Season S Greetings to All Dpifmers s1

This issue - harvest issues

Dear Reader,

Welcome to another issue of the PINT newsletter. This newsletter focussed on a range of issues confronting our Northern Territory plant industries as they head into the upcoming harvest seasons for vegetables and mangoes. The local vegetable industry has a number of practice and infrastructure issues within the supply chain that can impact on the quality of product delivered to our southern markets. Extension Officer Stuart Smith flags some important issues around this topic and how to remedy the situation.

With an announcement imminent from the Australian Pest and Veterinary Medicine Authority (APVMA), on fenthion as a post-harvest treatment on mangoes destined for interstate markets; this edition of PINT highlights some strategies and planning that mango producers might wish to consider in the event that fenthion is withdrawn from use between now and December. Finally, still with mangoes Stephen West discusses the Plant Health Act 2011 in regard to the subject of derelict or abandoned orchards.

Regards,

Warren Hunt Ph +61 (0)8 8999 2143 Fax +61 (0)8 8999 2049 Mobile: +61 (0)409 809 610 Email: [email protected]

1 Vegetable quality relies on what happens after harvest By: Stuart Smith, Vegetable Extension Officer

The Northern Territory vegetable season is in full swing, crops are being harvested, growers are busy, trucks are running up and down the highway and it’s all a bit frantic. It’s also frantic down at the markets in the cities of the southern states where wholesalers receive, re-pack and distribute what the NT has produced to their retail customers who sell it to the final consumers. We produce our vegetables when it is too cold for the rest of Australia to grow the same vegetables. The problem we have, however, is the long distance and time between where our vegetables are grown and where they are consumed, and the number of people who handle these vegetables in the chain that connects the two places.

Work done by the Department of Resources in the dry season of 2011 showed that there are times when everything doesn’t go to plan, and vegetables that leave the farm in excellent condition can deteriorate to the point of having to be thrown out when they get to their selling destination. A lot of this could be avoided with better cooling and temperature control.

of 8 Katherine Rural Review, Issue 290 At the farm, most Top End growers use cool rooms or water baths to cool and / or clean their vegetables. For some vegetables like sinqua, luffa and cucumbers, this is adequate, but not ideal. For vegetables that have higher respiration rates and produce their own heat, like okra and snake bean, these practices become more risky. Forced air cooling is a recommended technique to speed up cooling after vegetables come in from being picked. Using a fan and covers and an existing cool room, cold air can be sucked through crates and boxes, which speeds up the cooling process. Most NT vegetables are around 30°C when they are picked but require storage at temperatures ranging from 0 to 21°C (see Table 1), in order to achieve optimal product quality and shelf life. This temperature gap at harvest must be reduced relatively quickly post-harvest to minimise deterioration. Our studies showed that, in some cases in ordinary cool rooms where forced air cooling was not used, it took 15 hours to cool cucumbers to 20°C, still a long way from their optimum temperature storage of 10-12°C.

Table 1. Page 4 of 8 Katherine Rural Review, Issue 290 Growers need to work closely with their transport providers in the next part of the chain after the farm cool room. Most vegetables in the Darwin area are collected by a transport company who takes them from farms to a central collecting depot, where they are temporarily stored in cool rooms until they are picked up by prime movers to go to interstate markets. Growers should ensure that their product moves quickly from their cool room to the collecting depot, preferably in a refrigerated truck, or at night. Investigations have shown that all the gains from a farm cool room can be lost if the pick-up truck is not refrigerated and collects during the day.

By the time vegetables leave the central collection depot, they should be at their optimal cooling temperature, as refrigerated containers WILL NOT cool product down, they are designed to keep product at the temperature once they are cooled. This is critical with snake beans, as their temperature can increase dramatically during transit if they are not cold enough to start with, with some consignments arriving at 40°C (and were “cooked” in the process!). Everyone has to take responsibility, but if you are the grower, it is important that you are aware of everything that happens between your farm and your customer and make sure your transport operators are truly partners in your business so you get a quality outcome.

Planning ahead for changes in Interstate Certification Assurance (ICA) access for mango growers

By: Stephen West Manager – Chief Plant Health Manager Biosecurity

Interstate Certification Assurance (ICA) is a system of plant health certification based on quality management principles. ICA provides an alternative to traditional plant health certification involving government inspectors. It is a national scheme administered by all states and territories and enables a business to be accredited by a state or territory plant quarantine authority to issue plant health assurance certificates for its produce. To be accredited, businesses must be able to demonstrate effective in-house procedures that ensure produce consigned to intra or interstate markets meets specified plant quarantine requirements. The plant quarantine authority regularly audits compliance by businesses.

of 8 Katherine Rural Review, Issue 290 Derelict Orchards – To Act or Not to Act?

By: Stephen West Manager – Chief Plant Health Manager Biosecurity

On the 1 July 2011 new Plant Health Act legislation came into effect in the Northern Territory. One of the key points of interest to many commercial horticulturalists was that this new Act would enable abandoned orchards to be directed to undertake mandatory actions against pests and diseases, or even better to have them removed all together. Sounds good, but is not what the Act is about.

The Plant Health Act does have powers to direct property owners to control pests and/or diseases present on their property through prescribed treatments or even in the destruction of the host plants. However this power is set in the context of a “Declared” pest or disease only. This means that the pest or disease must be exotic to the Territory and if it is detected, official intervention by government is sanctioned. In addition a pest or disease can be made “Notifiable”, which means reporting of the presence of the pest or disease is compulsory. A recent example for mango growers is Red banded mango caterpillar which has been detected in certain parts of Cape York. It is considered a serious threat to Australia's commercial mango industry. RBMC tunnels through the skin and flesh and feeds on the seed, causing fruit spoiling and premature fruit drop. It is a priority declared pest under the Mango Industry Biosecurity Plan and consequently notifiable under the NT Plant Health Act - which means all the powers of the Act apply to it and every lawful avenue to eradicate it can be exercised once its presence is confirmed.

So what about all of those abandoned orchards and the pests and diseases that are already here in the NT? Managing the impact of endemic i.e., common pests and diseases, was never the intent of the Plant Health Act 2011. The primary focus of the Act is to enable government intervention in people’s private affairs should there be a need to control declared pests and diseases that are a threat to our plant-based rural industries. This legislation finally brought the NT into line with other state and territory jurisdictions, providing a clear framework for both lawful and effective action.

The issue of derelict/abandoned orchards that boundary against commercial horticultural operations remains problematic. The Plan Health Act 2011 has no bearing on the potential, real or perceived threats associated with endemic pest or disease between neighbouring farms. Dialogue, negotiation and cooperation represent the preferred non-litigious pathway for producers. A third party, perhaps your industry association or other related entity may be able to assist in brokering discussions around any such issues. In the words of Winston Churchill “To jaw-jaw- is always better than to war-war”. Talk to your neighbour.

Useful Links

 APVMA – Public Chemical Registration System  APVMA Permits  APVMA – Dimethoate Review  Bureau of Meteorology services o Weekly climate note o Madden-Julian Oscillation  Horticulture Publications – DAFWA  Mango Information Kit  NT Primary Industries Agnotes and Fact sheets  Primary Industries Publications – NT DoR

of 8 Katherine Rural Review, Issue 290