Industry identity and Priva endorsed trainer, Tony Bundock, has recently launched Genesis Horticultural Solutions, a company that specialises in delivering training for current and future users of Priva climate control and irrigation systems.
With a strong background in commercial horticulture and training, Tony is addressing a need to develop training options for growers, and especially those using Priva climate and irrigation systems.
According to Tony, “Whilst the industry is generally keen to adopt technology, generally these systems are installed and commissioned, and technicians give basic training. My experience has been that while the systems are operating to an acceptable level, growers tend not to try and actively enhance the performance of their systems”.
“Most operators of these systems can be described as generally ‘knowing what they know, but not knowing what they don’t know’. This is where I see the potential to assist growers to enable them to get more from their systems straight from the commissioning stage. There are many features within the Priva control systems that growers just do not realise exist, and we can help them utilise these great features to improve their growing strategies,” said Tony.
With years of Priva experience as both a grower and trainer, Tony is able to supply this knowledge transfer to growers so that they can obtain better performance from their systems, reduce wastage in terms of energy and fertiliser use, and also increase their bottom lines by increased production.
Tony is also developing a Priva End User accreditation system.
“There are a large number of existing Priva users who have knowledge and experience, but no quantifiable way of having these skills recognised” said Tony.
To meet this need, Tony is developing an “online” assessment program with Priva NL that will allow growers to firstly undertake refresher training, and then complete an assessment to have their skills formally recognised.
The process will see all participants undertaking the ‘Basic’ course, and then they can progress from levels 1 to 3 in Climate, Irrigation and Energy use. There is also a specific stream for the dynamic berry market.
‘My intent is to create a system that will be adopted by growers, and will act as an “Industry Passport” so that individuals can have a pathway for training as well as proof of skills acquisition’, said Tony.
Tony Bundock Ph 0409 007 610
tony@genesis-hort.com.au
www.genesis-hort.com.au
GENESIS CASE STUDY
Remote Irrigation Control
Many of our customers are based in remote locations across Australia which makes on site visits a potentially expensive proposition.
However, with the use of modern technology we can access systems remotely, provide advice and make changes to strategies as required, and all for a basic hourly rate.
Recently one of our interstate customers wanted to implement some fine tuning to his Tomato crop irrigation strategy. His issue was that for most of the time he was looking to commence irrigation 1 hour after sunrise. However, on really hot days with plenty of radiation he felt that it was beneficial to give the plants an additional irrigation shot within the first hour, so his question to us was how could he achieve this automatically?
The solution was to place an additional period in the strategy at the start of the day, with the start time linked to sunrise.
Radiation sum and radiation level triggers were chosen so that a pre-set radiation level AND radiation sum level had to be reached before irrigation would occur. A maximum rest period was placed in the strategy which had a time frame outside that of the set period, but would be available to the grower to utilise at a later date if he wanted to. The grower will fine tune the radiation settings to suit his crop needs, but for now he has the solution.
So in around the time it has taken for you to read this article, we were able to log into the system and make the necessary changes. The video link is a ‘fly on the wall’ record of how we achieved this so feel free to have a look at:
If you would like to lean more about our remote assistance and training programs, go to https://www.genesis-hort.com.au/contact-us where you can request more information or simply book an online session via the link – assistance is just a click away!