AN engaging online presence allowed the East Gippsland Vegetable Innovation Days to deliver significant benefit to the horticulture industry earlier this month, whilst adhering to strict rules to comply with COVID-19 regulations.
The event pivoted to be a national demonstration and data collection site but in a series of regular live events every day on social media was able to connect thousands of people from near and far via the small screens of their smartphones.
Through careful consultation with relevant authorities, permission was granted to allow a maximum of 50 people on site at a time, with strict adherence to social distancing and hand hygiene rules.
Organisers said the feedback from the three days has been positive beyond expectations.
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Growers, together with the participating seed and agricultural chemical company representatives, indicated that the limited numbers allowed them to engage in longer, more open conversations, affording everyone the time and space to talk privately about varieties and data.
"We were really pleased to be able to give the industry access that has still been very worthwhile, as well as driving huge increases in virtual engagement via our social media across the three days," EGVID co-director, Stuart Grigg, said.
And the online access to the data, learnings and insights will take on another dimension in the coming months, with a large library of professional videos produced from the event set to be hosted on the Ausveg website.
The content will include in-depth discussion about varieties and products, accompanied by virtual tours of individual company plots, creating a valuable reference point that will be available for many years to come.
The production of the videos has been made possible thanks to the support of the Victorian Farmers Federation, OneHavest, Nufarm, East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, Enza Zaden, AgCo, Boomaroo and Grolink.
The plans for 2023 are currently "up for discussion", according to EGVID co-director, Andrew Bulmer.
"There's been some fantastic learnings in how we successfully adapted for this event that if we go again in three years time, we'd be definitely incorporating some of those changes into a future event structure," Mr Bulmer said.
Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, praised the coordination and running of the 2020 East Gippsland Innovation Field Days.
Mr Chester met with Lindenow grower, Andrew Bulmer and industry representatives who were showcasing new varieties of vegetables.
"Our horticultural sector is worth more than $1 billion each year to the Gippsland economy and we have some of the most productive agricultural land in the world," Mr Chester said.
"While it was disappointing the demonstration sites in Lindenow had to be closed to the public because of the coronavirus, it was good to see growers taking the opportunity to make appointments, meet with industry representatives and exchange ideas on how to improve the sector in the future."
Spread across two hectares in Lindenow, the EGVID site featured more than 1500 lines including lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, baby spinach leaf, kale and celery, as well as a number of different herbs.
The event was planned out over the past 12 months.
