SPAIN-PORTUGAL TOUR REPORT- MAY 2025
Tour group members: Alan Hoppe, Brendan Sidhu, Ryan Norton, Drew Martin, Brittany Oswald, Peter Cavallaro, Dom Cavallaro, Darren Minter, Cassandra Collins, Roberta DeBei, Eryn Wrigley, Peter Reynolds, Talha Shahzad, Tim Pitt, Brett Rosenzweig, Scott McKenzie, Trevor Smith, Ella Henson and Deidre Jaensch meet with Agromillora staff Ignasi Iglesias and Chris Oates.
been easy. Reducing reliance on labour was one reason for adopting the SHD model with the“ future risks of labour costs not reflected in the business plan”. SHD canopies are well suited to mechanisation of harvest and hedging and automation. In-field measurement technologies continually feed data to agricultural engineers requiring ground-truthing and analysis for monitoring weather, water use, pest and disease management and estimating yields. The“ driver of the future will be a driver of a technology platform”. However, not everyone is convinced that SHD is the best option, and many farms visited provided examples of successful production models that were more familiar to the Australia consortium using Californian varieties and off-ground harvesting and were achieving quality product( albeit lower tonnages- 2.5tonnes / ha) despite constraints to water, nutrients and protective sprays. Although not operational at the time, the group was able to see the equipment used for in-field hulling built to service nearby orchards. Infield hulling is reported to keep the dirt out of the processing facilities by only transferring in-shell to the warehouse for bulk storage where cold dry air is injected into the stockpile to avoid spoilage. There was much interest within the group in the potential for trialling on-farm hulling in particular for some of the hard-shell varieties grown in Australia that are less likely to split and crack or fall out of the shell, but probably not a good option for Nonpareil. The mix of industry stakeholders within the group provided valuable perspectives and experience, broadening the range of questions and knowledge gained.“ One of the key benefits was the diverse backgrounds and experience of the tour group. I really enjoyed debriefing with and hearing the perspectives of other group members throughout the tour.” The ABA would especially like to acknowledge and thank Xavier
Miarnau( IRTA) in helping design a program to meet our needs and connecting us with industry stakeholders across the two countries together with David Doll( Rota Unica) who helped with Portugal connections. We are so grateful to those who were willing to host us and freely share their experience and information. It was surprising to learn that with more than 65,000 growers in Spain there is no formal peak industry body representing their interests. On more than one occasion we were complemented on the organisation of the Australian industry and that they would like to be more like us. The Study Tour was partially funded with Almond R & D Levies and matching government funds through Hort Innovation AL23004 Almond Industry Study Tours and participant contributions. Further learnings are shared in the SARDI and the sustainability insights articles in this edition. There also will be a presentation at the R & D Forum in October.
industry. australianalmonds. com. au
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