A cohort of agronomists from across the Riverina, Sunraysia and Riverland recently took part in a tree crop walk and training day to learn more about issues facing local growers. 

Run by Stoller Australia, the day outlined Stoller's focus on Stoller Integrated Solutions (SIS). 

SIS aims to address grower crop issues by identifying problems, causes, and solutions in alignment with current practices.  

Presentations were from Marko Doric on plant physiology, calcium, and boron, as well as sessions by Alice Kirk on citrus SIS, Craig Simes almond SIS, and Sophie Haigh avocados.

The sessions also covered product results on the three crops, presented by Marko Doric and Maria Del Rosario Graffigna, followed by product training and accreditation for agency products Bio-Hold and Bio-Forge. 

Elders agronomist Molly Black, who services clients out of the Robinvale branch, specialises in table grapes and said the day was incredibly informative. 

“These days are a valuable learning opportunity to better understand some of the challenges being faced by growers outside of just my own patch,” Ms Black said. 

“Elders’ knowledge sharing is already really strong and bringing a group together allows us to get a perspective from outside of local paddocks to improve the service we are delivering to clients.” 

Stoller general manager, David Cavallaro said interacting with agronomists is an important part of ensuring products are best understood and can have the most impact for growers. 

“Product stewardship forms an important part of Stoller’s offering. Getting like-minded individuals together is a great way to collaborate and share experiences whilst undertaking the training,” said Mr Cavallaro. 

“The core objective of the SIS program is focused on a tailored approach specifically to the crop type. This involves using a combination of crop focused research, key crop timings with the support of research and in-depth ideology.”