Ahead of Hort Connections 2023, Australian vegetable growers heard how their peers have worked with the Soil Wealth ICP project to improve their productivity, profitability and sustainability in field trials to boost soil and plant health at the Annual Vegetable Industry Seminar (AVIS) in Adelaide on Monday 5 June.
Panellists included Victorian vegetable grower Jake Shadbolt from Scotties Point Farms; South Australian vegetable grower Anthony De Ieso from Thorndon Park Produce; and Peter Wadewitz from Peats Soil & Garden Supplies. The discussion was led by Soil Wealth ICP team members Carl Larsen and Gordon Rogers.
Anthony and Peter discussed their experience with a Soil Wealth ICP compost trial at Thorndon Park Produce’s Waterloo Corner property. The business produces spinach, silverbeet, spring onions, radish, beetroot, continental parsley and coriander throughout the year and compost trials are now underway at its Gawler River property.
Jake, alongside his father Peter and brother Ryan, grows broccoli, pumpkin, beetroot and onions north of Swan Hill. The Shadbolts have worked with Soil Wealth ICP team member Kelvin Montagu to trial cover crops that can protect their sandy loam soils during hot summers and suppress weeds in their pumpkin crops to reduce inputs and result in cleaner harvesting. They have also trialled strip-till in their broccoli crops.
Find out the key insights from the panel discussion in this article.
