Business Development Group Update – September 2020

September 2020 | Prepared by Jack Wilson, AgFirst | Future Orchards® Business Development Group newsletter

The September 2020 Business Development Group newsletter focuses on spring crop-load decisions and the added labour uncertainty created by COVID-19. Jack Wilson encourages growers to use pruning numbers, block targets and OrchardNet planning tools to decide on chemical thinning strategies before hand-thinning demand peaks.

The issue treats labour planning as part of crop-load management rather than a separate business problem. OrchardNet can be used to estimate likely thinning and harvest labour requirements, helping growers identify where labour pressure will occur and where chemical thinning, crop targets or work sequencing may need to change.

Jack also reinforces the value of recording critical seasonal data as it occurs. Accurate tree counts, block areas, production targets and crop-load measurements create a record that supports better decisions both in the current spring and in future seasons.