News
Citrus Conference extended to two days
Thu, 13 Jun 2013 08:02:00
Organisers of next month’s tri-state citrus growers’ technical conference have extended the event to two days, to give growers more access to keynote international speakers.
The Murray Valley Citrus Board and Sunraysia Citrus Growers are combining with major sponsor Chislett Developments to put together the “Positive Directions” conference and field day at NSW DPI at Dareton on June 26.
But interest in the strong line-up of international and Australian speakers has now seen the event extended to a second day, with a technical workshop on June 27.
The Murray Valley Citrus Growers’ chairman John Tesorerio said the workshop program would complement the conference day presentations.
“We have some really sought-after and engaging speakers in visiting Israeli experts Dr Nir Carmi, Dr Eran Raveh and Joshua Kanonich, and the Spanish rootstock specialist Dr Maria Forner-Giner,” Mr Tesorerio said.
“The speakers will be addressing the conference on the Wednesday, but will now also combine to deliver a full-day technical discussion workshop on the Thursday, which will be free for Murray Valley citrus producers,” he said.
“Having co-ordinated to have these terrific speakers all here for our conference, we believed we should try to maximize the opportunities for growers with the follow-up workshop.”
Dr Nir Carmi has worked for the Agricultural Research Organisation’s Volcani Center at Beit Dagan in Israel for over 10 years. He is a plant breeder and has been involved in developing popular mandarin varieties including Odem, Seedless Daisy and other easy-peel mandarins types, and a new grapefruit type without furanocoumarines.. Dr Carmi has bred a number of seedless mandarin varieties that could show promise for Australia in the future.
Leading citrus physiologist Dr Eran Raveh has worked for the same organisation at its Gilat Research Centre for 13 years, and will be another of the key speakers. He has worked on assessing leaf nutrient levels in citrus, girdling for crop regulation and strategies to manage high salinity irrigation water. His presentation will be around the practical management aspects of irrigating with high salinity water and girdling for crop regulation.
Another of the key speakers is Israeli citrus expert Joshua Kanonich. He will provide an assessment of profitable varieties and share the Israeli experience of growing mandarins for profit.
Also on the agenda is a presentation by Australian citrus pathology specialist Dr Pat Barkley who will be providing information on rootstock selection and disease considerations.
Sunraysia Citrus Growers’ chairman Vince DeMaria said he was pleased the extra time with the world-leading experts could be arranged.
“It will give growers a real opportunity to get to some nitty-gritty detail about some of the possibilities for the future,” Mr DeMaria said.
“The issues these speakers will be discussing are some of the key questions that growers need to be looking at if they want to stay in the game, and be successful and viable.”
Other issues to be addressed at the conference:
• Does growing fewer, but bigger, fruit pay?
• Crop size regulation
• Asian markets’ potential
• Orchard practices to access Asian markets
• Possibilities for electricity savings and potential for solar panels to boost farm profits
• Sunraysia Pest Free Area status update
Conference numbers are strictly limited. Admission is by registration only, and registrations close with Murray Valley Citrus Board on June 14. Growers need to register for each day they wish to attend.
The organisers welcome Mildura Fruit Company and Victorian Citrus Farm as silver sponsors and EE Muirs as general sponsors.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available.
People wanting further information or interested in becoming sponsors can also contact MVCB on 5051 0500.