Advancing sustainable and technology driven apple orchard production systems

⁠⁠⁠Request for Proposal: Advancing sustainable and technology driven apple orchard production systems (AP19003)
Hort Innovation is a not-for-profit, grower-owned Research and Development Corporation (RDC) for Australia’s $13.2 billion horticulture industry. Hort Innovation invests around $110 million in research and development (R&D) and marketing programs annually to provide benefit to industry and the wider community.

Hort Innovation is seeking a suitably qualified, experienced and capable delivery partner for the project: Advancing sustainable and technology driven apple orchard production systems (AP19003).
The objective of the services being sought is to develop better knowledge of an apple orchard production system that maximises quality, yield and labour efficiency under an increasing climate variability.
To do this, the secondary objectives are to:
• Develop crop load, training systems, pruning and irrigation optimisation for yield, quality and labour efficiency in new and emerging apple cultivars.
• Optimise production systems for delivery of apples that meet consumer expectations related to cultivars, quality, taste, sweetness, size, and colour.
• Develop orchard design techniques, tools and management practices that enhance the ability of orchards to manage climate variability and weather extremes.
• Investigate risks/ benefits and implementation strategies of regenerative agriculture in a perennial apple orchard system.
• Develop pathways to high productivity robotics ready apple orchard systems.
• Communicate findings in a clear and practical format to growers and wider industry.