Hawkesbury vegie growers downed tools and came to Richmond on Wednesday, August 31 for the announcement of a new program offering them advice and support on growing techniques to stay at the top of their game.
The state government’s Greater Sydney Local Land Services has just started a three-year partnership with Hort Innovation worth $1 million.
The partnership aims to educate growers about the latest research in horticulture so they can start reaping the benefits in boosted crop yields.
Head of GSLLS David Hogan said the project, part of Hort Innovation’s National Vegetable Extension Network, would also specifically provide interpreters for Chinese, Vietnamese and Khmer growers to enable the knowledge to penetrate as widely as possible.
Training events and field days will be held at sites around the Sydney basin, including the GSLLS site at Richmond.
Pitt Town Bottoms grower Mario Muscat, who produces sweet corn, cabbages and cauliflowers with wife Joyce, was enthusiastic about the program. “I’m going to help them make this work,” he said.
“My role will be to make contact with growers and make them [GSLLS] keep it in the real world,” he laughed. “Academics are good but I want to join academia with reality.
“Growers are always happy to take on something if there’s a cash benefit at the end of the day.”
Gesturing at the GSLLS demonstration crop field, he said “growers will be able to see results here without taking a risk to their own farm with contamination, bacteria etc. They can’t afford to experiment themselves.”
He said vegie growers were up against it in many ways now in the Sydney basin so it was great to see programs like this one.
“Turf farms are taking over in areas like Freemans Reach and Glossodia, and there are also arguments with yuppies about growers’ practices – chicken manure is always going to smell, and you have to get up at 5am to start work,” he said.
Brothers Sam and Valentine Micallef were at the launch as well. They have worked their dad’s farm at Agnes Banks their whole lives so far. They produce lettuce, potatoes and sweet corn for an agent who supplies independent greengrocers.
“We’ll come and have a look,” Sam said. “We’re open to new methods of fertilising. It’s a positive thing but you need enough people to make it work.”
