Project details
Status: Current
At a glance
- The TIA project team is working with producers to design and conduct simple in-vineyard trials to better manage botrytis bunch rot disease.
- The trials directly support business decisions about new or adapted viticultural practices and botrytis management.
- The first season of botrytis trials are underway with nine Tasmanian vineyards participating
- TIA welcomes expressions of interest from wine grape businesses to become trial collaborators in the botrytis project for the 2024/25 season.
Testing botrytis management options
Does botrytis keep you awake at night? Would you like to try something new and access free expert help to manage botrytis bunch rot?
Professor Kathy Evans at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture is calling for expressions of interest from wine businesses across Tasmania to become trial collaborators in the botrytis project for the 2024/25 season.
The project is all about setting up simple on-vineyard trials to test what works best for your specific vineyard and business. The project is supported by the Agricultural Development Fund, Tasmanian Government.
Express your interest in becoming a trial collaborator in 2024/25
Please read the information below then complete and submit the online form. Alternatively, contact trial coordinator David Page directly to express your interest. Email: David.Page@utas.edu.au. Phone 0422 846 758. If you have any questions about how it all works, no question is too small or trivial. You can also speak directly to Kathy Evans: Phone: 0429 429 136 Email: Katherine.Evans@utas.edu.au.
Submit your Expression of Interest
Information session for potential collaborators
In 2023, we held online information sessions for Tasmanian wine grape producers. Watch the video recording of the session here. You can contact Kathy at any time to find out how you can be involved. Download the slides of the presentation.
About the project
Botrytis bunch rot (‘botrytis’) continues to be a major production constraint at many sites in Tasmania. The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) at the University of Tasmania has received a grant from the Tasmanian Government’s Agricultural Develop Fund to deliver the Botrytis Project. The official project title is Fast-tracking solutions for reliable and climate-responsive wine grape production.
The project team is working closely with collaborating producers to design and conduct simple on-vineyard trials. As a collaborator, you select the botrytis management practices to test to find out what works best on your site.
The TIA project team will support you during the trial from idea to data collection and interpretation. The team will facilitate sharing of trial results among project participants and the broader sector to highlight successes and practical implementation. Commercially sensitive data and information will be protected as requested or required.
As a trial collaborator you will see the results of your own trials and those of other participating wine businesses.
This format aims to directly support business decisions about new or adapted viticultural practices and botrytis management.
You will have the opportunity to take part in project workshops to learn new technical information and how to run simple but rigorous ‘strip’ trials.
This is a professional development opportunity and a means to demonstrate industry leadership for future job roles. Your businesses will benefit not only from what you learn directly from the trials but also the skills you develop.
The project covers at least two growing seasons: 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Producers may choose to participate in one or both growing seasons.
TIA will provide expert help to facilitate each participant’s trial, including trial design, application, data collection and analysis, and in presentation of results that are easy to understand.
Each participating wine business will nominate one person, and ideally a back-up person, to:
- Play an active role in the design and conduct of one or more on-vineyard trials with expert guidance from the project team who will serve as the ‘help desk’.
- Receive assistance from the project team for data collection or other tasks on a case-by-case basis; for example, a project team member might work alongside the trial collaborator to help apply and/or adapt the process.
- Receive reminders to take standard viticultural observations and simple crop assessments, e.g., visual assessment of botrytis severity along a single vine row,
- Participate in pre- and/or post season workshops to select ‘test’ treatments relevant to the business and then review results generated across the project,
- Work with the project team to collate trial information suitable for sharing with other trial collaborators via a dedicated on-line collaboration space,
- Participate (optional) in online discussions to share information and practical knowledge, and
- Be available for at least one interview with University of Tasmania researchers who will evaluate the project process and outcomes; participants will be de-identified in all reports according to the terms of an approved ethics application.
Some trial collaborators may be willing to talk about their experiences during the project via communication activities designed to reach those who are not participating in the project.
The project Industry Reference Group will review the list of those expressing interest in being trial collaborators.
In the unlikely event that a wine business and/or trial site is considered unsuitable, then the Project Leader will contact the relevant person directly to discuss the matter.
Once your Expression of Interest has been accepted, then we will invite you to one of two online information sessions in late July/early August 2024.
If you are unable to join one of these sessions, then we can send you a video recording and/or help you join one of the face-to-face early-season workshops with sufficient background information.
For more information contact:
Acknowledgements:
The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) at the University of Tasmania has received a grant from the Tasmanian Government’s Agricultural Develop Fund to deliver this project.