Members of the Summerfruit NZ team, (Raj Singh, Richard Mills and Sally Anderson) met up in Central Otago last week to visit growers and host a well-attended SummerGreen meeting.
The meeting kicked off at Amisfield Vineyard, where we heard from Jo Wakelin who conducted a session on appropriate native plantings. Jo was followed by André Lategan, vineyard manager, who discussed his understory plantings and how the vineyard has transitioned from conventional management to an organic approach. A key part of this change has been the establishment of understory plantings in the vineyard. Lastly, we headed across the road to Central Pac, which had invited us onto their orchard/packhouse to hear from Virginia Marroni on bacterial blast and the insights and control options evaluated through her PhD. To close, Sally Anderson summarised the trial work that has been completed through the A Lighter Touch programme.
These events were well attended and we would like to thank the presenters and growers who invited people onsite, also giving up their time on the day.
