From page 10 events and products that meet grower needs .” The adoption of webinar technology is also having continued benefits , even as travel restrictions lift . They ’ ve enabled growers from all regions to participate from their home or office , and the recordings have been stored on the ABA website to provide a reference into the future . “ We hope to be able to film field days in the future so that it provides similar opportunities for people who can ’ t travel or attend on the day ,” Ms Jaensch said . Lockdown wasn ’ t all bad – the first few weeks in isolation also allowed the team to work together with the ABA Pollination Committee to compile learned knowledge on maintaining honeybee hive health during pollination into the
ABA honey bee best management practice ( BMP ) guidelines that were published in 2020 . But with borders now open , the team is excited to be able to get out and visit growers in their region again . “ It was great to be able to meet so many growers in our recent trip to the Riverina ,” Ms Jaensch said . “ These visits provide us with an opportunity to see how growers are going and better understand their everyday challenges as well as some of the innovative ideas and solutions they have come up with . We plan to do more regional visits in the future across the rest of the industry . “ Nothing beats meeting people face-to-face and we have pulled together a full program for the next 12 months with field days , study tours and farm visits being the backbone .” There ’ s a fair bit of ground to cover – both on the road and across diverse topics . Growers can look forward to sessions on rootstock evaluation , the Australian almond breeding program , advanced production systems , pollination best management practices , soil knowledge , drip irrigation training and irrigation scheduling tools , and integrated pest and disease management . Upcoming field days will be promoted via the ABA ’ s Almond Bytes newsletter and our regular email notices – or contact us via the ABA website .
Meet the ABA Industry Development Team
The ABA ' s Industry Development Team ( from left ) Rajesh Nomula , Deidre Jaensch and Josh Fielke .
Josh Fielke
Josh has a Bachelor of Environmental Science and has been an Industry Development Officer with the ABA for 6.5 years who enjoys working with industry stakeholders , exploring new ideas together , analysing data and designing grower tools .
Rajesh Nomula
The newest member at the ABA , Rajesh recently graduated with a Master of Agriculture Science from Gatton University and doing some casual research work before leaving Gatton just in time to miss the floods .
Deidre Jaensch
Deidre has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and joined the ABA with over 27 years in irrigated horticulture as Industry Development Manager . She started in October 2019 , five months before COVID-19 created chaos and confusion across the nation . Living in Mildura means she has spent more than half of her time at the ABA in lockdown .