AN upcoming field day on Tasmania’s East Coast will focus on drought resilience in the wine grape industry. The Viticulture Field Day will be held at Milton Vineyard at Swansea on January 31.
It is being delivered by the Tasmania Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub and Tas Farm Innovation Hub, in partnership with the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Wine Tasmania and Wine Australia.
The Tas Farm Innovation Hub is one of eight hubs nationally funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund. Project Leader, Kathy Evans, said the field day was part of a project focusing on drought management for perennial horticulture plants in collaboration with hubs in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
“This project is investigating producers’ current approaches to irrigation and water management with the aim of making improvements to practices in the future to enhance production and build climate-resilient businesses,” Prof Evans said.
“The field day will give producers the opportunity to share experiences of prolonged dry conditions, how they are managing water and irrigation, use of innovative technologies to optimise water use and think about what things they can do now to improve their resilience during the next big dry.”
Tasmanian growers, industry and climate scientists will be included in the program. They will discuss a range of topics including how water can be effectively managed in vineyards in current and future climates.
Vineyard-specific case studies and demonstrations will be presented by AgTech companies and advisors, including Swan Systems, Airborne Logic, Onside Technologies from New Zealand and local company Ag Logic. Field day participants will hear from the East Coast Grower Panel which includes representatives from Milton Vineyard, Kelvedon Estate and Freycinet Vineyards.
Members of the hub project team including Tomas Remenyi from the University of Tasmania’s Climate Futures Research Group, Dave Gerner from Wine Australia, Paul Smart from Wine Tasmania, and providers of ag tech for irrigation and water management.
The field day will start at 9am. Limited tickets are available. RSVPs must be in by January 23.
To register go to www. utas.edu.au/tia/events/items/viticulture-field-day