GROWERS representing about 95 per cent of Australia's ginger production gathered at Cooroy this month for the annual Ginger Field Day.
About 41 growers from 23 farming operations attended, plus three major ginger processors and nine industry supply chain partners.
The Australian Ginger Industry Association’s president and grower, Shane Templeton, welcomed growers and thanked sponsors before handing the stage over to the event facilitator, Rob Abbas.
First up was AgriFutures Australia's Ginger Program manager, John Smith, and manager communication and capacity building, Samantha Munro.
They spoke about the current research and development program and the projects objectives to drive on-farm productivity, lift the demand for Australian ginger and encourage industry engagement via extension activities.
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Industry production figures for 2017-2018 were then presented by Jason Keating from the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF).
He also announced the winners of this year’s Australian Ginger Growers Best Quality Award.
This year there were two categories; new ginger and mature ginger.
The winner of new ginger category was, Weston Agriculture.
The winner of the mature ginger category and also the overall winner and recipient of the Mike Smith Shield was John, Shane and Kylie Templeton from Templeton Ginger.
Mr Keating, one of two judges of this year’s competition, then went on to explain how the ginger was scored and said that it had been very difficult to agree on a winner since all the entries were of a very high quality.
As part of the R&D objective, to drive on-farm productivity, Jenny Cobon, senior experimentalist with QDAF, spoke about her work involving plant parasitic nematodes.
Sharon Hamill, senior principal research scientist, QDAF then talked about the current R&D project aiming to improve tissue culture production of ginger clean planting material.
Key note speaker, Gavin Scurr, owner of Piñata Farms, Australia’s largest pineapple producer and leading producer of strawberries, mangos and bananas provided an insightful and inspiring presentation of what it is like to run a large scale farming operation in Australia.
The growers were then treated to a fun presentation by Steve Sheppard from Brand Story.
Results from qualitative research, looking to lift the demand for Australian ginger, were presented and growers got to see some preliminary advertising concepts aiming to capture the most powerful and persuasive health benefit and taste messages.
Kylie Jackson from Bundaberg Fruit & Vegetable Growers spoke about the Freshcare food safety training program that will be available to all members later in the year.
Ginger scones with ginger jam from Buderim Ginger were then enjoyed for morning tea.
After the break the attendees moved outside for a demonstration by Zac Templeton from Templeton Ginger in drone deploy technology mapping.
Jonathan McDonald from ADAMA Australia then gave some insight into how drones can effectively be used in ginger systems for planning and monitoring of blocks.
Katarina Keating, responsible for industry communication, spoke about communication services and activities that aim to provide a supportive environment from members and encourage industry engagement.
At the end of last year an event called Ginger Growers Gatherings was introduced as a way to bring members and key industry stakeholders closer together.
So far the members have visited Buderim Ginger and Bundaberg Brewed Drinks and more educational and fun visits for the members are been planned.
After that it was time for industry partners to present and demonstrate.
Ron Bollard from Landmark spoke about the technology of controlled release nutrition; The Pump House presented on irrigation system automation; and Wide Bay Seedlings showed a display of ginger tissue culture systems.
Kieran Coupe from Outpost Central spoke about wild-eye and weather monitoring; Susan River Potting Mixes showed a display of available potting mixes and coir; and Cooloola Pump and Irrigation spoke about UV water sanitation.
Corbet’s diverse range of products was showcased and ANZ then spoke about how it could help customers achieving short and long term goals.
The field day event was, once again, a practical forum that provided grass roots information to growers about opportunities to improve their businesses.
Grower feedback was very positive about the quality of information presented by all stakeholders and many were looking forward to positive growing season ahead.
