INDUSTRY NEWS
Whole orchard recycling showcased
ABA ’ s Deidre Jaensch , SARDI ’ s Paul Petrie , SARDI ’ s Nigel Fleming , University of California ’ s Brent Holtz , Merbein almond grower Neale Bennett and Hort Innovation ’ s Nicole Byrnes at the whole orchard recycling trial site .
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IT ' S not every day that a rock musician ' s photo appears in a presentation at an Almond Board of Australia regional tour but that didn ’ t deter Merbein grower Neale Bennett , who started his Whole Orchard Recycling ( WOR ) talk with an image of Billy Thorpe . While attendees at the presentations in Renmark , Merbein and Griffith during January were puzzled , Mr Bennett explained he could relate to the rock star ’ s hit song “ Most People I Know ( Think That I ’ m Crazy )”. Mr Bennett was so keen to see WOR attempted in Australia that a 2.6 hectare trial into the orchard redevelopment practice is happening on his farm at Merbein , in north west Victoria . This project is being funded by Hort Innovation and the South Australian for me it was a way to be able to
Research and Development Institute ( SARDI ) is the key research provider . improve my soil ,” Mr Bennett said .
“ I attended a conference in California
Pulling out the trees was a
a couple of years ago and heard straightforward process , but finding Brent Holtz speak on the work he ’ d a machine to grind them up was a been doing with recycling and the challenge . improvements he was getting in the But Mr Bennett stumbled across a soil , whether it be organic matter , Mildura based business run by Geoff carbon content , water retention , so Redman and his machinery that was
In A Nutshell - Autumn 2024 Vol 25 Issue 1
SARDI ' s Paul Petrie points out some monitoring equipment being used in the trial .
normally used to grind up tyres and other landfill waste was put to use . In February 2022 , 30-year-old almond trees on Neale ’ s farm were pulled from the ground , ground into wood chips and spread across the soil surface . The new trees were planted in August 2022 with three different treatments . There ’ s a control with no amendment ,