Business Development Group Update – March 2019

March 2019 | Prepared by Nic Finger, AgFirst | Future Orchards® Business Development Group newsletter

The March 2019 newsletter encourages growers to use harvest as the starting point for next season’s plan. Nic Finger stresses the importance of collecting information at block level so that fruit recovery, quality, crop size and profitability can be linked to specific management units rather than averaged across the whole orchard.

The resource asks growers to review fruit left on the tree, likely return bloom, tree vigour and block profitability before pruning begins. Where a light bloom is expected, delaying pruning until blossom may help avoid over-pruning and excessive vegetative growth, particularly in biennially bearing blocks.

A structured postharvest review is recommended for each block, covering yield, fruit size, colour, maturity, recovery, return bloom, bud strength and pruning timing. The aim is to convert observations into a simple set of pruning and management rules that can be implemented and checked through the following season.