ABC Rural Interview now online!

We were recently paid a visit by Jeremy of the ABC Rural program, who conducted an interview with Glasshouse Manager Tony Bundock, as well as two of our students - Michael McLachlan and Graeme Elsworth.

The following link has all the details and pictures as well as a link to the interview itself. 

Feel free to see and hear all the details at:-

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-14/agriculture-studies-goes-to-the-glasshouse/5388346.

Richmond venue now confirmed for Haifa Seminar

The second of our interstate Haifa Fertilizer seminars is now confirmed for Tuesday the 13th of May, 2014.

The seminar itself will be held at the Western Sydney Institute, at their Richmond Campus. This located at the corner of Blacktown Road and Campus Drive, Blacktown, Richmond, NSW 2753.

We are expecting a strong response to this event, so please contact Tony Bundock either via phone on 03 5990 7163 or e mail tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au to secure your registration.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event in May!

Interstate Training Opportunities

Chisholm Institute of TAFE in conjunction with Haifa Fertilisers, will be running a series of 5 interstate training roadshows to service the needs of the National hydroponic growing industry.

At this stage we are planning to run the roadshows across the following dates:-
Perth – Week commencing 5th May
Sydney – Week commencing 12th May
Coffs Harbour – Week commencing 2nd June
Adelaide – Week commencing 1st September
Bundaberg – Week commencing 15th September

Each roadshow will include a one day course on Fertilizer mix and nutrient solution calculations for Hydroponics and soil less media. The fertilizer course content is listed below in our Perth event flyer. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the technical aspects of this area from some of the leading agronomists in the industry.

In addition to this event, we will also be delivering additional training courses for:-
1. New entrants to hydroponic growing
2. Those growers who wish to learn more about the inclusion of technology in to their crop   growing
3. Onsite training for Priva Connext and Integro users who wish to increase their 
    understanding of using these systems. 

For further details, please contact Tony Bundock via e mail on tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au 

Greenhouse Crop Technicians Course

This week we are proud to announce the development of our latest training initiative.

We are now taking enrollments for our Greenhouse Crop Technicians Course. This is a four and a half day technical course that focuses on both the theoretical and practical elements required to operate a modern greenhouse facility. The course is designed for both existing growers and prospective new entrants to the industry, and will be delivered in the National Precision Growing Centre. 

The course will allow participants to undertake both hands on and theoretical work as part of the study program and as we have 'live' crops to hand this makes for a very interactive training course. The course itself is scheduled to start on Monday the 26th of May and details are listed below. 

For further details, please contact Tony Bundock via e mail at tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au

 

Replanting and overseas travel

Our staff members have been busy on both sides of the equator this week. Our new trainee -  Michael McLachlan, and staff member Doug Oldaker worked hard with De Ruiter staff members Aart Slobb and Josip Balint to replant our number one compartment last Friday. All plant material was propagated and grafted by Trandos Hydroponic Growers who once again proved their mastery of the propagation process by supplying some high quality plants

 The 'Winter' crop gets established.

The plants are currently sitting on the Grodan slabs as we exert a generative influence on them. They will be placed on the planting holes in approximately two weeks time. We have a mixture of varieties as part of the De Ruiter trialing program which brings its own set of challenges to the growing process.

 Our trainee, Michael, is getting a taste for heights as he undertakes the task of stringing! This is now Michael's third week with us and he is already proving himself to be a valuable asset to the staff.

 New Trainee Michael in action

Staff member Tony Bundock has been in Vietnam as part of an International project with Chisholm. The project itself has been developing a training agreement with the Vietnamese Government to introduce Australian vocational qualifications in to the workforce in Vietnam. The project saw Tony working with Simon Gazia of industry partner Lab Tech Training, to investigate current training and production facilities. Plant propagation by tissue culture in Vietnam is a popular method and a course has now been devised that will train students in both Laboratory technology techniques as well as modern growing and greenhouse techniques.

 Tissue culture in Da Lat - Vietnam

All parties were required to collaborate and reach an agreed training course which was signed off by the Vietnamese Government. The next stage of the project will see fifteen Vietnamese teachers coming to Melbourne in May to undertake specialized training in both the laboratory technology and controlled environment growing areas.

 Tony Bundock and Simon Gazia with members of the Vietnamese Trade Congress

What a busy week!

We have had  pretty full on week in terms of training and activity at the National Precision Growing Centre.

Our Certificate 3 students completed the cleaning of Compartment one and the Grodan slabs have been laid out in preparation for wetting up and planting of our 'Winter' crop next week.

Cleaned and ready to go!

As you can see, the students have made a fantastic job of cleaning up the house, and they will be involved in the planting out process next week.

On Tuesday we hosted 11 industry participants for a full days training in our 'Introduction to Commercial Tomato Production' course. The day was a very fast paced day of training and was designed to be a 'knowledge grab' for all of the students. Each participant also went home with a USB brimming with information to assist them in developing their knowledge after the course.

Owing to the strong demand for this course we are now planning a further course next month - dates will be advertised the week after next.

We also had a visit from Grodan propagation adviser Hans van Herk who conducted a seminar on Tomato propagation on Wednesday evening. This was a really informative session and was greatly appreciated by the delegates that attended.

Finally, our glasshouse manager is off on his travels again, and this time Tony Bundock will be visiting Vietnam as part of a large training program that Chisholm Institute are developing with the Vietnamese government. Tony will be away for a week and will be leaving the replanting exercise to staff member Colin Bednarz and the Certificate three students - we are in safe hands!  

Practical (and not so glamorous) training!

Our new Certificate 3 Horticulture students started their course this week, and were hard at work on day four.

This week we have started clearing out our 'Winter' Tomato crop in preparation for re planting. The cleaning out operation is a little earlier than usual but this is to allow us to make some exciting new changes within the compartment - more on this as it develops!

All of the students were enthusiastic participants in this particularly dirty job, but they will get to do the 'fun' side of planting and establishing the new crop. 

The next stage is to wash the compartment from top to bottom as we enter the sterilization phase of the operation.

 

Making a start...

 Getting there.....

 

Happy band of workers....

Introduction to Commercial Tomato Crop Production

 

Our training year is now up and running and one of the first courses we are proud to announce is the 'Introduction to Commercial Crop Production' course.

This course is designed for the new entrant or 'novice' grower who wants to get to the basics of growing a Tomato crop.

The course has a theoretical and practical component and is ideal for those who want to broaden their knowledge.

There are limited places for this course, so if you wish to participate, please contact Tony Bundock via e mail or phone.

Welcome to the New Year!

2014 promises to be a very interesting year for us here at the National Precision Growing Centre with a raft of new initiatives to assist the industry in training.

Priva training will be one of our major focusses this year, with our Priva endorsed trainer - Tony Bundock - compiling a busy schedule of both on and off campus events.

Our popular 'Introduction to Computerised Climate Management' courses will be running throughout the year at the Cranbourne Campus, and we will also be running courses for more specialised users of Priva products.

New for this year are the 'Maximise your Maximiser' and 'Intelligent use of Integro (Connext)' courses. Dates for these courses will be appearing in the next two weeks so keep an eye on the blog site for further details!

So that we can service the wider industry, we will also be delivering these courses interstate. Our plan is to develop a number of 'roadshows' that will enable us to deliver this training in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. Past experience has shown us that many growers are keen to enter in to this specialised training but the costs of flying staff around the country make it financially impossible for many to attend. By taking the training to the clients we are looking to provide a more cost effective way of providing this service to growers.

As part of our commitment as a Priva training centre, we are also working closely with Priva NL to develop the Priva accreditation system. The concept behind this project is that many of us use Priva computers as part of our daily routines, but there is no benchmark to determine the level of skill that individuals have in using Priva products. By having an acccreditation process, industry practitioners will be able to have their skills recognised against an endorsed set of competency standards that will not only highlight their ability, but act as part of an 'industry passport' when applying for future career positions. 

On top of our Priva courses, we will also be looking to follow the 'roadshow' concept with a range of training inititiatives. These will include introductory courses for those growers who are new to the industry and want to start growing hydroponically. The courses will look at some of the basic elements of developing a Precision Growing approach to growing, and will highlight the potential benefits to growers who want to 'get out of the soil'.

Following on from the huge success of our Haifa Fertilizer seminar, we will also be developing training options with Haifa to take the seminar series on the road as well. This course is a real eye opener for any grower that wants to improve his or her ability in fertilizer management.

For new entrants to the industry, we are now taking enrolments for both our Certificate III and Certificate IV courses in Production Horticulture. Both of these courses have a high degree of focus on the commercial production of greenhouse vegetables, and students spend a large proportion of their time in practical applications to enable them to be 'job ready' at the end of the course.

We will be posting details of all these courses as they are finalised, but if you want any further information in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact Tony Bundock via e mail at tony.bundock@chisholm.edu.au

The steady stream of visitors.....

Part of the role of The National Precision Growing Centre is to educate both industry practitioners as well as the wider public in how precision growing is undertaken.

This week we had a diverse range of visitors from those with a hobby background in horticulture, right up to one of the leading exponents of precision growing.

We firstly welcomed 34 members of the Springvale Garden Club to observe first hand how a commercial glasshouse operates. The group recieved an explanation of both climate and irrigation management from staff member Tony Bundock, whilst our trainee Sara Nour, gave a guided tour around the crop growing area.

 

The group finished their tour with an opportunity to buy some of our wonderful fresh tomatoes!

At the other end of the scale, we welcomed Grodan's Andy Lee to Cranbourne this week as he tours Australian as part of his customer support program. As ever, Andy was a wealth of knowledge and gave us some great guidance in terms of crop and climate management strategies.

Andy Lee and Tony Bundock inspecting the crop