Inadequate orchard drainage, highlighted during the 2017 autumn harvest period, was an extreme expression of a common problem that can occur anytime of the year. Muddy conditions increase disease, increase labour costs and hazards and increase storage fruit rots. Despite numerous attempts to rectify puddles and mud, the problem remained.  

LandWISE joined with New Zealand Apples and Pears Inc in an MPI Sustainable Farming Fund project.  It drew on experience from other sectors and access to new precision agriculture technologies to address drainage and rutting in established orchards.

Orchard inspections showed infrastructural factors limiting surface drainage on at least 25% of the inspected orchard blocks. The microtopography in orchards created ponding areas that stayed wetter for longer. When sprayers and other traffic passed through, the surface was damage and soil smeared. This further reduced natural drainage and the problem spreads.

The project set out to adapt and pilot use of precision technologies to survey, design and implement surface drainage plans that minimise ponding risk and reduce these negative impacts. They were supported by guidelines for wheel track management to provide a secure base for harvest traffic, something even more critical as industry automation with picking platforms and robotic harvesters increases.

As well as designing effective drainage, we assessed rut re-development. The priority was to restore a good working surface in the inter-row that had strength to carry traffic and minimised the risk of slips, trips and falls for orchard staff.

See Preparation for Inter-row Landshaping>

See Implementation of Treatments

Guidelines

Download Feasibility Assessment (Consultant Guidelines)

Download Implementation of Land Shaping (Operator Guidelines)

For more information, contact Rachel Kilmister Rachel at applesandpears.nz or Dan Bloomer at LandWISE.org.nz

    

Work undertaken for LandWISE and NZ Apples and Pears Inc by Page Bloomer Associates Ltd