This is a final research report from Hort Innovation’s historical archives. Please note that as these reports may date back as far as the 1990s, the content and recommendations within them may be superseded by more recent research.

What was it all about?

This project was one of the early strategic initiatives, taken by the apple and pear industry, to prepare the Australian industry for the arrival of imported apples in the Australian market.

Its aim was to lead the growth in international competitiveness of the Australian industry - through helping growers develop orchards that would deliver internationally competitive yields of high quality apples at internationally competitive prices.

The main tool for this was the Future Orchards® program and the Technical Manager position was

seen as a leadership and management role for Future Orchards® as well as other initiatives aimed at increasing the international competitiveness of the industry.

The Future Orchards® program has been highly successful. APAL has had the program evaluated by the social research organisation Ipsos-Eureka. The findings of their 2010 survey (using a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques) showed that:

• Future Orchards®had played a pivotal role in assisting growers implement change on their orchards
• 86 per cent of growers reported that the Future Orchards® program had helped them decide how to develop their orchard
• 79 per cent of growers have changed their practises as a result of the Future Orchards® program
• 52 per cent of growers (nationally) had attended at least one of the Future Orchards® farm walks. 89 per cent of these growers rated the presenters as “very good” or “excellent”.

Other projects initiated under the Technical Manager program include understanding the impacts of climate change on the apple and pear industry, developing the technical aspects of the “readyto-eat” pear product to improve consistency, assisting with implementing a project to improve cool store efficiency within the industry and promoting the use of the apple and pear IPM Manual to industry