Hunter Outlook Workshop February 9 2020

Our first meeting in 2020 took place Last Sunday ( 9^th  February) at the grove Premella and Pravesh in Broke. Thank you very much for your hospitality. (editor’s note – those home cooked samosa were fantastic!)

Having struggled through months of drought, heatwave and, in some cases, bushfire threats the rain was a very welcome relief and, undoubtedly, made for a more upbeat feeling among those present. 

With a few notable exceptions the harvest outlook was generally poor and there is unlikely to be much fruit or oil be available from the Hunter Valley this season. While we would all prefer otherwise it’s times like this that present a great opportunity to initiate major remedial work on our groves.

With this context, the primary purpose of the workshop was to discuss what some of these short-term measures could be and how we could go about them. The downside of the rain (if there really is one!) was that we were unable to do any hands on work on Premella’s trees, and the chainsaws remained in the lockers.

The number one issue raised at the meeting was tree management – shape, height and nutrition, with the aim of enabling early recovery from the ravages of the past few months. Some had already started on a process to bring their trees down to a more sustainable size but this had then created another issue as to how best to deal with the foliage and branches that had been removed.

There were couple of instances of lace bug infestation but generally pest and diseases were not such a big issue this year.

A lot of very good ideas were kicked around which can be summarized as follows:

1. Longer term viability and sustainability requires smaller trees, especially if water available for irrigation is limited.
2. It’s not too early to start reducing tree size. Remove any dead or damaged wood and one very large branch, starting with one on the north side of the tree. This could be followed up some more aggressive pruning during winter.
3. Paint major cuts with a water based paint or timber oil mixed with a mall amount of copper oxychloride.
4. Mulch the foliage removed and spread around the trees. More on this later but one option to consider is placing the removed foliage in the middle of the rows and use a “cool burn”.
5. Look carefully at your soil health (draw on the workshops with Col Freeman!) and consider:
   1. Compost applications – mushroom compost is tops but expensive
   2. Inter row planting eg buckwheat that can also act as a deterrent to lace bug
   3. Letting the grass grow in the rows and don’t get too hung up about weeds or close mowing.
6. Check for trace element deficiencies and rectify. Spring is normally when this would be done but a “pick me up” dose now could help provide impetus for growth the next 2-3 months.
7. Take a hard look at the number and varieties of trees in your grove. Will future water supplies be sufficient? Are there some chronically under performing trees? Now is the time to rationalise and perhaps consider some alternative varieties with more proven performance.

Matters for early follow up.

1. Undoubtedly pruning and mulching are major, time consuming and expensive issues, perhaps nowhere more so than the Hunter Valley. A takeaway from this workshop will be for the Executive to explore options that could be of benefit generally to members.
2. Organise a “hands on” pruning workshop to demonstrate the concepts discussed at this meeting. NOTE. There is no one right answer or approach. Rather, each grove needs to consider its aims (oil v table, machine v hand harvest etc), water availability, terrain and cost effectiveness but there are some universal principles we can all apply. The next workshop will look at what these might be and the factors that may lead to variations among groves.

Matters not discussed but of potential future interest include:

• Climate change. We are all dealing with the immediate impacts but we also need to develop longer term strategies. There is no doubt that these will radically change the shape of the olive industry
• This may not be an issue for most people this year but it is a perennial issue for smaller groves, in particular, and frequently the issue that determines whether or not people remain in the industry.
• Water security. A related issue to climate change it’s clear unless there are long term sustainable sources of water supply olive growing will become increasingly problematic. What defensive and proactive strategies can we pursue?
• Food safety and regulatory compliance. New laws and compliance regimes are changing the game for large and smaller players alike. How can we get on the front foot with these?
• Succession planning. We all like to think we are immortal but reality tells us otherwise. How can we approach this issue constructively?

If any of the above issues strikes a chord or perhaps there are other issues you believe your Association can help with please provide your feedback and we will look at ways we can help. on the above would be much appreciated.

Peter Herborn

9^th February 2020