CEO’s Report: Learnings from Industry Forum
As spring breaks and a new growing season gets underway, I’m pleased to unveil your first look at the refreshed APAL website. Rest assured the Future Orchards Library® and our most popular Industry Juice articles remain wholly intact, but now you’ll be able to find what you’re after more easily with a real search functionality (finally!) and improved mobile responsiveness for accessing content, registering for events and engaging with our team on-the-go.
CSIRO’s Dr Stefan Hajkowicz opens the 2019 APAL Industry Forum with predictions of a decade of digital disruption ahead.
In an unprecedented turnout for industry, over 200 growers, researchers, agronomists and pack house managers, came together for APAL’s Industry Forum in June. Among the crowd, we welcomed 17 representatives from our inaugural Young Members’ Network. Funded by APAL, the Network will provide leadership, networking and career opportunities for future leaders although I suspect there will be plenty of reverse-mentoring as knowledge, innovation and experience flows between generations of growers.As promised, it was a jam-packed agenda so two-months on, I thought I’d share the takeaways that have continued to resonate most strongly for me:
Planetary pushback
As growing regions heat up, the importance of programs like Future Orchards® to improve production techniques, as well as reinforcing the urgency of water-saving projects like the National Netting Program, cannot be understated. Ensuring that the unique drought support needs of horticultural growers with permanent plantings are not overlooked by Canberra must be a priority.
Going beyond gut feel
Capturing real-time data will enhance the operation of individual orchards, but even more powerfully, can help tackle industry-wide issues, improve planning, biosecurity and traceability. Most growers have the experience to know what to do and how to do it, but often lack the situational awareness that technology now provides. Vision systems, for example, can now capture critical information that trigger timely accurate decision making.
Start preparing yesterday
Market access to China has the potential to transform our Industry but the time to prepare is now. Instead of competing with other southern hemisphere producers, Australia’s strategy must be to send premium quality to China where branded fruits will command a premium price. To succeed, a continued focus on quality (MRLs, food safety, specifications etc.), and developing trusted relationships cannot be understated. The mind shift necessary to export is significant but cross-industry collaboration will help us accelerate faster, a point perfectly reinforced in Dr Stefan Hajkowicz’s opening keynote on Digital Disruption:“The best way to anticipate change in your sector is to spend sometime outside of it.
Lifelong learning
And for those who witnessed Cameron Schwab’s raw and captivating presentation, I suspect we each took away something different, but equally powerful.For me, it was a reminder that: “Leaders must drive their own learning.”
And that’s what the Forum was all about:
Challenging the status quo, embracing and adopting new ideas, connecting and talking to our peers –finding out what’s worked, what hasn’t and taking charge of our industry’s future.
Thank you to all who attended in June, I hope to see you again at our first Future Business event and dedicated Grower R&D Update later in October.
