Assessing the impact of climate change on strawberry cultivation and production in bullsbrook, western australia

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL AND FORESTRY TRAN THI KIM THU DESCRIBE THE ACTUAL WOKING PROCESS AT TI STRAWBERRY FARM IN BULLSBROOK WESTERN AUSTRALIA BACHELOR THESIS Study Mode: Full-time Major : Environmental science and Management Faculty : Advanced Education Program Batch : 2013 – 2017 Type : On- the- Job Training (OJT) Thai Nguyen, October 2019 Thai Nguyen University of Agricultural and Forestry Degree Program Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management Student name TRAN THI KIM THU Student ID DTN1353110249 Thesis Title Assessing the impact of climate change on strawberry cultivation and production in Bullsbrook, Western Australia Supervisor (s) Mrs Katherine Mr Nguyen Huu Tho Abtracts: Strawberry is one of the most popular fruits be planted in Western Australia Strawberries usually ripen in June, after to months of planting and are harvested continuously for months In recent years, Ti Strawberry Farm has grown some kind of strawberry to improve the quality as well as the productivity of Strawberry, but the quality and productivity of strawberries of the farm has not only been unchanged but also reduced due to the influence of a outside actors This report aims to compare the quality as well as the fruits giving ability of each variety of strawberry, to find out the strengths and repair the weaknesses In additions, test the new varieties of strawberry which one gave higher productivity, upgrading infrastructure to reduce the affects of climate change and improve product quality Since then, assess and bring the best ways out in order to increase income for the next seasons Keywords Climate change, quality, productivity, caring, upgrade Number of pages Date Submission: of 35 4/09/2019 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT From bottom of my heart, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Rector Board of Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry Our government of Viet Nam, Ministry of Agriculture and Ti Group – Ti strawberry farm and Ti Education and Training(TIET) Especially, thank so much to our Supervisors of Ti Group and Mrs Lam Ti (Director of Ti Group), provides the knowledge and facilitate research for the project I also wish to express my deep gratitude to Mr Nguyen Huu Tho who gives me an opportunity, guidance and support me to complete thesis I would also like to express my great appreciation to Mr Jamie and Mrs Lam Ti for their constant support, patient guidance and suggestions related to my work I sincerely thank the additional members of Ti Group – Ti Strawberry Farm who have contributed to my work Last but not the least, I would like to thank all of my family members and dear friends who always encourage and back me up unceasingly Thai Nguyen, October 2019 TRAN THI KIM THU ii TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1.Western Australia 1.2 Objectives 1.3.List of works have been done in partical time 1.4.Profile of the cooperating agency 1.4.1.Ti Group of Companies 1.4.2.Ti Education and Training school 10 1.4.3.Information of training supervisor, particularly his/her position in the company 11 1.5 Description of activities 11 1.6 Timeline 16 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 17 2.1 International literatural review .17 2.2 National literature review .20 CHAPTER III STATUS OF CONSIDERED ISSUE AT THE TRAINING AGENCY .23 3.1 Materials 23 3.2 Methodology 23 CHAPTER IV DISCUSSION AND LESSON LEARNING .25 4.1 Results…………………………………………………………………………… 21 4.2 Discussion .26 4.3 Lesson learned 29 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION .30 REFERENCES 31 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.2 Outside working area behinds the packing house Figure 4.1 A corner of Ti Group’s office Figure 4.2 Hands- on training Figure 1.5.1 Strawberry row in the field .10 Picture 1.5.2 Picking strawberry activity in the field…………………………………11 Picture 1.5.3 Trolley and trays……………………………………………………… 11 Picture 1.5.4 Training for picking strawberry……………………………………… 12 Picture 1.5.5 Using the working instrument to picking strawberry……………… …12 Picture 1.5.6 All Strawberry shipped inside the packing house to pack………… …13 Picture 1.5.7 Packing strawberry activity…………………………………………… 13 Picture 1.5.8 Metal detector…………………………………………………… ……14 Picture 1.5.9 Strawberry are ready to trade in the market……………………….……14 Figure 1.6 The period of tree in blossom .16 Figure 2.1 Figure SPM.7 | Summary of projected changes in crop yields, due to climate change over the 21st century .13 Figure 2.2 Figure SPM.8 | Maps of CMIP5 multi-model mean results for the scenarios RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 in 2081–2100 .14 Picture1: Control moisture machine 17 Picture2: Test the water systerm 17 Figure 3.1 The standard strawberry square punnet 19 Figure 3.2 A tray of strawberry in the packing house 20 Figure 4.1.a The number of strawberry trees planted each year (the period from 2015 to 2019) .25 Figure 4.1.b The percentage of different kind of strawberry on each strawberry tree from 2015 to 2019 (anticipate)……………………………………………………… 22 Picture 4.2 Canifornia's Strawberry farm…………………………… …………… 27 Picture 4.2.1 Japan's strawberry farm……………………………………… …… 27 Picture 4.2.2 Da Lat, Viet Nam's Strawberry farm…………………………… ……28 LIST OF TABLE Table 4.1.b Table 4.1.b The number of different kind of strawberry on each strawberry tree (punnet) from 2015 to 2019 (anticipate) ….Error! Bookmark not defined CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Western Australia Western Australia(abbreviated as WA) is a state occupying the entire western third of Australia It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, and the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of 2,529,875 square kilometres, and the second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha Republic The state has about 2.6 million inhabitants – around 11 percent of the national total – of whom the vast majority (92 per cent) live in the south-west corner, 79 per cent of the population living in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated The southwest coastal area has a Mediterranean climate It was originally heavily forested, including large stands of karri, one of the tallest trees in the world This agricultural region is one of the nine most bio-diverse terrestrial habitats, with a higher proportion of endemic species than most other equivalent regions Average annual rainfall varies from 300 millimetres (12 in) at the edge of the Wheatbelt region to 1,400 millimetres (55 in) in the wettest areas near Northcliffe, but from November to March, evaporation exceeds rainfall, and it is generally very dry Plants are adapted to this as well as the extreme poverty of all soils Snow is rare in the state and typically occurs only in the Stirling Range near Albany, as it is the only mountain range far enough south and sufficiently elevated The highest observed maximum temperature of 50.5 °C (122.9 °F) was recorded at Mardie Station on 19 February 1998 The lowest minimum temperature recorded was −7.2 °C (19.0 °F) at Eyre Bird Observatory on 17 August 2008 Bullsbrook (formerly Bullsbrook East) Bullsbrook itself is a small townsite that services the local area and passing trade It is located on the Great Northern Highway, 25 kilometres north of Midland It is well serviced by the major transport networks of the Great Northern Highway and Railway Parade / Brand Highway to the north, Chittering Road to the east, and Neaves Road to the west The area will be further enhanced in the future with the Perth Darwin National Highway and the proposed intermodal rail link The area is mainly used for farming purposes Future opportunities for additional industrial, commercial and residential growth in Bullsbrook are currently being investigated by the City of Swan and the Department of Planning The climate is warm and temperate in Bullsbrook In winter, there is much more rainfall in Bullsbrook than in summer This climate is considered to be Csa according to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification The average temperature in Bullsbrook is 18.4 °C About 703 mm of precipitation falls annually 1.2 Objectives The company and Supervisors want to show every techniques as well as the method producing, and to growing, packing caring, strawberry Besides, they give the chance for student to approach the advanded technology and modern infrastructure in produce the strawberry in growing Western Australia Figure 1.2.Outside working area bekind the packing house The Goals: • Show the working skills in farm and the problems related to agriculture • Practising the endurence and pressure of job outside and inside packing house • Chances for student to exchange the experience and earn money in intership time When I did not start it yet, I hoped I will been going to adapt with work environment I thought there are plenty of interesting things and I felt really elated to it I expect that I can learn the knowledge and experience about planting, nursing and take care for the strawberry trees Besides, I can contact and exchange everything with every one who came from different countries in the severe working environment In practical time, I used to learn a ton of good thing The harsh working environment makes everyone become more hard working and patience I became more take care about my soul, behavior and my health I have to thing about: “ What should I do?” or “ What is the best way in order to get the best result in job?” and I felt a little Figure 2.1: Figure SPM.7 | Summary of projected changes in crop yields, due to climate change over the 21st century The figure includes projections for different emission scenarios, for tropical and temperate regions, and for adaptation and no-adaptation cases combined Relatively few studies have considered impacts on cropping systems for scenarios where global mean temperatures increase by 4°C or more For five timeframes in the near term and long term, data (n=1090) are plotted in the 20-year period on the horizontal axis that includes the midpoint of each future projection period Changes in crop yields are relative to late-20th-century levels Data for each timeframe sum to 100% © IPCC, 2014, 5th assessment Evidence for an increase in heat waves exists from warming that has already occurred, and greater than expected increases in heat wave frequency and magnitude (figure 3) It is difficult to make accurate predictions about the future frequency and magnitude of heat waves, but there is consensus among projections that measurements for both will continue to increase in the UK, in Europe, and at a global scale The impact of heat waves are expected to be non-uniform, with disproportionately negative effects in less developed countries Together with other aspects of climate change such as increased drought incidence, they may exacerbate existing issues around food security 18 Figure 2.2: Figure SPM.8 | Maps of CMIP5 multi-model mean results for the scenarios RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 in 2081–2100 of (a) annual mean surface temperature change, (b) average percent change in annual mean precipitation © IPCC, 2013, 5th assessment Projected changes in climate are not limited to increases in temperature and heat waves; large changes in rainfall patterns are also expected to occur While some regions are likely to suffer from more droughts in the future, other regions are expected to face the opposing issues of torrential rains and increased flooding In coastal areas, rising sea levels may result in complete loss of agricultural land Warmer climates may also lead to more problems from pests and diseases, and shifts in the geographical distribution of certain pests For example, insects that serve as a vector for disease transmission are likely to migrate further pole-ward in the future, where livestock have so far not been exposed to these diseases The responses of yield to various stresses have been well defined through experimentation in many crops Quantifying these responses, and identifying when agriculture is most vulnerable to stress, is beneficial in helping to identify the most efficient strategies for adaptation Select the crop which Crop-level adaptation to climate change is expected to be key in minimising future yield losses and may involve: changing crop cultivars, sowing time, cultivation techniques, and/or irrigation practices Ongoing research is addressing the challenges of maintaining and/or increasing crop production under global change There are many farm on the world they apply the best solution to reduce the impacts of climate change and extreme weather and strategies suggested to help maintain production for examples: restoring farm type, crop, or cultivar scale diversity into food systems, to improve their 19 resilience and making crop improvements that enhance stress tolerance There are some other strategies may include improving pre-defined, international responses to food shortages in order to prevent food price shocks that might reduce people’s access to food 2.2 National literature review Western Australia is becoming warmer, drier and more variable climate presents significant environmental, social and economic risks to this nation The WA 's agricultural sector is particularly exposed to climate variability and climate change in many year recently To date, WA producers have proven to be innovative and smart in dealing with a drying climate However, future climate change means that producers will need to continue adapting to a suite of interacting climate change impacts In addition to the climate changes outlined above, impacts include economic pressures and opportunities related to increasing human populations and changing human dietary favorite, augment input costs and energy prices, competing land-use pressures and policy-related economic pressures, such as measures to recduce greenhouse gas emissions The impacts of climate change on agricultural productivity will vary regionally and by enterprise, with some regions and enterprises benefiting and some not Changing rainfall, temperature, carbon dioxide (CO2) and other climatic variables will affect average pasture productivity and crop , nutrient cycling and product quality, pest and disease activity, livestock production and reproductive rates It is likely that the interannual variability will increase across most of the state Declining rainfall is likely to be the dominant (and predominately negative) influence Increased CO2 concentrations will improve the efficiency of plant water use and increased temperature could be beneficial or harmful depending on season and location These changes will affect the profitability and financial risk associated with farming enterprises, particularly at the margins of currently suitable climatic zones In WA, improvements in technology, agronomy and cultivars have effectively increased the rainfall use efficiency of broadacre crops at a rate greater than rainfall decline Projections of how climate change will affect future crop and pasture yields are constrained by the limitations of climate and crop models Specifically, most crop models not capture technology and management improvements, extreme weather 20 events and changes in pest and disease activity However, some broad projections can still be made about the effects of climate change on agriculture in WA Broadacre crop yields will be most affected by changes in rainfall, and particularly the timing of rainfall, despite increased CO2 improving plant water use efficiency Specifically, for strawberry production on the sand, it is be come more difficult Because, sand can not keep moisture in the long time like to be the soil or clay soil.Besides, when the temperature is increaing, sand become drier and need to provide larger amount of water Then we have to treatment the water then use for irrgation in strawberry production The plant available water capacity of the soil will become increasingly important to growth, so yield declines are likely to be greater on clay soils compared to sands in eastern areas Higher temperatures, and to a lesser extent declining rainfall, will hasten development times and reduce the flowering and grain-filling periods The impact the future climatic conditions may have on agricultural productivity depends on the sensitivity to each environmental factor and the relative changes in temperature, precipitation, EV-B radiation, and atmospheric CO2 concentration (Olesen and Bindi, 2002) The strawberry is a microclimatic crop cultivated almost worldwide, and Western Australia is one of the producer on the world Strawberry production in Australia has been affected by climate change in recent decades The climatic conditions can vary considerably throughout the crop season Strawberry plants are grown around the world and are one of the most important of the berry crops The plants are grown as commercial crops across a range of environments from cool and warm temperate areas to cool and warm subtropical areas and to those areas with a Mediterranean climate (Hancock 2008) Total production is about million tonnes, with China and the USA the most important producing countries There is also a great range in plant agronomy, with plants grown in open fields or under low or high plastic tunnels, in rows on plastic covering the soil, in matted rows, and sometimes in hydroponic culture Australia produces about 72,000 t of strawberry fruit each year, with most of the commercial production in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia About half of the crop is grown in southeastern Queensland in a subtropical environment, with the berries produced from May to October each year (Menzel & Smith 2011) Growers in 21 Florida also produce strawberry fruit in a subtropical environment under similar growing and production conditions as in Queensland (Whitaker et al 2012) In Ti Strawberry farm, select the crop which crop-level adaptation is also the perfect idea for improve the quality of whole season as well as changing crop cultivars, sowing time, cultivation techniques, and or irrigation practices Picture1: Control moisture machine Picture2: Test the water systerm 22 CHAPTER III STATUS OF CONSIDERED ISSUE AT THE TRAINING AGENCY 3.1 Materials This experiment was reseached how effected the quality of climate change about the quality and income off the strawberry at Ti strawberry farm, Bullsbrook, Western Australia The Data collecting were productivity of fruit, weight of fruit (gram) for every kind of berries from 2015 to 2019(anticipate), to classify and quality according to private characteristics depend on different kind of strawbery I took variety of strawberry They are Suncost, Festival, Fortuna, Paris and Fonteras I took a pictures of some machines, tools to work and depend on the data I compared the color, flavour and productivity of them Finally, after practise paking strawberry in Packing House, I got the result about standard weight and the best quality of strawberry Equipment: Punnets Electrical Scale Note book Pen Box Calculator Camera Figure 3.1 The standard strawberry square punnet 3.2 Methodology Methods of collecting information - Data collection and research materials through magazines, internet 23 - Practical approach to learn the current status of the process and the content of the work of the farm: direct involvement in the work process; direct interview people involved: farmer, worker five years; collect relevant documents - Picking strawberry project, Packing strawberry, weighing, measuring and recording - Consult our instructor Information processing method We conducted data entry and data processing on the computer to make the research results Figure 3.2 A tray of strawberry in the packing house 24 CHAPTER IV DISCUSSION AND LESSON LEARNING 4.1 Results 4.1.a Compare the number of strawberry trees planted each year (the period from 2015 to 2019) 3.5 2.5 Millions of trees 1.5 0.5 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Figure 4.1.a The number of strawberry trees planted each year (the period from 2015 to 2019) Depend on the good weather and factors, in 2017 the strawberry farm planted more than 3,4 millions of strawberry trees and received a huge income in that season 4.1.b The number of different kind of strawberry on each strawberry tree (punnet) from 2015 to 2019 (anticipate) Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Suncost 2.8 3.91 2.7 2.73 2.89 Festival 3.31 3.51 3.03 1.71 2.98 Palomar 2.89 3.08 3.76 x x Paris X 2.21 2.34 3.21 3.69 Fronteras X X 3.56 3.86 3.95 Table 4.1.b The number of different kind of strawberry on each strawberry tree (punnet) from 2015 to 2019 (anticipate) (x: not grow; punnet≈ 250gram) 25 The table illustrates the number of strawberry punnet harvested on every strawberry tree For example, in 2016, for suncost type, we have 3.91 punnet per tree and punnet = 250gram of fruit ≈ 0.9775 kilogram of fruit 40% 35% 2015 30% 2016 25% 2017 20% 2018 15% 2019 10% 5% 0% Suncost Festival Palomar Paris Fronteras Figure 4.1.b The percentage of different kind of strawberry on each strawberry tree from 2015 to 2019 (anticipate) The paragraph illustrates the percentage of every strawberry variaty in the period from 2015 to 2019 We can seen two kind of strawberry are Suncost and festival They have been grown consecutive in many year That proved the quantity and quality of that kind of strawberry was verry good and the farm will have plan to grow in the next season Only Palomar type, we have to stop growing because croplevel adaptation of this kind of strawberry was not really good Paris gave the very sweet fruit and it received the good feedback from customers, so it will become one of the Ti farm’s selection in next year Finally, Frontera is the new and perfect strawberry of us We just experimental planting from last year and it has been gave the best result for both productivity, flavour, beautifull shape and colour It will become the main kind of fruit in the next strawberry season 4.2 Discussion In the world, there are many producer who gave the best solution in strawberry production to mitigate the impacts of climate change For example: improving the infrastructure, exchange the irrigation suited with adaptation of plant A goal of 26 farmers has been to extend the growing season of strawberries while keeping costs low This can be achieved with high tunnel production High tunnels are large hoop houses covered in plastic that cost a fraction of greenhouse production Berries receive a premium price early and late in the season, therefore an extended season allows farmers to acquire a bigger market share (Washington State University) The growth of the strawberry plants in Western Australia increased over time or reached a maximum before the end of the growing season The early part of the season was dominated by the growth of the vegetative parts of the plant and the later part by the growth of the flowers and fruit There were thus changes in dry matter production and dry matter distribution as the plants grew There was a strong relationship between the growth of the flowers and immature fruit and the expansion of the leaves indicating a strong link between potential yield and carbon assimilation in this subtropical environment Yields ranged from 675 to 966 g/plant over the study The yield of ‘Suncost’ experiments in ranged from 427 to 977 g/plant, with a mean (± SEM) of 690 ± 64 g/plant (Chandler et al.2000) The transplants were planted March in Bullsbrook, and the fruit harvested from the end of May until the middle of November The productivity of strawberry appears to be depended on the plants are grown in other areas which has a Mediterranean climate, a long production season and different cultivars Average fruit fresh weight was similar across the years of the study In contrast, there was a significant variation in fruit size over the season in individual years Fruit size is important because it is one of the factors contributing to yield/plant The size of the fruit also influences the profitability of growing strawberry plants, with small fruit taking longer to pick and pack than the equivalent weight of large fruit For example, Herrington et al.2012 demonstrated that increasing average fruit fresh weight from 17 to 30 g increased gross margins in Queensland by 22% Efforts need to be made to develop and select cultivars that have large fruit at the end of the season during warm weather in subtropical areas There are also some kinds of cultivation systerm in many different countries and we can see How did they grow the strawberry 27 Picture 4.2 Canifornia Strawberry farm Picture 4.2.1 Japan strawberry farm 28 Picture 4.2.2 Da Lat, Viet Nam strawberry farm 4.3 Lesson learned After finish the intership time in Ti strawberry farm, I had a interesting discovery and I got a plenty of knowledge about horticulture During the season of strawbery production, I used to learn and practice how to pick and pack, caring skill for strawberry I used to access the moderm machine, robot helping in the packing house, I got the skill work outside in the hash environment and specially, I had a chance to add friends who come from many different country arround the world To be honest, that was the hard time for me to adapt with every thing here Everything is new New country, new house, new and the first job,…Sometimes, I felt afraid but no choise, I have to try my best and every thing with whole energy I had Finally, working in farm is not the easy job but it is also very interesting That help me to deep understand about the efforts of all farmer, worker and all staff in company during the season 29 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION By conducting this mini project reseach we get the knowledge about computrized drip irrigation system, modernized agriculture and advanced agriculture techniques for fruits and vegetables, coffee, cotton, peanuts, rubber, sugar, tea production, maintainance better quality of their, improve system marketing system and how to increase post harvest life through proper packing system and phytosanitation Xác nhận Phòng Supervisor Student Xác nhận CTĐTCLC KHCN&HTQT 30 REFERENCES I English references Bailey, R., Benton, T.G., Challinor, A., et al (2015) Extreme 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https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/climate-smartagriculture/0/steps/26565 13 Menzel CM, Smith L 2012 Effect of time of planting and plant size on the productivity of ‘Festival’ and ‘Florida Fortuna’ strawberry plants in a subtropical HortTechnology environment 22: 330–337 Ritrived from http://cel.webofknowledge.com/InboundService.do?customersID=atyponcel&smartRe direct=yes&mode=FullRecord&IsProductCode=Yes&product=CEL&Init=Yes&Func =Frame&action=retrieve&SrcApp=literatum&SrcAuth=atyponcel&SID=F5ypWHOS AsWitpvqQVc&UT=WOS%3A000305877800009 14 information Sudmeyer, R (2019) Season 2019: Seasonal and management for Western Australian farmers Retrieved from https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/dry-seasons-and-drought/season-2019-seasonal-andmanagement-information-western-australian-farmers 32