Wastewater Recycling for Greenhouse &
Hydroponic Vegetables: Watch and Learn
Click here to download the workshop invitation and registration pdf The Australian protected cropping industry is composed of approx 1,665 vegetable growers producing in 1,341ha of greenhouses. Currently, they contribute over $1.3billion farmgate value through the production of major vegetable crops, including cucumbers, capsicums, egg plants, tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, Asian greens and strawberries (of these numbers, 90% are growing in an artificial substrate or growing media to provide a nutrient and water buffer to each plant). Industry estimates that around 90% of media-based growers are in ‘open’ systems that freedrain their nutrient-rich waste-water to the environment, and it has been identified that wastewater products from hydroponic systems are potentially harmful to the environment and should be managed on farm. Greenhouse growers can substantially reduce their cost of production through savings of around 40% water and 60% fertiliser and further reduce their impact on the natural environment by easily converting a waste-stream into a revenue-stream. A recent HAL project (VG05095 – Pathways to Production, a skilling initiative of the protected cropping industry), conducted a needs and gap analysis of the Australian protected cropping industry by facilitating 20 grower workshops in all states to ascertain their training and development needs. An outcome of these workshops was an identified desire for greenhouse growers to lower their water and fertiliser use as well as their impact on the natural environment by converting to ‘closed’ systems whereby all wastewater drained from their greenhouses was fully recycled back through the crop following suitable treatment. This was in part driven by their concern for the environment (especially the parlous state of the national water balance), and by the manifold increases in water and fertiliser costs. Additionally, today an increasing number of municipalities are refusing permits to new industry entrants (or expansion of existing enterprises) due to their concern for wastewater impacts on the local environment. This trend has significant implications for growth and development of our industry and is most apparent in the Sydney Basin and Brisbane regions. This project has the capacity to overcome these restrictions by educating growers on how to reduce their wastewater effluent to negligible levels. Greenhouse growers today lack the technical expertise to convert from open to closed systems for full wastewater recycling and this project aims to deliver these skills via a series of handson workshops in the main greenhouse growing areas of Australia. The Protected Cropping Working Group (instigated by AusVeg and HAL), is a representative group of greenhouse growers vested with the responsibility of providing expert opinion on industry R&D funding applications and setting industry priorities. This representative group has identified this project as having the highest industry priority for ’09 – ’10 due to the manifold benefits it will deliver. The project would deliver to all media-based hydroponic growers the skills and knowledge to save on average around 40% of all water and 60% of all fertiliser supplied to their crops and develop their systems to become even more environmentally sound and responsible. It should be noted that greenhouse growers today are already using 80% less water than traditional farming activities, however, the wastewater impact on the natural environment can still be considerable. Growers recognise that irrespective of how little water they use or lose as wastewater (compared to traditional farming activities), they can always strive to be even better and save significant monies in the process. The industry recognises that not only will there be environmental advantages, but also economic and production gains to be made through better understanding of nutrient management and wastewater use. Of the above total industry 1,665 growers in 1,341ha of protected cropping, approx 664ha of protected cropping will be targeted for delivery via skills-based workshops. Typical water savings per ha = 7.5ML @ $1,000/ML = $7,500 Soil-based greenhouse growers Anecdotal industry evidence suggests that current greenhouse soil-based growers are increasingly adopting standard hydroponic irrigation, fertigation and environment management techniques and take up of soilless substrates is considered the next logical step. Pathology trials Growers Workshops 1. Hydroponic nutrient feed recipes for all identified vegetable crops
Through the workshops, Australian greenhouse growers will gain all necessary skills to safely recirculate nutrient-rich wastewater, sterilise and neutralise disease pathogens and rebalance nutrient inputs and outputs. Service providers and facilitators for the project include Graeme Smith (Team Leader) from Graeme Smith Consulting, who has provided project management, system design and crop agronomy services to industry for over 15 years. Graeme was the team leader for the ‘Pathways to Production’ project and also the team leader for the European greenhouse study tours that attends a specialist training institute in Holland (PTC+), which is a primary source of technical resources for this project. Graeme will develop and deliver the technical components for the workshops along with the following project collaborators: Rick Donnan (Growool Horticultural Systems P/L), Len Tesoriero (NSW DPI Greenhouse Pathology), and Leigh Taig, Horticulture Centre for Goulburn Ovens TAFE. Growers can register for the free workshops by completing the course registration form that can be downloaded from www.graemesmithconsulting.com or by contacting Ross Wade of GOTafe on (03) 5833 2816, or email Ross on rwade@gotafe.vic.edu.au Workshop Program (each day 9.30am – 4.30pm): VIC TAS NSW WA QLD SA (N.B. lunch, morning & afternoon teas included in free workshop) |