Tech time: A guide to getting soil moisture monitoring right
Soil moisture monitoring can provide a real-time and predictive decision-making support tool for growers to improve their irrigation scheduling and water use…
How does the surrounding landscape affect beneficials on your farm?
Research led by Charles Sturt University demonstrates that the type of landscape surrounding a vegetable farm is an important influencer of…
Boosting beneficials in your vegetable crop
Beneficial insects and other invertebrates (‘beneficials’) include pollinators, nutrient cyclers, predators and parasitoids of plant pests. The role that predators and…
Cover Crops for Australian Growers
The table below provides a starting point for helping you choose a cover crop for your farm. Adapt the information to…
Weed Management Guide – Wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum)
Wild radish is a notable weed in all forms of cultivation where it occurs, including vegetables (Figure 2). It is particularly…
VegNET – Supporting Vegetable Growers
The VegNET project aims to build regional capacity of the vegetable industry by providing research and development (R&D) extension services, products…
Viruses infecting Brassicas
The ‘Viruses infecting Brassicas’ fact sheet provides information in relation to virus diseases of brassica crops. This includes information on economic…
Who’s Who in the Zoo
This fact sheet provides information on how Australian vegetable levies are invested, how the VegNET project fits in with this, and…
Native vegetation insectaries – permanent habitat for beneficial insects
On-farm insectaries are areas of flowering plants that attract and maintain beneficial insect populations by providing shelter from highly disturbed crop…
Climate change land capacity and capability project – Pilot
This pilot project came out of the Bass Coast Landcare Network, with a view to explore the utilisation of farmland within…
Checklist for Events
A useful tool for planning and delivering capacity building activities through events, is a checklist. Event management is a discrete skill…
Pests, Diseases & Disorders Field Identification Guides
Amongst the most popular resources for vegetable growers in Gippsland, Victoria are a series of Pests, Diseases and Disorders Field Identification…
Win-Win Employment Outcomes
Enthusiastic job-ready workers are often hard to find for horticultural businesses and vegetable operations are no exception. Job seekers wanting to…
East Gippsland Vegetable Innovation Days
More than 650 vegetable growers, researchers, industry service providers, government representatives, and other stakeholders attended the East Gippsland Vegetable Innovation Days…
Clustering, a regional framework for improving vegetable industry outcomes.
The ‘East Gippsland Food Cluster’ Incorporated (now amalgamated with ‘Agribusiness Gippsland’ Incorporated to form ‘Food & Fibre Gippsland’ Incorporated) is one…
Clubroot: a Galling Disease
Clubroot is one of the most destructive diseases of brassicas globally. Although it was detected in Australia as early as the…
Implement an Energy Management System
Each farm has unique opportunities to maximise the energy efficiency of its operation. One way to identify these opportunities is to gain a better understanding of the energy consumption of a side of your business by implementing an energy management system (EMS).
Waste Not, Want Not: Managing Waste in the Vegetable Industry
Seemingly everything humans do creates waste these days, and farming operations are no exception. Landfill is filling fast, and results in…
Farm Power: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies
Electricity retail prices have increased on average by more than 60% since 2012 and are likely to continue to rise. Renewable…
Precision agriculture in vegetable production
Precision agriculture (PA) technologies have been widely adopted throughout various agricultural industries in Australia, but what exactly is PA, and what…
Insulate refrigerant piping for cool rooms
Refrigeration is consistently one of the largest energy consuming loads on farms that we have assessed. Keeping the refrigerant cool between…
Insulate hot water supply and return piping for greenhouses
Greenhouses are typically heated using hot water produced by a gas boiler. This type of heating system is cost effective for…
Installing timers on IBWs
Instant boiling water (IBW) units are common additions to lunch rooms around Australia and will use energy to maintain hot water…
Anti-fouling additive for compressors
Refrigeration often uses the largest amount of energy on farms. Ensuring the refrigeration system and all its associated components, such as…
The ‘breakdown’ on composts
The rising cost of fertiliser inputs and a greater understanding of the importance of soil health has prompted interest in the…
Sustaining vegetable production with subsoil manuring
Subsoil manuring (SSM) is the process of placing organic amendments into the upper layers of hostile subsoils in order to improve…
Vegetable agrichemical pest management needs & priorities
Growers of some horticultural crops suffer from a lack of legal access to crop protection products (pesticides). The problem may be…
Vegetable and potato biosecurity program
Biosecurity preparedness has reduced the risks and threats of the world’s pests and diseases arrival, and prevented major outbreaks, in Australia….
Protecting IP and the R&D tax incentive
Intellectual Property (IP) is a broad term for the legal regimes that protect an individual’s or business’s creativity or innovation. In…
Assessing the costs associated with vegetable production
Determining the Cost of Production (CoP) is vital to understanding the economic viability of a farming system. The CoP is defined…
Spinach Crown Mite
Spinach crown mites live in the topsoil; they thrive in a cool, moist environment. They feed mainly on partly decomposed organic...
Using recycled water for vegetables
Recycled water is used in nearly all Australian states for vegetable production. Recycled water irrigation schemes offer a number of benefits,...
Irrigation water quality for vegetables
When irrigating vegetable crops, the use of poor water quality can affect both the crop and soil in which the plants...
Food safety and transitioning to HARPS
Food safety is critical for any vegetable business in Australia. It is essential for public safety and contributes towards customer satisfaction,…
Benchmarking; Measuring your business to manage performance
A recent survey of Victorian vegetable producers identified profitability and cost of production as high priority issues for growers, second only...