Media coverageMarch, 2023
As anyone in the industry knows, root pathogens are a common issue in greenhouse production, in systems that use soil but also in hydroponics. But if it happens that hydroponic systems are contaminated with one or more pathogens, as Dr. Gal Winter at the University of New England (UNE) in Australia explains, the resultant disease can be more serious than in soil growing systems. This is due to the closely-set environmental conditions, water recirculation and the lower populations of microbes that exist in hydroponics. Starting in 2020, Winter has led a project to examine microbe communities, including pathogens, in hydroponic tomatoes. Her PhD student Phil Thomas is currently studying this for his degree. The project is based at the Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), which was established in 2019 to deliver research results through partnerships with Australian universities, other government bodies and private companies. In this case, the private partner is Australia’s leading fresh produce grower, Costa Group, which, under its Tomato Exchange business, grows various tomato varieties in a large state-of-the-art greenhouse in Guyra in the state of New South Wales. The CRC project officially finishes in September 2023 and Thomas will likely finish his PhD in 2024.