November 2022 Future Orchards® Spring Series – Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Join us in orchard in the Adelaide Hills with international guest, Jorika Cronje, Horticulturalist and Soil Scientist from South Africa.
When: Tuesday 15 November 2022 at 1.30pm
Location: Presentation at Lenswood Bowling Club, 12 Coldstore Road, Lenswood SA, followed by the Orchard Walk at Ceravolo Orchards, 47 Chambers Road, Nairne SA 5252 (opposite Lot 100)
About the event
Do you have a harvest target? What’s your plan to achieve it?
Join us at APAL’s Future Orchards® Spring Orchard Walks from 14–18 November to find out what you can do now to get the most out of your trees for harvest.
The Spring Orchard Walk taking place in the Adelaide Hills on Tuesday 15 November will feature presentations from Jorika Cronje, Horticulturalist and Soil Scientist from South Africa, and Nic Finger from Fruit Help/AgFirst.
Jorika Cronje, Horticulturalist and Soil Scientist from South Africa will share the latest research outcomes and international practices in crop nutrition and attaining optimum fruit quality.
Nic Finger, director of Fruit Help and a member of the AgFirst team for Future Orchards, will lead discussions around how to use your block data to optimise returns at harvest. This includes how to identify, set and achieve crop targets, management actions to put in place, how to measure if you are on track and options if you are not on track.
What you will learn and discuss
- Optimising crop nutrition – based on updates from international research
- Identifying and setting crop targets (e.g. driving fruit size, high colour)
- Specific management actions to achieve targets (e.g. hand thinning priorities, budgeting for harvest labour).
Please note: The event will commence with lunch at 1.30pm at the Lenswood Bowling Club, with presentations to follow at 2.00pm. The Orchard Walk will take place at Ceravolo Orchards. Attendees are invited to make their own way to Lenswood Bowling Club and Ceravolo Orchards for the Orchard Walk.
About Jorika Cronje
Jorika grew up on a fruit farm in Montagu in the Western Cape, South Africa. She studied Horticulture and Soil Science at the University of Stellenbosch and has a Master Degree in Horticulture. For the last 15+ years, Jorika has worked as a consultant assisting growers with soil preparation and amelioration and fertiliser and nutrition programs.
About Nic Finger
Nic Finger is a director of Fruit Help, a horticultural consultancy group based in Victoria, Australia, and a member of the AgFirst team for Future Orchards. Nic grew up on his family’s apple orchard in Victoria’s Yarra Valley region. After a couple of university degrees, extensive travel (if looking at orchards counts!) and a few years based in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, Nic spends most of his time between apple and pear orchards in the Goulburn Valley and Yarra Valley.
Nic’s technical orchard consultancy is predominantly based ‘on the numbers’ reflecting his studies and data-driven approach to most tasks. In addition to grower decision support, Nic also assists growers with orchard development planning and runs a suite of on-farm research projects each year trialling new techniques and technology.
For further information, please contact [email protected].
