YOUNG’S Tom Eastlake was last night awarded a prestigious Nuffield Scholarship supported by Horticulture Australia Limited, as part of the across-industry program with matching funds from the Australian government.
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The scholarship will enable the local farmer to study cherry field handling, packing techniques and packaging materials.
With 15,000 cherry trees in production, Tom is responsible for all orchard and farming activities on his property which produces approximately 250 to 340 tonnes of cherries per year.
His responsibilities include all facets of cherry production such as rootstock cultivation, grafting varieties to growing and maintenance of trees, picking and packing of the fruit at harvest and marketing fruit to the domestic and international market.
Tom manages three full-time staff during the year and over 100 seasonal workers at harvest.
To optimise shelf life, minimise damage and provide the best presentation of fruit, Tom will study handling techniques of cherries from tree to packhouse, handling during packing and subsequent packaging.
“Almost all research in Australia is done on variety and rootstock performance, yield, pruning techniques and chemical performance - there is no research done on fruit handling and packaging best practice.
“We have varieties that can display ‘pitting’ on the skin after handling, or that are softer and may bruise or squash - however, improving handling techniques have been shown to reduce pitting, and our goal should be to improve our handling to reduce impact and compression,” he explains.
Tom plans to visit the USA to look at in-field picking, delivery and cooling and fruit packaging for domestic sales, as well as heading to Canada, Chile and Italy.
Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) CEO John Lloyd said HAL is a proud supporter of the Nuffield Scholarship program.
“This program provides the forward thinking leaders of our industry a strong foundation to achieve their research endeavours, which I am sure will contribute greatly to the ongoing growth of the horticulture sector,” Mr Lloyd said.
Nuffield Australia is an organisation which provides an opportunity to Australian farmers to travel overseas on an agricultural research scholarship. It is a 16-week program consisting of both group and individual travel.
The next groups will be travelling through New Zealand, Brazil, USA, Mexico, the UK, South Africa, Kenya and Europe in March-April 2015.
