Growers hit the road
Study tour builds knowledge and networks
Growers and industry stakeholders from the Wide Bay-Burnett and Central Queensland regions hit the road in October for the ‘Pest, Dirt & Fert’ Study Tour that provided insights not only on farming practices, but across the supply chain.
Thirty growers of a variety of commodities participated in the tour, visiting farms, agritourist destinations, and specialist sites and events including the Gatton AgTech Showcase, Foodbank Australia, the Brisbane Markets, Symbio Laboratories, and the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation at the University of Queensland (QAAFI).
The cohort met with other growers and embraced peer-to-peer learning opportunities, discussing both growing practices and business approaches.
Kalbar vegetable grower Michael Rieck showed the group his recently implemented precision cover cropping setup on his tractor. He explained that cover cropping in his interrows would aid soil health, minimise erosion, and prevent other weather-related impacts.
Wayne Taylor of Taylor Family Produce described the long-term composting efforts to improve soil health at the family’s Kalbar property and how they coordinate seasonal shifts in equipment between Kalbar and their Granite Belt farm to optimise business operations.
Following the farm visits, lychee and macadamia grower Devon Van Rooyen has gone home with a sharpened focus on adding organic matter to his blocks.
He also took on board Michael’s advice that farmers can devote themselves to growing a high quality crop, but ensuring the fruits of your labour make it to market is equally as important.
The Van Rooyen group is innovating in reaching the market with their lychees.
“We’ve invested in punnet filling equipment for our lychees. This will help us get a better price and reach some new locations,” Devon said.
The tour also explored alternative revenue streams and business models. At the Scenic Rim Farm Shop, Gen Windley inspired the group with her story of sourcing local ingredients, including vegetables from her family farm, to feed visitors at this tourist hotspot.
Rosella grower and creator of Woolooga Farm Kitchen, CC Diaz-Petersen, is keen to develop a similar attraction in her region, seeking to create a “multi-layer” experience for visitors through collaborating with other tourism providers, accommodation, and restaurants.
“With my husband Greg, we have run the Big Rosella Field Day for 10 years, and we would love to collaborate with other businesses, so people stayed for a few days in Gympie and the surrounding area to explore what local producers have to offer,” CC said.
“We are further from a big city than the Scenic Rim Farm Shop, so it’s going to take some teamwork and thinking outside the box, but I know people will love the food and the experiences we have to share,” she said.
The future of farming was another driver of the tour program, with the tour taking in the Gatton AgTech Showcase. Growers saw demonstrations of a range of emerging technologies including drones, and autonomous sprayers, weeders, and mowers.
At QAAFI, the group was especially interested in research undertaken by Dr Alice Hayward, Dr Chris O’Brien, and Dr Thi Thao Ninh, keenly questioning Dr Thao on her work on CRISPR gene editing in tomatoes and observing tissue cultures in the lab with Dr Maddy Gleeson.
CC remarked on what a special opportunity this part of the tour was.
“In our day-to-day on the farm, we don’t get to see this kind of innovation and technology. This gave us such an eye-opening experience,” she said.
“It’s amazing to see the work that will give our farmers and our community more resilient crops,” CC continued.
As well as the lessons learned from the farms, events, and facilities the tour visited, it was clear the three days together was important in building a stronger grower network among the touring growers.
Devon said he didn’t know too many of the other participants before the tour, but by the end of the three days now has a network of fellow young growers in his region.
“It was a really great group and I’m still talking to guys I met on the trip,” he said.
Similarly, CC is continuing to build on the connections she made with other growers on the tour.
“It can be isolating out on the farm, so it’s great to have met others in our region who we can learn from and who we can share our knowledge with as well,” CC said.
The study tour was made possible through collaboration among multiple projects including Growcom’s Hort360 Great Barrier Reef Program, Bundaberg Fruit & Vegetable Ggrowers’ VegNET Program, the Integrated Engagement and Capacity Building Project, Growcom’s Farm Business Resilience Program for Horticulture and the Queensland Agriculture Workforce Network (Southern and Southeast Queensland).
The study tour marked the conclusion of 18-months of grower-led learning experiences hosted in the Wide Bay-Burnett region by Growcom’s Hort360 Great Barrier Reef (GBR) Program.
Program Manager, Michelle Haase said, “We wanted growers to be able to take away as many learnings as possible on all different aspects of their farm, from water quality, business practices, workforce, and so much more.”
“We are grateful for the contributions of partnering projects and the generosity of our hosting growers and tour sites.
“I am humbled by the positive feedback from the growers who came on the trip. It makes me really happy to know they found it worthwhile.”
This project is jointly supported by the Integrated Engagement and Capacity Building project through the Queensland Government’s Queensland Reef Water Quality Program delivered by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI).
