This is your chance to hear from industry, investors and innovators in the sector and to tour some of the nation’s most innovative and successful commercial PC facilities.
The CRC is a sponsor of this year’s multi-day protected-cropping industry conference, scheduled to take place in Coffs Harbour on NSW’s Mid North Coast over the last week of March. A packed agenda will explore key issues for Australia’s protected-cropping sector.
The two-and-a-half day conference component includes a flotilla of experts in the field. Sessions range from keynote speeches and research presentations to expert panel discussions. Concurrent sessions cover an array of topics, from the future of medicinal cannabis to potential markets for PC-grown produce, to the latest greenhouse tech.
Presentations on Days 2 and 3 highlight a slate of CRC projects in the protected cropping space. These include a NSW-DPI collaboration with researchers at Western Sydney University looking at ways to improve the nutritional profiles of polytunnel-grown blueberries; an exciting industry collaboration between major tomato producer Costa Group and University of New England researchers exploring the root microbiome of hydroponically grown tomato plants; and a national Hort Innovation project mapping PC facilities across Australia with Protected Cropping Australia and a UNE-backed research team, supported by the CRC.
Full and half-day tours of local PC facilities for growing berry and vegetable crops, respectively, are scheduled for Day 4.
Program outline
DAY 1: Monday 28 March 2022
- 9am –1pm: Exhibition set-up
- 1pm: Training workshop for growers
- 2pm: Conference registration & opening of Exhibition
- 6pm: Welcome function in Exhibition.
DAY 2: Tuesday 29 March 2022
- 8.15am: Welcome to Country and Opening Address
- 8.30am: Julian Cribb – Detoxing our Poisoned Planet: The Chemical Avalanche and Global People Power
- 9am: Tristan Kitchener – The future state of retailing and the opportunities for producers
- 9.30am: Student R&D projects
- 10.30am: Morning tea & Exhibition
- 11.10am: Concurrent sessions including medical cannabis; pollination (including CRC partner NSW DPI’s Dr Sophie Parks on Novel technologies/practices for optimising pollination within protected cropping environments); an introduction to hydroponics (including PCA Chair Nicky Mann on structures for protected cropping success
- 12.50pm Lunch & Exhibition
- 2.15pm: Concurrent sessions on medical cannabis; land use and planning; and nutrition/irrigation
- 4.10pm: Concurrent sessions including a cannabis forum and panel session; a session on innovation and new technology; and a grower workshop that includes insights from CRC industry partner P’petual Holdings‘ Andrew Potter
- 7pm: Conference dinner – Festival Under the Stars. Sponsored by CRC industry partner Perfection Fresh
DAY 3: Wednesday 30 March 2022
- 8.30am: Nancy Schellhorn – Data Driven Businesses: The Way of the Future
- 9am: Dr Elio Jovicich from QDAF – Pulling together the RD & E Strategy for Protected Cropping – What did we learn about the PC industry in Australia?
- 9.30am: UNE’s Dr Craig Shephard, project lead on the Hort Innovation-led National mapping project, in which the CRC is a supporting partner, on how this project will benefit growers & the industry
- 10am: Godfrey Dol – Will AI take over from Growers?
- 10.30am: Morning tea & Exhibition
- 11.15am: Concurrent sessions on people and skills; IPDM; and new research in PC (including a presentation from WSU’s Professor Priti Krishna, CRC project lead on the ‘Blueberry nutritional optimisation’ project with NSW DPI, on biostimulants and the opportunity these present for enhancing the nutritional quality of horticulture produce; and from UNE’s Phil Thomas and Dr Gal Winter, who’ll talk about the results of early trials from the CRC’s ‘Tomato rhizobiome’ project
- 12.55pm: Lunch & Exhibition
- 2.15pm: Concurrent sessions on the rootzone and substrates; innovation and technology; and the berry sector (with DPI’s Dr Sophie Parks discussing nutrient use by blueberry in a substrate system)
- 3.35pm: Afternoon tea & Exhibition
- 4.30pm: Outcomes of COVID-19: Panel discussion – Adam Briggs, Michael Rogers, Nicky Mann and more to be announced
- 5:30pm–5:45pm: Closing address.
To view the full conference program, click here.
To view the speaker profiles, click here.
Day 4: Thursday 31 March 2022
Berry Industry Farm Tour
The Berry Industry Farm Tour is a full-day farm tour on which you’ll visit berry operators within the Coffs Harbour region. Catering and transport are included in the ticket cost. If you’re taking the tour, the organisers recommend flying out of Coffs Harbour on Friday 1 April 2022.
Greenhouse Vegetable/Mixed Farm Tour
The Greenhouse Vegetable/Mixed Farm Tour is a half-day excursion on which you’ll visit greenhouse vegetable operators within the Coffs Harbour region. Catering and transport are included in the ticket cost. This tour offers airport drop-offs on Thursday afternoon for those wishing to depart early. The tour concludes at the Pacific Bay Resort in the late afternoon.
To access more information on the farm tours, click here.
Key information
Dates: 28-31 March 2022, Coffs Harbour
Conference times: Day 1: 9am-7pm, Day 2: 8.15am-6pm (Dinner: 7-10pm), Day 3: 8.30am-5.45pm; Day 4: Half and full day tours, times tba.
Venue: Pacific Bay Resort, Coffs Harbour. See on map.
Registration and further information
To register for the conference, click here.
For further information, contact the event organisers.
Lead image: The 2022 PCA Conference will feature presentations by a number of CRC participants. Credit: Protected Cropping Australia