POMEWEST future orchards

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Is your improve
or remove strategy

IMPACTING YOUR
BLOCK PROFIT

APAL’s Future Orchards® Spring orchard walk saw the Improve or Remove: diagnosing financial performance revisited with the most recent Orchard Business Analysis breakeven data discussed. Growers were able to focus on the costs and returns of blocks put into the categories of good or poor based on the variety and performance.

Words Susie Murphy White, Project Manager, Pomewest

WA held the spring future orchard walk on 18th November at Newton Orchards on Starkie road. It was a great turn out in the morning for the presentations at the DPIRD conference room where international guest speaker Dr Poliana Francescatto, Global Technical Development Manager at Valent BioSciences, explored the role of plant hormones in flower initiation, differentiation and other key processes in trees. Poli is an applied fruit physiologist with vast expertise in plant growth regulators (PGRs) and crop management for pome and stone fruits. Growers were able to gain an understanding of plant growth regulators and hormones to use more effectively during the season.

AgFirst’s horticultural consultant Sarah de Bruin built on the winter discussions of identifying the performance of the blocks and guided discussions on how growers can set up for a cost-efficient harvest with learnings from the Orchard Business Analysis (OBA) data.

Labour and post harvest costs have risen significantly and is one area where growers can make changes to improve the bottom line.

Strategies to impact block performance were presented and discussed further in the orchard.

Our host grower Ben Wilson from Newton Orchards had identified each of the blocks before the orchard walk and labelled each block as good or poor performers. Each block had undergone an analysis of harvest yield, pack out data and fruit size. Then each block given it’s status as to be removed or improved. This sparked discussion amongst the group of growers in the orchard. Some blocks were given a few seasons to improve before removing others were on the way out after the coming harvest. The importance of measuring block data down to the individual fruit attributes could identify opportunities for further gains and was a highlight during the morning.

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Acknowledgement

Thank you to Ben and the team at Newton Orchards for hosting the orchard walk.

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