
296
1016
0
15
The data presented here is from APFIP’s upgraded weather stations at evaluation sites only and may not represent the total district.
Degree days are recorded from 1 September to 30 April and is reported per month and as a running total for the period. Degree
days are calculated for the season immediately following collection of data.
A much larger range of data from the new stations is now available online at www.weather.apfip.com.au.
For more information contact: Mark Hankin, 0408 503 528 or mark@apfip.com.au
Greg’s Quiz
QUESTION 1:
QUESTION 4:
(True or False):
Pear blossoms are much less
attractive to bees than apple
blossoms, due to lower sugar
content in the nectar.
Known as the “Europe’s
Orchard” due to its long fruit
growing tradition the region
of Huerta de Murcia in Spain
is most famous for what type
of fruit?
QUESTION 2:
What pear variety’s name
means trout in German?
A: Corella.
B: Forelle.
C: Kaiser.
D: Bierschmitt.
QUESTION 3:
What is the name of the
method of orchard tree layout,
which is a geometric pattern of
five points arranged in a cross?
A: Triangular.
B: Hexagon.
C: Quincunx.
D: Rectangular.
A: Apples.
B: Pears.
C: Citrus.
D: Olives.
Crossword
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
QUESTION 5:
To achieve optimal pollination
of apple trees, how many bee
hives are recommended per
hectare?
A: 2.
B: 5.
C: 10.
D: 15.
8
10
ACROSS
1. Apple variety featured in April field day, Qld
5. A good one of these prevents trees falling over
6. State with new apple and pear strategic plan
9. Canopy required for good light penetration
10. Type of bag helping with US apple sales
DOWN
2. Exports of this have increased 111%
3. Volatiles in apples create this
ANSWERS:
Q 1 – True. Q 2 – B: Forelle (so-called because its red spots resemble
that of a trout). Q 3 – C: Quincunx. Q 4 – C: Citrus. Q 5 – B: 5.
www.apal.org.au
4. New apple and pear marketing manager (4,4)
7. They are fighting changes to the horticulture award
8. Paid by commercial apple and pear growers
35

Vale Graphics 2013

Transcription

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