Inoculated-Seedling-Certification ( A system for the Australian - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Inoculated-Seedling-Certification ( A system for the Australian Truffle Industry) Alan Davey

The Process….. • On- line Survey of growers’ attitudes to certification. • More in-depth interviews of key people from each group – Growers – Nursery operators – Technical experts

…………. the process continued: Considerable consultation with: • international experts • ATGA executive • Celeste Linde ANU, and Colin Carter who helped enormously with their knowledge of the Spanish system

FINDINGS

So – How would it work? 1. Nursery applies to ATGA contact for testing of a BATCH of seedlings. • Information required – Nursery location and contact details – Batch size and tree description

So – How would it work? 2. ATGA: – Generates a batch i.d. number – sends nursery an invoice to cover the testing, – tees up testing laboratory and samplers

So – How would it work? 3. Nursery pays ATGA for testing

So – How would it work? 4. Sampling and analysis ATGA sets these in motion: – Samplers contact nursery and arrange sampling – Samples sent to lab for analysis – Analysis is completed and a report is given to the ATGA and to the Nursery

ABOUT THE ANALYSIS AND REPORT • The analysis DOES: – present data for the use of the Nursery and prospective purchasers – This data covers seedling health and form, inoculation levels and presence/amount of undesirable organisms/contaminants • The analysis DOES NOT: – Compare nurseries – Interpret results beyond presentation of data in the report – Place results in the public domain (prospective purchasers will need to know the batch number to confirm results with ATGA).

So – How would it work? 5. NURSERY DECISION – ATGA asks nursery if, on the basis of the results, it wants to proceed with certification or not. – If “Yes”, ATGA orders tags for the nursery and places data on website – If “No”, batch does not receive certification, nor tags.

A few important Recommendations from the study (there were 16 – here are the 7 most important ones): That the Association handles the design and introduction of this scheme so as to strive for a level playing field for all nursery operators.

That the Association uses the program as an opportunity to launch/deliver technical education to current and prospective growers. Technical fact sheets, periodically released via the website would be an ideal way to achieve this.

That the organizations/people chosen to do the collection sampling and the analysis are completely independent (with no connection to any nursery)

That, to maximize nursery participation in the program, it be voluntary, with nurseries being free to opt in or out of the program, as well as being able to “withdraw” a batch from certification should the results be unsatisfactory.

That, in its launch of the program, the Association manages the expectations of potential customers by pointing to the long lead-time required for nurseries to prepare for their full participation in such a program.

That results be: • labeled by batch identification number (rather than nursery) • presented as straight scientific data without further interpretation or comparisons with other results • available from the nursery, with potential purchasers able to verify the results on the ATGA website by entering the batch identification number

• THANKS – Wayne Haslam – Graham Duell – Anne Mitchell – Celeste Linde – Colin Carter

Option 1 – Insist nursery p ays all up front • This would cover all collection, analysis, label and handling costs. ($ per seedling Batch size Total Due labelled) 100 1965.30 19.65 250 3119.80 12.48 500 3890.80 7.78 750 4661.80 6.22 1000 5432.80 5.43 1500 6974.80 4.65 2000 8498.80 4.25 3000 11573.80 3.86

4. Modelled Charges to Nursery (many costs are estimates) Sample size required 4 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cost of analysis 4 845.90 961.40 1076.90 1192.40 1309.00 1422.30 1537.80 1653.30 1768.80 Estimated TOTAL Charge to Nursery for batch analysis, labels etc ) Batch size ? 100 1734.30 1849.80 1965.30 250 2196.90 2312.40 2427.90 2543.40 2660.00 2773.30 2888.80 3004.30 3119.80 500 2967.90 3083.40 3198.90 3314.40 3431.00 3544.30 3659.80 3775.30 3890.80 750 3738.90 3854.40 3969.90 4085.40 4202.00 4315.30 4430.80 4546.30 4661.80 1000 4509.90 4625.40 4740.90 4856.40 4973.00 5086.30 5201.80 5317.30 5432.80 1500 6051.90 6167.40 6282.90 6398.40 6515.00 6628.30 6743.80 6859.30 6974.80 2000 7575.90 7691.40 7806.90 7922.40 8039.00 8152.30 8267.80 8383.30 8498.80 3000 10650.90 10766.40 10881.90 10997.40 11114.00 11227.30 11342.80 11458.30 11573.80 Sample size required 4 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Cost of analysis 4 845.90 961.40 1076.90 1192.40 1309.00 1422.30 1537.80 1653.30 1768.80 Estimated ( per labelled seedling ) Charge to Nurseries for batch analysis, labels etc Batch size ? 100 17.34 18.50 19.65 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 250 8.79 9.25 9.71 10.17 10.64 11.09 11.56 12.02 12.48 500 5.94 6.17 6.40 6.63 6.86 7.09 7.32 7.55 7.78 750 4.99 5.14 5.29 5.45 5.60 5.75 5.91 6.06 6.22 1000 4.51 4.63 4.74 4.86 4.97 5.09 5.20 5.32 5.43 1500 4.03 4.11 4.19 4.27 4.34 4.42 4.50 4.57 4.65 2000 3.79 3.85 3.90 3.96 4.02 4.08 4.13 4.19 4.25 3000 3.55 3.59 3.63 3.67 3.70 3.74 3.78 3.82 3.86

5. Created Survey for Truffle Growers

Survey – cont.

Survey – cont.

Survey – cont.

Survey – cont.

Issues Continued: • Many people I spoke to were keen that the scheme had a strong educational element. • Presents a good opportunity to drive the message home about the realities of the industry.

Continued: • One person saw the system and the tag income as an opportunity for the Assoc to fund R&D “Boost it by $5.” BE CAREFUL. • Jim Trappe - thought the Spanish system of analysing incrementally based on statistics was very neat. (we are following their lead).

Continued: • Nearly all of the consultants, and a couple of the growers wanted the website to say who was a good consultant. (Unlikely to happen). • Importance of pot size and type was stressed by a couple of people

WHERE TO FROM HERE • Send out survey to growers (and post on web). • Firm up insurance costs • A couple more experts to talk to • In final report – would like to include your take on various options etc. Feel free to contact me after this. • Will submit Final report to Anne once survey and other data is in (survey takes 2 weeks).