{"id":6253,"date":"2022-04-06T06:20:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T06:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mli.org.au\/?p=6253"},"modified":"2022-04-06T06:29:19","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T06:29:19","slug":"riverina-innovator-to-trial-cropping-vertically","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/riverina-innovator-to-trial-cropping-vertically\/","title":{"rendered":"Riverina innovator to trial cropping vertically"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A word from the RALF (April 2022)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Asian Greens growing in an InvertiCube<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Fran\nMcLaughlin had an idea after her husband returned from working in remote areas\nof NSW with their rural earthmoving business. Fran\u2019s husband alarmingly\ndescribed the accessibility constraints of these remote areas accessing fresh\nproduce delivered in terms of distance, for example.  \u2018Feed the Bush\u2019 idea was born. Fran got to\nresearching what suitable systems might be available to make fresh produce more\naccessible to rural communities that could provide a sustainable alternative to\nbroadacre cropping for interested stakeholders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had been researching intensive horticulture production systems and anticipate they\u2019ve found a vertical farming system that could sustainably deliver fresh produce and change people\u2019s mindset on accessing fresh produce. Vertical farming systems grow plants under wholly or partially controlled environmental conditions to allow crops to be grown throughout the year. Vertical systems utilise artificial control of light, temperature, moisture, and carbon dioxide concentrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Feed the Bush\u2019 concept will use an intensive horticulture system called the InvertiCube<\/a> to grow sustainable produce. The 1.5 m x 1.5 m cubes are kept indoors, use 95% less water than broadacre cropping, require no chemicals or pesticides and are controlled completely via an iPad. In addition, they provide an optimum growing environment that can reduce the growing cycle to up to 35 days. \u201cOur idea is to establish this concept, create a blueprint of the business model and commercialise it right across the country. Using the InvertiCube system, we could potentially harvest 10 crops of lettuce in a year, whereas traditionally a grower would get two or three crops per annum if they\u2019re lucky,\u201d Fran explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fran & Grant McLaughlin (right) with InvertiGro team Angus and Paul, in front of an Invertigro system<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

InvertiCube\u2019s are very\naffordable, take up very little space, are easily scalable and provide innovative\nopportunities for farmers to diversify just how they produce a crop, or create\nan additional income stream. \u201cThere\u2019s over 100 crops that\nwe could grow in this system. Everything from various fruit and vegetables to\nmicro herbs and indigenous plants,\u201d Fran explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an opportunity here\nfor Aboriginal communities to be developing sustainable agricultural businesses\ngrowing indigenous plants and joining the rapidly expanding indigenous food\nmarket supply chain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further capabilities of the InvertiCubes are they can also produce fresh fodder for livestock, helping to drought prepare farmers and increase carrying capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fran will be seeking to align\n\u2018Feed the Bush\u2019 with collaborative partnerships with stakeholders such as local\nsupermarkets (particularly those who support local and regional producers), community\ngroups, childcare centres and schools, community gardens and local councils to\nshowcase the opportunities for jobs, better health and wellbeing, and access to\nfresh food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This innovative idea has been supported by AgriFutures Australia, with Fran announced as one of seven recipients of the inaugural AgriFutures Rural Women\u2019s Acceleration Grant learning and development bursary. \u00a0The learning and development bursary (not cash) of up to $7,000 is for professional development to enable recipients to bring their idea, cause or vision to life. Being announced as an AgriFutures Rural Women\u2019s Acceleration Grant recipient has given Fran the boost she needed to turn her idea into a reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find more information on the AgriFutures Rural Women\u2019s Acceleration Grant here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was written by Tammy Galvin. Tammy is the Regional Agriculture Landcare Facilitator (RALF) for the Riverina region. Her role supports farmers, industry and community groups (including Landcare Groups) to adopt new and innovative sustainable agriculture practices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A word from the RALF (April 2022) Fran McLaughlin had an idea after her husband returned from working in remote areas of NSW with their rural earthmoving business. Fran\u2019s husband alarmingly described the accessibility constraints of these remote areas accessing fresh produce delivered in terms of distance, for example.  \u2018Feed the Bush\u2019 idea was born.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[307],"class_list":["post-6253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ralf","pmpro-has-access","category-81","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6253"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6267,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6253\/revisions\/6267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mli.org.au\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}