Job Title: Senior Project Officer, Horticulture Industry Networks

Organisation: Agriculture Victoria

Location: Mildura

I am responsible for the  Horticulture Industry Network (HIN), which is an established and unique network initiated by Agriculture Victoria, and made up of 31 temperate horticulture industry organisations (20 national organisations and 11 state organisations).  This represents nearly 100% of Victoria’s horticultural crops including fruit, nuts, vegetables, cut flowers, nurseries and wine. I am running 5-6 events each year based on industry priorities to enable cross-horticultural industry collaboration, improve capability and link horticultural industries to Government, research institutions and innovative businesses. I also collect horticulture industry intelligence quarterly, collate it and distribute it throughout Agriculture Victoria and the contributing industries.

I started my working life at CSIRO in horticulture, before moving to the Victorian Department to work with irrigated horticulture around incentives,training, whole farm and strategic planning, seasonal risk, energy use, market access and climate change in the apple and pear industry.

Education

Dipl. Ing. Agrar (equivalent to Ms of Agriculture), Bachelor of Applied Science (Viticulture), 

The surveillance resource/tool/apps I like to use

Am using the MyPestGuide Grapes from WA, the PMApp and VitiCanopy

Why is biosecurity important to me

Where do I start? We are running a small viticultural property and I would like to remain as pest free and productive as possible whilst seeing Australia being able to trade as much as possible. Keeping Australia free of exotic pests and diseases is paramount in protecting our extensive range of high quality food products – which we all enjoy currently. We need to share responsibility for biosecurity – this cannot be achieved by one party alone.

Why reporting pests and diseases is important to me

The earlier we can report pests and diseases the more economical and possible a response and eradication would be……

My favourite gardening resources

I like to have a look at Pinterest for inspiration and then talk to the nurseries at home….

What I like to grow 

Hmm, the politically correct answer is dried grapes (Sunmuscats) and then Australian natives (especially trees like the Lemon Scented Gum) and succulents although one of my favourites is the South African Quiver Tree which belongs to the Aloe family

The social network I rely on the most

Mainly Instagram and Pinterest but I am still on Facebook 

My favourite news source

The Spiegel app in my native language, The Age and ABC news app plus Reddit