The day was a great opportunity for growers to learn new skills as well as building on existing knowledge that could be translated to their own crops when they returned home.

The event allowed for HFF members to conduct their usual business meeting, as well as participating in a technical seminar delivered by international speaker Peter de Vries, one of Yara’s lead agronomists in the Netherlands. His visit to Australia provided a timely opportunity for members to ‘learn from the master’.

de Vries delivered a presentation entitled, ‘The important of a balanced nutrient programme’ which covered both the fundamentals and advanced considerations for a developing a hydroponic based nutrient recipe.

Over forty HFF members and allied traders attended the event.

The fertiliser seminar was conducted in two parts with the formal seminar session being held in Chisholm Institute’s auditorium, followed by a practical session on fertiliser calculations at the adjacent National Precision Growing Centre greenhouse. This allowed the participants to put the theory of the earlier session into practice and also build confidence in their fertiliser calculation processes. Staff members from YARA were also on hand to guide the growers in the process.

The day also allowed for the HFF members to have a look at the latest De Ruiter Tomato varieties that are grown as a trial within the greenhouse area.

Much of the LED research has been developed in the Northern hemisphere, and the lighting trial is being established to allow Australian growers to see the benefits of LED lighting in true Australian conditions. The trial will also see Chisholm Institute students undertaking the crop registration process to fully evaluate the benefits of the lighting process.

The final part of the day, HFF members were informed of a proposed study tour to South Korea. Committee member, Michael Tran, is organising the tour that will see twenty HFF delegates tour a number of key horticultural sites in South Korea between 30 April and 7 May 2017.

HFF’s President gave a formal note of thanks on behalf of the organisation to Colin Bednarz from Chisholm Institute for facilitating the event. HFF said that it has worked closely with Chisholm in the past to assist the Institute in being one of the forerunners in the delivery of quality horticultural training programmes.