Business Development Group Update – December 2012
December 2012 | Prepared by Ross Wilson, AgFirst | Future Orchards® Business Development Group update
Ross Wilson of AgFirst reports that the Future Orchards® Focus Orchard and Business Development networks were becoming well established and generating useful regional and national data through OrchardNet.
Around 150 blocks were being monitored for fruit size across Australia, with growers encouraged to measure weekly and use growth rates as an indicator of tree and crop performance. The update links to training resources covering field fruit-size monitoring, OrchardNet data entry and OrchardNet reporting.
A Battunga Focus Orchard example shows the value of the information in practice. One block was tracking above the regional fruit-size average, giving the orchard manager confidence to increase the crop-load target by five to ten tonnes per hectare. Wilson estimated that an extra five tonnes per hectare could be worth about $7,000 per hectare in additional profit, illustrating the principle that growers cannot manage what they do not measure.
