Focus Orchard and trial update: April 2017

April 2017 | Jonathan Brookes, AgFirst | Future Orchards® Focus Orchard and trial update

This update reviews activity across the Future Orchards® Focus Orchard network during the 2017 season. Focus Orchard blocks were intended to take existing commercial orchards and, through concentrated management and monitoring, identify practical ways to improve performance.

The report sits within a program that combined block measurements, applied trials and grower discussion. Rather than treating innovation as a one-off demonstration, the Focus Orchard approach encouraged advisers and host growers to follow a question across multiple observations and seasons.

For growers, the report is useful as an example of extension in practice: establish a clear orchard objective, identify the factor most likely to limit performance, make a measurable management change and then review whether the response justifies wider adoption.

This April update follows the January 2017 trial report and should be read with the later regional updates to see how the different Focus Orchard projects progressed through the year.