Season’s Greetings to all DPIFMers …… · Web viewExtension Officer Stuart Smith flags some important issues around this topic and how to remedy the situation. CONTENTSThe PINT

CONTENTSThe PINT Newsletter is produced by the Plant Industries Division of Department of Resources.

For further information please contact

Warren Hunt (08) 8999 2143

[email protected]

In this issue:

Vegetable quality post-harvest……....….2

Planning ahead for ICA changes………4

Derelict Orchards

Useful Links …...………………….…......6

Upcoming events…………………….…..7

July 2012 E-Newsletter

This issue - harvest issues

Dear Reader,

Welcome to another issue of the PINT newsletter.

This newsletter focussed on a range of issues

confronting our Northern Territory plant industries as

they head into the upcoming harvest seasons for

vegetables and mangoes. The local vegetable industry

has a number of practice and infrastructure issues within

the supply chain that can impact on the quality of

product delivered to our southern markets. Extension

Officer Stuart Smith flags some important issues around

this topic and how to remedy the situation.

With an announcement imminent from the Australian Pest and Veterinary Medicine Authority

(APVMA), on fenthion as a post-harvest treatment on mangoes destined for interstate markets; this

edition of PINT highlights some strategies and planning that mango producers might wish to consider

in the event that fenthion is withdrawn from use between

now and December. Finally, still with mangoes Stephen

West discusses the Plant Health Act 2011 in regard to

the subject of derelict or abandoned orchards.

Regards,

Warren HuntPh   +61 (0)8 8999 2143Fax +61 (0)8 8999 2049Mobile: +61 (0)409 809 610 Email: [email protected]

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Forced air cooling can be used in a normal cool room.

A fan and tarpaulin is set up to force cool air through

the boxes or crates, accelerating the cooling process

(Picture: http://postharvest.tfrec.wsu.edu/pages/N4I1A).

Vegetable quality relies on what happens after harvestBy: Stuart Smith, Vegetable Extension Officer

The Northern Territory vegetable season is in full swing, crops are

being harvested, growers are busy, trucks are running up and

down the highway and it’s all a bit frantic. It’s also frantic down at

the markets in the cities of the southern states where wholesalers

receive, re-pack and distribute what the NT has produced to their

retail customers who sell it to the final consumers. We produce

our vegetables when it is too cold for the rest of Australia to grow

the same vegetables. The problem we have, however, is the long

distance and time between where our vegetables are grown and

where they are consumed, and the number of people who handle

these vegetables in the chain that connects the two places.

Work done by the Department of Resources in the dry season of 2011 showed that there are times

when everything doesn’t go to plan, and vegetables that leave the farm in excellent condition can

deteriorate to the point of having to be thrown out when they get to their selling destination. A lot of

this could be avoided with better cooling and temperature control.

At the farm, most Top End growers use

cool rooms or water baths to cool and /

or clean their vegetables. For some

vegetables like sinqua, luffa and

cucumbers, this is adequate, but not

ideal. For vegetables that have higher

respiration rates and produce their own

heat, like okra and snake bean, these

practices become more risky. Forced air

cooling is a recommended technique to

speed up cooling after vegetables come in

from being picked. Using a fan and covers and an existing cool room, cold air can be sucked

through crates and boxes, which speeds up the cooling process. Most NT vegetables are around

30°C when they are picked but require storage at temperatures ranging from 0 to 21°C (see Table

Page 2 of 8 Katherine Rural Review, Issue 290

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E D I T I O N 2 9 0 J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 0 8

Katherine Research StationPO Box 1346, Katherine NT 0851

Phone: (08) 8973 9739Fax: (08) 8973 [email protected]

ISSN 0394-9823www.nt.gov.au/dpifm

1), in order to achieve optimal product quality and shelf life. This temperature gap at harvest must

be reduced relatively quickly post-harvest to minimise deterioration. Our studies showed that, in

some cases in ordinary cool rooms where forced air cooling was not used, it took 15 hours to cool

cucumbers to 20°C, still a long way from their optimum temperature storage of 10-12°C.

Table 1.

Page 4 of 8 Katherine Rural Review, Issue 290

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E D I T I O N 2 9 0 J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 0 8

Katherine Research StationPO Box 1346, Katherine NT 0851

Phone: (08) 8973 9739Fax: (08) 8973 [email protected]

ISSN 0394-9823www.nt.gov.au/dpifm

Growers need to work closely with their transport providers in the next part of the chain after the

farm cool room. Most vegetables in the Darwin area are collected by a transport company who

takes them from farms to a central collecting depot, where they are temporarily stored in cool

rooms until they are picked up by prime movers to go to interstate markets. Growers should ensure

that their product moves quickly from their cool room to the collecting depot, preferably in a

refrigerated truck, or at night. Investigations have shown that all the gains from a farm cool room

can be lost if the pick-up truck is not refrigerated and collects during the day.

By the time vegetables leave the central collection depot, they should be at their optimal cooling

temperature, as refrigerated containers WILL NOT cool product down, they are designed to keep

product at the temperature once they are cooled. This is critical with snake beans, as their

temperature can increase dramatically during transit if they are not cold enough to start with, with

some consignments arriving at 40°C (and were “cooked” in the process!). Everyone has to take

responsibility, but if you are the grower, it is important that you are aware of everything that

happens between your farm and your customer and make sure your transport operators are truly

partners in your business so you get a quality outcome.

Snake beans generate their own heat and need strict temperature control or they will heat up, even in a

refrigerated truck. This box was opened at the Sydney markets and was already over 30°C

Planning ahead for changes in Interstate Certification Assurance (ICA) access for mango growersBy: Stephen West Manager – Chief Plant Health Manager Biosecurity

Interstate Certification Assurance (ICA) is a system of plant health certification based on quality

management principles. ICA provides an alternative to traditional plant health certification

involving government inspectors. It is a national scheme administered by all states and territories

and enables a business to be accredited by a state or territory plant quarantine authority to issue

plant health assurance certificates for its produce. To be accredited, businesses must be able to

demonstrate effective in-house procedures that ensure produce consigned to intra or interstate

markets meets specified plant quarantine requirements. The plant quarantine authority regularly

audits compliance by businesses.

Page 6 of 8 Katherine Rural Review, Issue 290

Red banded mango caterpillars in juvenile mango.

Source: Queensland Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry.

Derelict Orchards – To Act or Not to Act?By: Stephen West Manager – Chief Plant Health Manager Biosecurity

On the 1 July 2011 new Plant Health Act legislation came into effect in the Northern Territory.

One of the key points of interest to many commercial horticulturalists was that this new Act would

enable abandoned orchards to be directed to undertake mandatory actions against pests and

diseases, or even better to have them removed all together. Sounds good, but is not what the Act

is about.

The Plant Health Act does have powers to direct property

owners to control pests and/or diseases present on their

property through prescribed treatments or even in the

destruction of the host plants. However this power is set in

the context of a “Declared” pest or disease only. This

means that the pest or disease must be exotic to the

Territory and if it is detected, official intervention by

government is sanctioned. In addition a pest or disease

can be made “Notifiable”, which means reporting of the

presence of the pest or disease is compulsory. A recent

example for mango growers is Red banded mango

caterpillar which has been detected in certain parts of Cape

York. It is considered a serious threat to Australia's

commercial mango industry. RBMC tunnels through the

skin and flesh and feeds on the seed, causing fruit spoiling

and premature fruit drop. It is a priority declared pest under

the Mango Industry Biosecurity Plan and consequently

notifiable under the NT Plant Health Act - which means all the powers of the Act apply to it and

every lawful avenue to eradicate it can be exercised once its presence is confirmed.

So what about all of those abandoned orchards and the pests and diseases that are already here

in the NT? Managing the impact of endemic i.e., common pests and diseases, was never the

intent of the Plant Health Act 2011. The primary focus of the Act is to enable government

intervention in people’s private affairs should there be a need to control declared pests and

diseases that are a threat to our plant-based rural industries. This legislation finally brought the

NT into line with other state and territory jurisdictions, providing a clear framework for both lawful

and effective action.

. Page 7 of 8

The issue of derelict/abandoned orchards that boundary against commercial horticultural

operations remains problematic. The Plan Health Act 2011 has no bearing on the potential, real

or perceived threats associated with endemic pest or disease between neighbouring farms.

Dialogue, negotiation and cooperation represent the preferred non-litigious pathway for

producers. A third party, perhaps your industry association or other related entity may be able to

assist in brokering discussions around any such issues. In the words of Winston Churchill “To

jaw-jaw- is always better than to war-war”. Talk to your neighbour.

Useful Links

APVMA – Public Chemical Registration System

APVMA Permits

APVMA – Dimethoate Review

Bureau of Meteorology services

o Weekly climate note

o Madden-Julian Oscillation

Horticulture Publications – DAFWA

Mango Information Kit

NT Primary Industries Agnotes and Fact sheets

Primary Industries Publications – NT DoR

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