robbie commens - is australian macadamia production really a unique cropping system?
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2014 Australian Macadamia Society 40th Anniversary Industry ConferenceTRANSCRIPT
Is Australia Macadamia production really a unique cropping system?
Prepared by: Robbie Commens (AMS)
Why do we do what we do?
₋ Why don’t we irrigate in all growing regions?
₋ Why do we use H2 rootstocks?
₋ Why do we plant on an average of 8m x 4m?
₋ Why do we harvest for 7 months of the year?
₋ Why do we prune young trees?
₋ Why do we use finger wheel harvesters?
• If we DONT ask these questions of ourselves, we are accepting that the status quo is the best we can do.....
• Settle vs striving ?
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The “Why” Study Tour?
• Macadamias are – native tree,
– proteaceae tree,
– evergreen
– high oil content
• Do those differences make us a unique cropping system?
• Or have we chosen to be different?
• I wanted to find out some answers to those questions – The easiest way to learn is to find someone already achieving
success and ask them how?
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Study Tour to Where?
• Hawaii– Macadamias
• California – Almonds– Walnuts– Pistachio– Pecan
• Mexico– Macadamias
3 weeks
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Hawaii - Macadamias
Macadamias EVERYWHERE!
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Wide spacing kept trees small?
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Unique aspects to Hawaii macs?
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Hawaii lessons learnt
• We are not smarter than the trees
– Crowding is inevitable
• Wide spacing is not a solution – more a delay
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California – Almonds, Walnuts, Pistachios & Pecans
Pistachio
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Walnut
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Walnut crowding
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We are not alone with canopy crowding!
Almond
Good Problem!
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We are not alone with canopy crowding!
Pecan
The BIGGEST trees I saw
Common problem – exposed roots
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California lessons
• We are not alone
• Canopy Management challenges
• Production challenges
• IDEAS!
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Mexico - Macadamias
Mexico
Completely different focus in their breeding program
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Mexico
• Australia and AMS are world leaders
Other countries are following our lead already – are we utilising that to its full potential?
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Lessons learnt
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What did I find?
1. Harvest period
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• Harvest = 30 weeks
– 2 x 15 week rounds
– 4 x 7.5 week rounds
– 6 x 5 week rounds
– 8 x 3.75 week rounds
• Feb to August
Macadamia harvest program
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• Almonds = 8 weeks full crop– 2 x 4 week rounds
• Walnuts = 8 weeks full crop– 2 x 4 week rounds
• Pecans = 8 weeks full crop– 2 x 4 week rounds
• Pistacchio = 8 weeks full crop– 2 x 4 week rounds
What are other industries doing?
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What is the difference?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Macadamia Almond Walnut Pecan Pistacchio
Harvest % of time
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Macadamia Almond Walnut Pecan Pistacchio
Growing % of time
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55%
15% 15% 15% 15%
45%
85% 85% 85% 85%
• Other industries use
– Machinery
• (Shakers and sweepers)
– Plant Growth Regulators
• Why cant we ?
How can we reduce harvest?
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Difference in growing time %
Macadamia Almond, Pecan, Walnut, Pistachio
% time focused on growing 45% 85%
% difference 189%
Current efficiancy as comparison 53%
Current Production (t/ha NIS) 2.75
Potential increase by improving harvest efficiency 5.2
National crop on the average production (15,000ha) 77,830
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What did I find?
2. Wheel sweepers
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*The $6 million opportunity!
The $6 million opportunity
• Wheel sweepers = Reduce losses
– Minor losses compound together and add up
Width of Wheels (2 wheels) 0.8
Width of rows harvested 8% of ground driven over 10%% of crop effected 10%Likely loss due to nuts driven over 50%
Likely loss from driving over nuts 5%
Estimated losses
per ha on industry average production (2.75t/ha) 0.14value per tonne $3,000
$ financial loss per ha $412.50
Scenarios based on size (per year) $ Tonnes
5 $2,062.50 0.7
10 $4,125.00 1.4
15 $6,187.50 2.1
25 $10,312.50 3.5
40 $16,500.00 5.6
100 $41,250.00 14
15,000 $6,187,500.00 2,100
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What did I find?
3. Canopy Mgt starts before the trees go into the ground
- Do our orchards have a predetermined “commercial life” ?
OR
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What did I find?
4. Built Relationships
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How could this help Aus Mac industry?
We should know/embrace the fact we can do
much better!– 2014 Industry Average of 0.8t SK/ha (2.75t NIS/ha)
• 41,000t national (15,000ha)
– 2019 Industry Average of 1.2t SK/ha (4t NIS/ha) • 60,000t national crop! (15,000ha)
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-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
Year
NIS
(to
nn
es
)
Inland NSW
Coastal NSW
South-east Qld
Gympie
Bundaberg
Other
8,000t
What have we done in the past?
1.1 t SK/Ha
1.0 t SK/Ha
0.9 t SK/Ha
0.8 t SK/Ha
0.7 t SK/Ha
0.6 t SK/Ha
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Take home lessons learnt
1. Reduce harvesting period – period focusing on growing = $$$$$$
2. Wheel sweepers– Reduce losses (crop we have already grown!)
3. New orchards should have a pre planned commercial life (that may be 50 years?)
4. Look outside our backyard! – Access experience and ideas from other tree nut
industries
5. Mac industry has HUGE potential!!!
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Thank you
• Albert Einstein defined insanity as –
“doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result”
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