More fruit of desired quality: enabling differential management in tree and vine crops
Agricultural production systems are highly variable in both space and time, with this variability
driven by a mixture of soil, topographic and climatic effects, along with biotic and abiotic stresses.
Differential management uses information about this variability with the aim of enabling production
of a greater quantity of fruit with the desired quality. Perennial crops such as wine grapes and
horticultural tree crops provide an attractive platform for studying such variation because they are
not subject to the often confounding effects of crop rotation as is typical in broadacre systems.
These crops also tend to be of higher value, have a strong quality imperative in addition to yield and
tend to have well integrated value chains. The results of research conducted to date highlight
several areas of opportunity for PhD projects to add to the body of knowledge. In particular:
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To develop, test and validate practical steps for implementing differential management for any
given location, using knowledge of temporal stability (or not) in spatial patterns of biotic or
abiotic stresses and through application of spatially distributed experimentation
To quantify the profitability and supply-chain consequence of differential management at the
enterprise and regional level
Potential PhD supervisors
1. Dr Kathy Evans, Senior Research Fellow, Perennial Horticulture, TIA, Hobart.
Katherine.Evans@utas.edu.au
2. Dr Rob Bramley, Principal Research Scientist - Precision Agriculture, CSIRO Ecosystem
Sciences, Adelaide. Rob.Bramley@csiro.au
3. Others depending on specific PhD research topic.