MILDURA-based Citrus Australia have said driverless spray rigs, retrofitted autonomous tractors and self-propelled picking platforms are set to be some of the in-field attractions at the the peek body’s congress event from March 18 to 20.
CA chief executive Nathan Hancock said with a dedicated industry field day at Leeton in New South Wales, and an all-encompassing exhibition hall in Griffith, the annual congress will be something growers Australia should be making plans to attend.
“Our field day, especially, is going to provide a practical environment for growers, farm managers and other industry stakeholders to see what the latest in technology and innovation can offer,” Mr Hancock said.
“We’ve designed this year’s congress to be grower focused, because that’s what our growers, members and industry have asked for.”
Mr Hancock said CA members were looking for several things, including practical solutions for their citrus businesses to offset rising costs, as well as new technologies which can be implemented now to further cut costs and provide answers to labour productivity.
“We will also have guest speakers talking on economic trends, the future of tech on-farm, labour efficiency and crop protection,” he said.
The Riverina in NSW is Australia’s largest citrus growing region by planted area, which will provide an ideal backdrop to explore several of these issues through exploration said Mr Hancock.
“We have created more networking opportunities in the exhibition hall and some equipment displays outside the exhibition hall in Griffith, too,” he said.
“There’ll be less on theory this year and more on practical applications, with resource efficiency being at the core of all our presentations, displays and demonstrations.”
The congress field day will be held at Moricom Orchard near Leeton and will include things like advances in crop netting and protectection. in-field tech solutions to improve pre-harvest forecasting, autonomous tractors — including options to retrofit to older tractors, autonomous, self-propelled spray carts, a spray rig with sensors which applies spray when foliage is detected, picking platforms to improve picking productivity and worker health and safety, rootstock trials and pest identification, canopy management, improving fruit quality and preparing for future farm management, and agricultural chemical suppliers.
Another focus for the field days will be irrigation equipment including field probes, data processing and irrigation scheduling.
