On the 7th of November, PCA hosted the first of the National Horticulture Roadshow events in Adelaide. The funding was gained after a tender process with the initial intent to run events in Western Australia, South Australia, and Queensland.
The original timetable was somewhat disrupted by the outbreak of Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus with growers being hesitant to attend events where there may have been the potential for any cross-contamination. However, with the outbreak issue having reached something of a holding pattern, the decision was made to hold an event in Adelaide at a neutral venue.
The event was scheduled to be held at Sneaky's Restaurant in Angle Vale, and was widely advertised through the PCA social media pages and a targeted email program using the 'Mailchimp' program. This was all coordinated by administration assistant Jade Lewis.
The organisation of the event was largely run by PCA Industry Development Officer, Matt Plunkett and PCA Project Officer, Tony Bundock, and Roveno Next and Muirs kindly sponsored the event.
The proceedings started at 2:30 pm and were hosted by Tony Bundock and PCA Director, Alastair McLean.
Alastair McLean
The event also included the serving of finger food throughout the proceedings and the room set out included two large tables running the length of the room.
A total of 53 delegates attended the event with a range of growers and trade representatives.
Tony provided an introduction to the event and acknowledged the National and local event sponsors. The new PCA membership rates and the upcoming conference were also highlighted and QR codes for membership and the conference were distributed across the tables to allow delegates to scan the code and access details.
Alastair McClean acted as MC to start the more formal proceedings and our first speaker was Dr Anita Marquart from Bugs for Bugs who provided a generic overview of the Integrated Pest Management Process.
Dr. Anita Marquart
This was followed by a more in-depth view of issues associated with IPM from Stephanus Malherbe who also highlighted software that is available to assist growers in pest-level monitoring. Stephanus also introduced the Biobest Academy which is a great learning resource for the principles and practices of Integrated Pest Management.
Stephanus Malherbe
Following on from this was Alastair Delooze from Denso presenting on current and emerging technologies for the Protected Cropping Industry. Alastair highlighted several developments that could be of potential use to the industry to assist in the IPM process.
Alastair Delooze
The presentations were concluded with a grower panel hosted by Alastair McClean, and the panel was made up of Paula Yoshicawa, Vyras Thach, and Andrew Braham,
This allowed everyone to hear firsthand about generic issues impacting the individual growers as well as their approach to Integrated Pest Management.
A Project Officer, Tony Bundock said: "It was great to have so many delegates attend the event which provided such a great opportunity for both knowledge transfer and networking. We are looking forward to presenting more roadshow events across the country in the next six months."
The next PCA / National Roadshow event is planned for Wednesday the 4th of December and will be held at the Warragul Campus of Community College Gippsland. Speakers at the event will include Channel 7 weather presenter Jane Bunn, who will highlight a bespoke weather forecasting program. Additional presentations will include the use of drones for the application of shade material on greenhouse roofs, the use of a web-based platform for vegetable crop sales, and a technology update for crop production.
Further details of the next event can be found here.
For more information:
National Farmers Federation
https://nff.org.au/