How to Use the Tree Fruit Production Guide

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The Tree Fruit Production Guide is an important part of tree fruit farming, as it not only contains the all-important spray schedules, but also the ‘how-to’ of growing tree fruit crops in the Interior of BC.

The Guide covers both organic and conventional tree fruit production practices. While some think of the TFPG as simply the spray schedules, the Guide contains much more information, and the BCFGA has also created an electronic, on-line version that can provide the spray products information (e.g. pest, REI, PHI, and rates) via internet to connected programs such as DAS and Crop Tracker. It is an exciting future, but we need more growers to participate in these programs.

The TFPG is available at no charge on-line and includes the following chapters:

  • Safety
  • Integrated Fruit Production (IFP) and Organics
  • Horticulture (Crop Management, Fruit Tree Nutrition, Varieties and Pollination, Irrigation and Air Quality, Spray Thinning, Growth Regulators and Sunburn Protection)
  • Pests (Insects and Mites, Diseases, Wildlife Damage Prevention, Weed Control)
  • Pesticides
  • Resources (including Grower Records)

The content of the guide is reviewed and authorized by the BC Ministry of Agriculture and published by the BCFGA.

The spray schedules are the most used and therefore important part of the TFPG. For quick, in-field reference, the spray schedules are viewable on cell phones, with products displayed in the ‘card’ format. Most growers like to have a printed version of the spray schedules. Spray schedules can be printed on-line (look in the upper right hand corner of the spray schedule for a printer icon, then print the schedule with your PDF viewer), or ordered from the BCFGA at www.bcfga.com//orderform.php?pageID=318.

Through the magic of technology, if a change to the spray schedule is made this morning (e.g. a new product or application rate), the change is entered into the TFPG database and when the grower logs in, the information provided is the most recent, updated version. Because of this ability to change within the year, we have implemented two important ‘control’ items:

  1. First, a printed spray schedule will have the most recent change date recorded at the top of the page, so that growers may check if their printed copy is up-to-date.
  2. Second, a “Change Log” in the upper right-hand corner of the TFPG homepage will show all changes and the dates of the changes.

Growers can check the change log to see if there is anything new in the spray schedules.

But the TFPG can do much more and provide more value to growers. Since the spray schedule information is in a database that is “in the cloud”, there is an ability to link the spray schedule to other programs. For example, SIR’s Decision Aid System (DAS) links into the spray schedule database. What does this mean for growers?

  1.  First, there is no need to cross-reference information. It is ‘drawn in’ from the cloud database to the DAS system.
  2.  Second, instead of ‘hard coding’ the spray information into DAS, the system draws out the information from the cloud database and the information is up-to-date to that moment in time. With hard coding, any changes needed to be re-entered manually (which could result in delays and transcription errors).
  3.  Third, the DAS system automatically finds and displays the spray information on the pest, instead of having to find it in the spray schedule.

Work to link the spray schedule to Crop Tracker (a spray record-keeping program) has been delayed by COVID-19, but we are meeting with Crop Tracker in May 2021 to get the project back on track. This will be a great time saver for growers recording their sprays, and there is a huge benefit (time saving and added value) of being able to easily share the records. As one small example, you can share a map which highlights re-entry dates, so your workers and family, SIR staff, and horticultural advisors (and others you have shared the map with) will be able to check the map on their phones to see which areas of the orchard are safe to enter.

A concern is the capability of growers to take on electronic spray records. A recent study completed by Lee Cartier and Svan Lembke at Okanagan College indicated that:

  • 98% of growers keep spray records but only 16.7% in digital format with opportunities for analysis.
  • The industry has free use of a Decision Aid Systems (DAS) with spray information for apple and cherry growers. Only 30% of growers use the DAS. Many growers receive generic information from the DAS via emails sent by horticultural advisors. The email information is not orchard specific.

The researchers proposed that the tree fruit industry should set goals of increasing the number of growers who electronically record their crop practices, and developing a critical mass with growers that can and want to adopt new tree fruit farming solutions such as DAS and other “precision agriculture” technologies.

To achieve these goals, the following steps are proposed by the researchers:

  1. Develop a technology adoption strategic plan, setting out goals and milestones for the identification, testing and adoption of new technologies.
  2. Develop a multi-year training plan that outlines how to communicate with growers and enable them to understand and adopt new solutions for their established farming practices.
  3. Research projects to enable economic impact analysis of innovations such as smart irrigation, smart spraying, etc.
  4. Development of information technology systems that enable easy capture of grower data (eg. via a smartphone app [such as Crop Tracker]) to be used for specific orchard and industry-wide decision making about pest management.

The second point on the list - providing grower education sessions to help growers achieve the capabilities and the comfort to adopt new technology - will be critical to the success of any industry-wide adoption of new technology. With training, growers will be able to take full advantage of the tools made possible by an electronic TFPG. The BCFGA will seek to support this ambitious plan for its members.

The linkage to the cloud database for TFPG spray schedules was put in place five years ago. Now it is time for growers and programs to catch up and make use of this excellent resource through automated spray recording programs and DAS.

Glen Lucas BCFGA