NUT growers from across the North East, and throughout Australia, will gather in Wangaratta this week for a three-day biennial conference looking to help the industry grow and prosper.
Trinut Conference 2024 brings together Australia's chestnut, hazelnut and walnut industries, and will for the first time see international researchers and speakers work with the more than 100 attendees on the best ways to address key disease threats and other issues now and into the future.
Conference organiser, Trevor Ranford, said the event, running from Friday to Sunday at the Quality Hotel Wangaratta Gateway, is a fundamental collaborative forum organised by the Australian Walnut Industry Association Inc, Chestnuts Australia Inc and Hazelnut Growers of Australia Inc to help support all three nut industries.
"This is the second time the event has been held in the North East (Beechworth 2018), which remains an important growing region for all three nut industries in Australia, given its cool climate, higher elevation and historically good rainfall," he said.
"Around 70 per cent of Australia's 1300 tonnes of chestnuts this season were grown by some 40 growers in the region stretching from Myrtleford to Mt Beauty, Wandiligong, Stanley and Beechworth.
"Hazelnuts is an expanding industry and there are around a dozen growers in the region - from Mitta Mitta, the Ovens valley, Carboor and Stanley - who produced approximately a third of Australia's 600 tonnes this year.
"Importantly, Carboor Farms (Wangaratta East) has a modern nut cracking facility and is working with smaller growers to crack and market their nuts.
"There are about 10 small to medium walnut growers in the region...in the King Valley, Stanley and Eurobin...who produced around 1000 tonnes of the 14,000 tonnes in Australia."
Mr Ranford said that off the back of a difficult season for chestnut growers, challenged by internal nut rot impacting production, local producers at the conference will get to hear from USA chestnut nut rot researcher Dr Giorgia Bastianelli, on aspects such as chemical use, orchard management and varietal choices.
Walnut blight researcher Dr Steve Lindow from the USA will also be a guest presenter, as will Jorge Mohr, a hazelnut grower, processor and nursery operator from Chile.
"We see huge potential for Australia to increase hazelnut production over the next decade, with Agri-Futures Australia set to announce $2m for hazelnut research later this month," he said.
"The crop is well suited to the North East, for farmers who have land and are in a position to invest and wait six to seven years for trees to grow before production starts."
Attendees at the conference will also be visiting nut orchards and farms in the North East over the weekend.