February 2012 - No 3 - Cherry Growers Australia

Cherries and Climate Risk Workshop
Production of quality cherries in your area, involves managing the risk of rain at harvest,
frost, heat waves, poor weather at pollination, getting the right amount of winter chill and
summer warmth, avoiding hail and wind damage and getting enough rain during winter and
autumn to fill soil profiles and dams.
This interactive workshop is designed to help you and involves a number of steps:
1. Agree on a crop calendar for the region that shows the timing of leaf fall, bud swell,
bud burst, flowering, shuck fall, shooting and harvest. This is based on the IPM calendar.
2. We then use the calendar to identify the timing of the main weather events that can
cause a problem (eg frost at flowering or rainy weather at harvest) and the main
seasonal climate conditions (eg winter drought or insufficient chill over winter).
3. As a group we use an interactive spreadsheet to score these risks based on the
damage they cause and the frequency of the damage.
4. We compare the scores with other regions that have conducted the exercise.
5. We discuss what can be done to manage the different risks.
6. Local weather data from the Bureau of Meteorology is used to assess the likelihood
of the risks – in some cases this is run through additional models to calculate chilling
units.
7. We use the historical data to see if there are any trends in the likelihood of these
risks and climate change projections to discuss future changes.
The crop calendar is a powerful tool to link climate and weather science to the cherry orchard.
SARDI climate applications will bring local climate data and climate analysis to the
workshop.
Following the workshop growers will receive a report with local climate analysis and the latest
projections for future climate. Participants will work with other cherry growers to rank the
weather and climate risks. This information will be collated for Cherry Growers Australia,
DAFF and the Bureau of Meteorology. Cherry growers will have information on the frequency
of some of the main weather and climate risks and most importantly discussion on how to
manage these risks.
This project is run by Cherry Growers Australia and conducted by the climate applications
unit of the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI). This project is
supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries
and Forestry under Australia’s Farming Future. To set up a workshop for your region or area
please contact:
Contacts: Peter Hayman (SARDI)
peter.hayman@sa.gov.au
(08) 8303 9729
Dane Thomas (SARDI)
dane.thomas@sa.gov.au
(08) 8303 9429