THE Berry Plant Protection Fair, was held on Wednesday 28 April at Bucca and was a collaboration between NSW DPI, OzGroup Co-Op Ltd. and Berries Australia.

The purpose of the event was to provide an opportunity for local growers to meet with agronomists, industry experts and crop protection companies to learn more about plant protection techniques for berries, and to extend their expert support networks.

NSW Department of Primary Industries Berry Development officer Melinda Simpson said this is an evolution of previous workshops focusing on plant protection, and that the team wanted to hold an event that was more broadscale, offering a wide array of learning options to growers.

“After the year we experienced with COVID-19, we wanted to provide opportunities for growers, agronomists and industry experts to come together to connect, network and learn,” Ms Simpson said.

With over twenty exhibitors at the fair, talks and demonstrations covered topics from soil health/biology, spray calibration and coverage, pest and disease management, beneficial bugs, pest monitoring tools and more.

Growers showed a keen interest in the technical side of presentations for the key speakers at the event, which included Dr Nancy Schellhorn (Co-founder & CEO: RapidAIM), Dr Graham Stirling (Nematologist: Biological Crop Protection) and Dr Jay Anderson (Plant Pathologist: SCU).

With over 100 growers in attendance and a high level of engagement and interest in learning new topics, networking and asking questions, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, OzGroup and Berries Aus are already looking forward to continuing the event in the future.

 

By David TUNE