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Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) is the peak industry body for Australian apple and pear growers. For the first time since 2019, APAL hosted the return of their Future Orchards® international grower tour in 2024.
The tour travelled to New Zealand and took place from 15–19 January 2024, covering both South and North islands with AgFirst consultants leading orchard walks in their home regions.
Growers toured both the Tasman (Nelson) and Hawke’s Bay regions visiting a number of leading growers to discuss their season to date, block performance and growing systems, while Sumitomo Australia employees Jack Bartels and Phil Glover had the opportunity to take the group to visit Sumitomo’s trials of new apple thinning technology under development and talk to the group about how this product is expected to change the way growers use chemical thinners.
The full tour group.
Accurately measuring fruit size is important when making decisions around timing and choice of chemical thinners.