SuniTAFE’s SMART Farm Campus at Cardross near Mildura has undergone a significant transformation in recent months with significant upgrades and technological investment supported by the Victorian Government entering the commissioning and final stages.
One of the new features is an indoor vertical farming system. It’s capable of growing crops from seed to maturity in five weeks, with an average of 18 hours of lighting per day, a controlled climate system and irrigation.
A large netting structure has also just been completed and it will house table grapes and other crops. SMART Farm Campus Senior Manager Matt Wilson wants to demonstrate best management practices in horticulture and agriculture, advancements in new technologies, and to also provide a state-of-theart facility to provide training and career pathway opportunities for emerging leaders within the industry. “This is an opportunity to showcase new technologies and to provide an insight into where we are heading in the future,” he said.
Mr Wilson, a former Select Harvests employee, is eager for the SMART Farm to be an information and technology conduit between education institutes, the community and industry.
“Last year almost 800 people, ranging from school students to university researchers and job seekers visited the SMART Farm,” he said.
Certificate and Diploma courses are currently offered at the SMART Farm Campus in areas including Protected Horticulture, Laboratory Skills, Parks and Gardens, Nursery Management, Wine Industry Operations, and Irrigation.
Short courses are also offered including Working Safely at Heights, Operating Breathing Apparatus, ChemCert and Working in Confined Spaces. “The SuniTAFE SMART Farm Campus is about creating real pathways to opportunities for people wanting to enter the horticulture/agriculture industry and also a place where the current workforce can be upskilled,” he said.
As part of the recent improvements at the site, two new almond blocks have been developed, with Nonpareil, Carmel and Carina planted on Nemaguard rootstock. The rows are in 6.6m spacing, with trees every 4.5m. These aren’t the only almonds growing at the SMART Farm.
Over a number of years Agromillora, in partnership with SuniTAFE, trialled super high-density plantings of Nonpareil, Carmel, and Price on dwarfing rootstock Rootpak 20.
The trees are only 1m apart and in very narrow rows of only 3m, so shake and catch machinery has been used to harvest the crop.
New citrus, avocados, table grapes and olives have also been planted during the redevelopment. Winegrape and dried fruit crops are also on the site. A farm manager is employed at the SMART Farm Campus and the crops are grown in a commercial manner.
This approach provides students with practical handson experiences that can be replicated in a workplace, while also allowing spaces for new crop demonstration and innovation trials.