What’s the Trans-Tasman Day about?
Given there are two dozen top Australian growers, agronomists and researchers joining us for our conference, arranging more time to discuss issues of interest was too good an opportunity to pass up.
The programme for the day is less structured than a normal conference day. The morning is inside discussion, the afternoon getting out and about. But it does follow two days of conference, so we’ll be well primed.
We will spend time discussing some key crops – onions and potatoes included – and importantly technologies we can use to better understand and manage them.
We aim to identify areas of common interest and possible collaboration. What topics are relevant in both countries? What joint research opportunities are there? Where to from here?
After lunch we travel to a local farm, True Earth Organics, where Scott and Vicki Lawson and staff grow and pack a range of field, vegetable and berry crops. From there we go to a local major vegetable processing factory to view the next stage in the value chain.
We have been trying to determine factors controlling plant density, flowering, pod number, pea number and fill in process crops. Unlike seed peas, vining peas are harvested before the life cycle is complete. Any variation in maturity causes yield loss – both quantity and quality.
