A quick overview

Click on this line to go to our You Tube link!

The Chisholm Outbound 2011 project took two weeks to complete, and saw 6 students touring key Controlled Environment Horticulture industry sites in the Netherlands.

Bu clicking the video link above, you can gain a condensed 5 minute version of events as an overview of what we saw and experienced.

Every picture is worth a thousand words, so we will be running some further presentations where the students will be able to tell you the stories behind these images.

We hope you enjoy the experience as much as we did.

On the way home

For all the family and friends that have been following this blog, we can confirm that Catherine, Kylie, Vanessa, Liam, Wayne and James are now well and truly on the way home.

This morning saw the team leaving Delft at 7.30am and head for Schipol airport. After checking in baggage (including Kylie's somewhat overweight trunk!) it was off to passport control and then finally boarding the plane at 11.15am. foir the best destination in the world - home.

Tony waved the troops off, after which he flew to London for some additional work commitments, and he will be starting his return trip to Australia on Tuesday.

So if you are planning to go to Tullamarine tomorrow night you should see your loved ones arrive in one piece and hopefully on time!

The Great Race

Team member, Ray Agrotis, came on this trip in the knowledge that his lovely wife, Kelly, was expecting their first baby. Agrotis junior was set to arrive in the world towards the end of August, so the timing was ideal for Ray to study and return for the birth.

However, as with all great plans, the need to adapt to change is paramount. And well ahead of schedule, master Mason Agrotis came in to the world at 01.45AM Australian time yesterday, weighing in at 6 lb 2 oz. Mum and baby are doing well.

Obviously Ray wanted to race back home as soon as he could, so with some great assistance from Singapore Airlines, we managed to get Ray on an earlier flight. At 7.30 this morning Tony took Ray in a taxi and delivered him to Schipol airport. Ray is now winging his way back to Australia, where he will travel directly from Tullamarine to Casey Hospital to meet the new son and heir and give him his first bath.

'Ray heads home to see his new family member'

Obviously we all send our congratulations to Kelly and Ray and as soon as we have some pictures of the new arrival we will put them on the blog.

Innovations and Pedal Power

Today was the last day of industry visits as tomorrow we have some report writing commitments to attend to. So we used the time wisely and visited the Metazet Demonstration Nursery in Honslelerdijk.

The demonstration nursery is a unique showcase of various systems and machinery that are used for production, harvesting, internal transport, plant growth and lighting.  The systems and products are improved constantly, as a result of the rapid changes in the horticultural sector. This means that Growers gain an insight into current products or those to be developed, to meet the requirements for their specific crop and company layout.  

The demonstration nursery also focuses on marketing ideas and we gained a great insight in to the latest innovations in this area which included high quality packaging and presentation concepts.

Another attraction of the demonstration nursery was the growing innovations, which included a multi layer hanging gutter system for Tomato production. This was of great interest and was seen by the students as an innovation that had enormous potential as an alternative to existing production systems.

Finally, part of this trip has seen us adopting local traditions and cultures. The Netherlands is famous for bicycles, so we decided to take this on board. The demonstration nursery is 10 kms away from our hotel, so Tony came up with the bright idea of us all riding to the site. His risk assessment of the exercise detected two members of the team who might suffer potential injuries after prolonged cycling, (their names have been withheld to protect their innocence). So to counter this, James was in charge of the 'support' bike - an electric moped which ironically was called a Qyck, and could only do a top speed of 30kpm - to travel alongside us and offer 'at risk' team members a rest on the back of the "moby" on a rotational basis.

So we set off in brilliant sunshine for the trip with our intrepid leader at the front of the pack, and despite a couple of minor 'incidents' we all arrived in one piece and exactly on time. Refreshments were administered on our arrival, and the return leg was also achieved with out too much disaster!

Contestants in the 'Tour de Delft'

Next Generation Substrates

Our industry visit today saw us travelling some 150 kms to the Grodan factory at Roermond, which is about 5 minutes away from the Dutch / German border.

The purpose of the visit was to gain a broader idea of the issues surrounding the use of Grodan as a growing substrate, and also to see the production of the various products first hand.

So after leaving the hotel at 7.10am we eventually got to the factory at 09.25am, and were greeted by our hosts Rens and Rick. Even better was that they had laid on morning tea with a local cake called Fly (there probably is a better Dutch spelling but we don’t know it!) which was a delicious cream type cake. So with cake and coffee consumed, we had a brief presentation on the history of the Grodan company, and a general overview of the Grodan products and how they are utilised within the glasshouse industry.

In order us to tour the production facility we had to wear safety shoes and hard hats, and just when we thought we had dressed up for the last time in white suits etc, we were issued with some very loud red coats.

The Red Coat Brigade

Owing to Grodan’s security policy we were unable to take any pictures of the production facility, but the sheer size of the factory would actually have made it almost impossible to capture any images that would have portrayed the large scale of the operation.

What we did see was a highly automated process that operated at a very high speed in terms of production and output. The Grodan slabs were cut from large sheets of stonewall, before being wrapped in a plastic sleeve. These sleeves were then periodically tested for air tightness, before the final products were placed on a conveyer, where a laser cut out the holes in the plastic for the plants.

During the tour we learnt that Grodan has approx 70% of the total market share for the Controlled Growing environment  industry, and are aiming to hold that percentage of the market share.

We were also able to discuss the composting trial that Catherine will be undertaking in conjunction with Grodan and the Nursery Industry Association of Australia when we return to Australia, and how we can work collaboratively together as partners as this project develops.

Tomato World and Aubergines

Although it would seem on first viewing this blog entry that we have spent the day at a theme park, Tomato World is in fact an information centre for the industry based at Honselersdjyk.



Here we were able to gain a better understanding of the broader industry, as well as being able to observe 64 different Tomato varieties that varied in both size and colour. And the best bit was that we could also taste test the Tomatoes!

Tomatoes are not always red

Tomato World also houses a trial nursery that grows all of the varieties that we observed, so we could see first hand the differing growth habits of the various varieties.

As regullar followers of this blog will have realized we follow a simple equation when visiting Tomato growing areas which is Chisholm Student + Glasshouse = Need to wear PPE

So here we are again, but this time wearing some rather trendy lab coats and blue overshoes!

Our last visit for the day saw us looking around the glasshouses of Aubergine Growers, Van Luyk at Wateringen. This is a 2.5 hectare glasshouse totally dedicate to Aubergine production.

The facility has a high degree of mechanisation in relation to product movement and packaging. Her we observed the packaging equipment, and also the industry speed for packing, which was effectivly a box packed every 30 seconds.

We were also able to spend some time discussing the growing techniques for Aubergine which will be very helpful for us all as we trial Aubergine growing in the Chisholm Glasshouse this year.

Learning the Art of Control

After a weekend which  saw the majority of the group visit three countries in 24 hours, sip Champagne under the Eiffel Tower, and eat chocolates in Brugge, we were back in to learning mode.

Our training today was with the Priva company, who are official training partners with Chisholm for Controlled Environment Horticulture.

Our arrival was formally recognised on the main TV screen as we arrived - our claim to fame!

Our training was at the De Lier head quarters of Priva, which in itself is a unique and impressive building that utilses a geo-thermal heat source for both heating and cooling, and we were given a guided tour by Priva's export manager, Dennis de Witt..

The day saw us all being trained on the Priva Integro climate control system by Priva's climate expert Hein Jasperse. The challenge now is to translate the new found knowledge in to some practical strategies when we return to Cranbourne under Tony's watchful eye!

Kylie and Vanessa discuss some irrigation setting options



Sowing the seed

Today saw us complete the last day of the first week of this tour by visiting seed house, Rijk Zwaan. We were firstly given an introduction of how the seed treatment and production facility at de Lier had evolved by Jolanda van Kralingen of the publicity department.

Jolanda explains issues relating to seed production

 

During this time we learnt about the history of the company, and then we toured the seed treatment and production area. A highlight of the tour being a look in to the 15 metre high seed storage area.

Seed storage area

We then travelled to the Tomato Trial at Kwintsheul with crop co-ordinator, Marcel van Koppen. Here we were able to look at the various varietes of Tomato that Rijk Zwaan offer to the industry, as well as being able to taste test the various Tomatoes.

Of course no day is complete without us dressing up in the tyvek suits, so we donned the gear and then we were able to inspect the various tomato varieties growing in the trial glasshouse.

Rijk Zwaan tomato guru, Harry Augustijn was on hand to tell us about the trials and the various varieties.

The team and Harry Augustijn

Auctions, Tomatoes and Grapes

Thursday the 28th of July saw us looking at three major sites associated with the Dutch Horticulture industry. All of our visits were facilitated by Dutch Consultant, Ronald Duyvesteijn.

Firstly we visited the Dutch flower auction house FloraHolland, the world's largest, at their Naaldwijk site.

The Dutch auction system utilises an electronic clock that starts at a high price and drops in price. Buyers have to stop the clock at the price they are prepared to pay. The buyers can view the products in a giant cold store before the auction and can then bid for the product as it passes under the clock.

Catherine preparing to purchase at the auction

Stock that is ready for sale is held in the giant storage area and is moved around on a trolley system.

The majority of the day was spent looking at a large scale Tomato crop belonging to growers, C.G.van Winden. This is an eleven and a half hectare site, which is all under glass.

As you can see the glasshouse is a little bigger than the Chisholm version! Here we were able to walk around the highly automated packing area, as well as being allowed to wander around the crop area. This meant that we could observe practical plant growth management techniques, and see first hand how the crop was being managed. As ever, this was another day where we got dressed up in the fashionable white suits.

On the day of our visit the facility was picking and packing 30 tonnes of Tomatoes. These will all go to the export market in Germany.

Crop ready for picking

5kg box of vine tomatoes

Packed boxes awaiting despatch

Our final visit for the day was to the Grape Museum. This is a site that showcases the origins of the Westland area, and how all of the modern glasshouse production of today has developed from grape production in glasshouses that were built against brick walls. The site has a large number of grapes under production and aims to keep alive the history and heritage of the commercial horticulture industry alive.

Of particular interest was the fact that the museum utilises natural predators of soil bourne pests in the form of the small bird, the qual.

Quails seeking out a feed!

Highlights of the tour included a chance to sample the grapes, and a look at the canal where grapes would have loaded on to boats and taken to the markets. We did try and relive the experience by all getting on to the 'mock' canal boat, but this nearly ended in disaster when the boat tipped! With our pride intact and clothing still dry, we headed home at this point!

The day was a varied and interesting one. Below are some comments by the students highlighting what they found of interest:-

The most interesting fact I learned today was that the grey water of approximately 500,000 homes around the Delft, Haag area is collected, treated and cleaned at a central location, until it is at a quality high enough to release back into the natural water system. - Ray

The most impressive aspect of the grape museum was the Integrated pest management. Biological control is the preferred method. No herbicides or insecticides are used, just fungicides for the control of disease.

Quails are used to eat ground dwelling pests, rove mite satchels for the control of spider mites and all weeds are burned not sprayed.This is an effective alternative, far cheaper safer and environmentally friendly - Wayne

The Grape Museum located in the Westland's area of Delft was a fascinating blend of horticultural history and personal stories within an artisan institution that is strongly committed to educating the public about the old ways of growing grapes within the region. A perhaps uncommon fact is that grapes were the first crops grown in glasshouses within this area of the Netherlands, a predecessor to the billion dollar industry that it has now blossomed into. The Museum has a permanent staff of three yet could not function without the dedicated team of over 260 volunteers who grow, prune, graft and harvest the vines throughout the year - Catherine

Today we attended the Naaldwickflower market, the market has been in operation since the early 1900's and now covers an area of 740,000 square meters - 74 hectares, in comparison to the Footscray Market in Melbourne which is 33 hectares and about 1/8 of that is flower market we are a drop in the ocean. The market operates on a daily basis from Monday to Friday and the flowers and pots are brough via the auction system where the bidding starts at the highest point and comes down not up. 80% of stock sold in exported generally within Europe - Kylie





Training at PTC+ - Practical Training Plus

Wednesday the 27th of July saw us all revert back to our student roles as we attended a day's training at the PTC+ centre in Ede.

PTC+ is based in the town of Ede and provides specialised training in all aspects of glasshouse management through a combination of theoretical and practical based training. We were fortunate enough to spend the day with Glasshouse expert Herman Eijkelboom who gave us an insight in to all aspects of glasshouse management and climate control, as well as giving us an overview of the issues surrounding fertiliser application and nutrient uptake.

Herman Eijkelboom and the team at PTC+

The day saw everyone participating in the training and Herman gave us a wealth of knowledge to take away with us. Hopefully we can implement this knowledge in a practical way on our return.



Looking at plant growth factors in the PTC+ Gerbera crop