Achieving More Consistent Yields of Quality Fruit in the Australian Avocado Industry

Final Report Achieving more consistent yields of quality fruit in the Australian Avocado industry Project leader: Simon Newett Delivery partner: Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Project code: AV14000 Hort Innovation – Final Report Project: Achieving more consistent yields of quality fruit in the Australian Avocado industry AV14000 Disclaimer: Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited (Hort Innovation) makes no representations and expressly disclaims all warranties (to the extent permitted by law) about the accuracy, completeness, or currency of information in this Final Report. Users of this Final Report should take independent action to confirm any information in this Final Report before relying on that information in any way. Reliance on any information provided by Hort Innovation is entirely at your own risk. Hort Innovation is not responsible for, and will not be liable for, any loss, damage, claim, expense, cost (including legal costs) or other liability arising in any way (including from Hort Innovation or any other person’s negligence or otherwise) from your use or non-use of the Final Report or from reliance on information contained in the Final Report or that Hort Innovation provides to you by any other means. Funding statement: This project has been funded by Hort Innovation, using the avocado research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government. Hort Innovation is the grower-owned, not-for-profit research and development corporation for Australian horticulture. Publishing details: ISBN 978 0 7341 4363 1 Published and distributed by: Hort Innovation Level 8 1 Chifley Square Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) 8295 2300 www.horticulture.com.au © Copyright 2018 Horticulture Innovation Australia Hort Innovation – Final Report: Achieving more consistent yields of quality fruit in the Australian Avocado industry Content Content 3 Summary 4 Keywords 5 Introduction 6 Methodology 7 Outputs 9 Outcomes 10 Monitoring and evaluation 12 Recommendations 17 Refereed scientific publications 17 Intellectual property, commercialisation and confidentiality 17 Acknowledgements 18 Appendices 18 3 Hort Innovation – Final Report: Achieving more consistent yields of quality fruit in the Australian Avocado industry Summary Irregular bearing was identified as a major issue in the Australian avocado industry. An opportunity existed to provide Australian avocado growers with the knowledge required to implement practices that would lead to a more consistent supply of good quality avocado fruit from year to year. The target audience was Australian avocado producers, many of whom were new to growing avocados. Consultants, advisers and re-sellers were also encouraged to participate so the information could be leveraged to growers. There were five main activities: (a) Engage Australia’s commercial avocado growers in a series of regional farm workshops where they would learn about practices that would lead to more consistent yields of high quality fruit. (b) Encourage growers to become more observant in their orchards during the flowering, fruitset and fruit shedding time and therefore be able to implement practices to optimise fruitset and retention. (c) Encourage growers to make use of the ‘Growing’ section of the industry’s on-line ‘Best Practice Resource’ (BPR) to get the most up-to-date information on growing avocados. Part of the strategy was to add new information such as reports and videos on a regular basis. The BPR is intended as a ‘one-stop-shop’ for the Australian avocado industry for information covering all aspects of the industry including comprehensive advice on growing the crop. (d) Update avocado plant nutrition guidelines after a survey of practices and trends, a review of same by a panel of experts and a literature review of avocado plant research. (e) Attend the World Avocado Congress IX in Peru in 2015 to network and find out about the latest research and also visit leading orchards in Peru and Chile on the same trip to learn about the latest developments in orchard practices. Co-organising the grower study tour in Chile attended by 12 Australian participants. Extend the information and applicable production practices to the Australian industry. Key outputs Forty two workshops were held across all eight major avocado production regions of Australia. 27 of these were organised directly by this project whilst the other 15 were joint (Qualicado) events with Avocados Australia Ltd. Six regions received two workshops per year whilst the two smallest production regions received one per year. Copies of all the presentations at these workshops plus specially prepared comprehensive illustrated minutes from each of the 27 workshops organised by this project were uploaded to the Best Practice Resource so that growers could access the information at any time. Members of the project team and 28 growers participated in the collection of observations on flowering and fruitset mainly during the 2015 and 2016 flowering seasons on 28 orchards across the country whilst data loggers were used at these sites to record temperature and humidity. The data was analysed and the results presented to growers at the workshops to educate growers about this complex but critical stage of fruit production in order to help them implement practices to improve fruitset and retention. 16 presentations and reports were produced from this exercise and all are available on the BPR. Three new YouTube videos were produced, shown at grower workshops and made available through the Best Practice Resource. These videos are: ▪ “Getting boron right in avocados” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPXuGB8Oq1Q ▪ “How to plant an avocado tree” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDGW1jmhxws ▪ “Mulching avocados” https://youtu.be/fYYZuNjnvbk A boron rate worksheet was developed in conjunction with the boron video to allow growers and advisors to calculate customised rates of boron for each orchard situation. The project team also produced an ‘Avo Alert’ list for each of the 8 main production regions for each month of the year. An ‘Avo Alert’ consists of a list of reminders about orchard practices that fall due in that month in that region. Avocados Australia Ltd staff enhance these lists by including live links which take the user to the relevant section of the BPR, and they distribute the ‘Avo Alerts’ to all known commercial avocado growers. A review of the recommended avocado plant nutritional practices was conducted and the guidelines in the BPR 4 Hort Innovation – Final Report: Achieving more consistent yields of quality fruit in the Australian Avocado industry updated. This involved a survey of current nutritional practices across the industry, a meeting of experts to discuss practices and trends, a literature search and a re-write of the nutrition guidelines in the BPR. A comprehensive illustrated report and presentation were produced in 2015 from information gathered during visits to avocado orchards in Peru and Chile whilst in the region attending the World Avocado Congress. The presentation was shown to growers at a workshop in each region and was uploaded together with the report to the BPR. Key outcomes Australian avocado growers are now better informed and able to take steps to improve yields and fruit quality and to reduce the amount of irregular and alternate bearing. Total attendance at the 42 workshop events was 2,613, this is an average of 62 people per event or 496 per round which is comfortably more than 60% of the estimated 682 growers in Australia. Survey respondents each attended an average of 4.3 workshops of the average 5.25 events available to them in each region. An electronic project evaluation survey was conducted at the end of the project which attracted 106 individual responses. The key outcomes were as follows: • 89% of respondents said that they had made changes to their businesses as a result of attending the grower workshops. • 91% of survey respondents said that they now had a better understanding of the flowering and fruitset process and 52% claimed that they had reduced the amount of irregular and alternate bearing on their orchards as a result of the project. • The number of growers who registered for access to the BPR rose from 266 at the start of the project to 683 by the end. This represents an increase of 156% and therefore accounts for the majority of the estimated 682 commercial growers in Australia. • Growers were asked to estimate the financial benefit of the project to their businesses. For the 100 respondents who attempted to answer this question the value reached $7.1 m. Since there are an estimated 682 commercial growers in Australia it is reasonable to assume that the overall benefit was several times this figure. In addition many of the benefits will be ongoing. The total cost of the project was $1.3m so the cost benefit appears very favourable. • Survey respondents scored different aspects of the project as follows: • Usefulness of workshops 84/100 • Improving communication across the industry and sharing information 86/100 • Usefulness of ‘Avo Alerts’ 76/100 • Usefulness of information in the Best Practice Resource 79/100 • Usefulness of videos 72/100 (and 83% stated they like to see more produced) Recommendations for future and practical application to industry All activities in the project were very popular especially the grower workshops and many comments were received that the workshops, ‘Avo Alerts’, videos and maintenance of the Best Practice Resource should be continued. Keywords Avocado extension;

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