A new project that aims to increase crop yields is being undertaken by the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture.
The $235,000 project is being led by TIA Industry Development Manager Sue Hinton.
Ms Hinton said the aim was to improve production practices for Australia’s vegetable processing industry to help it remain competitive on a global scale.
“Simplot has set yield targets for key frozen vegetable processing crops including broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans and sweet corn. Achievement of these targets will require average yield increases between 17 to 42 per cent over the next three years,” Ms Hinton said.
“Tasmania’s production of these crops for the frozen processing market had a farm gate value of $22.6 million in 2014/15. These products compete in a global market, which makes it vital that our growers are using world best practice to grow and harvest their crops.”
Ms Hinton said the first part of the project would involve reviewing current production practices and identifying new innovations that could be implemented to increase productivity or reduce input costs. The second phase of the project would involve field trials of key innovations in a participatory research and extension program.
Tasmanian Business Reporter 
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