Next steps confirmed for APAL Forum and extension program
NewsAPAL has made the difficult decision to postpone the APAL Forum 2021- Grow Beyond to mid-2022.
APAL CEO Phil Turnbull said with most of states of Australia moving in and out of lockdowns over the past month, there was little prospect of rescheduling the event in 2021.
“We were genuinely excited by the content our presenters had to share at the Forum – as well as the opportunity to reconnect with our growers, the R&D community and the wider apple and pear industry.
“We had the conference at the starting gates and ready to run – but both times lockdowns and travel restrictions meant we couldn’t go ahead.
“After much consideration, we have made the call to prioritise sharing our presenters’ great content with our growers and industry, while we wait and hope for a return to onsite events that allow us to reconnect members of an industry that is dispersed across 10 local growing regions and all Australian states,” said Phil.
With the APAL Forum featuring presenters from overseas and across Australia, APAL had captured several presentations to accommodate travel restrictions and time zones.
“Over the next few weeks we will contact all our presenters to thank them and to discuss options to share their valuable contributions,” said Phil.
“We look forward to sharing this content and to introduce new ways to move ‘beyond Zoom’ to deliver high quality and engaging content to everyone – everywhere,” said Phil.
Reshaping the future for extension services
The Forum would also have celebrated APAL’s take-over of the apple and pear industry’s extension program Future Orchards®. The entire program is now funded by APAL and no longer relies on grower R&D levies.
“We are excited by the opportunity to blend the proven strengths of this program with deeper national and international research, collaboration and partnerships via APAL’s well-established global networks,” said Phil.
“There’s genuine opportunities to support the Australian R&D community – and to expand the innovative research and solutions available to Australian apple and pear industry,” said Phil.
2021 extension opportunities
With Covid-19 continuing to thwart face to face delivery, APAL is resetting its program for the next 6 months to enable a mix of online, beamed in and local onsite delivery – and a return to national delivery when this is possible.
“Our quarterly magazine, weekly e-newsletters and knowledge hub (website) will be so important for members and researchers over the coming months, and we encourage industry to talk with us to access our support and services,” said Phil.
