Australia’s peak apple and pear body is finding a silver lining in the global COVID-19 shut down by providing local producers with the opportunity to hear and question some of Australia’s and the world’s foremost apple and pear technical experts and to virtually visit local and overseas orchards.
APAL CEO Phil Turnbull said APAL was forced to cancel its popular annual industry forum and orchard walks following the COVID-19 shutdown.
“We’ve found opportunity in adversity by reinventing these popular events as fortnightly online webinars. We were delighted to see our members embracing the new delivery with more than 40 joining our first webinar last Thursday.
The webinars provide growers with access to an impressive array of local and international experts and features speakers who were unavailable for the planned forum and orchard walks.
The annual forum and orchard walks are among APAL’s most popular member events attracting hundreds of apple and pear growers and industry members from across Australia.
“We can’t replicate the social networking, but the online delivery makes it easier for more members of a business to join the webinars – this may stimulate some interesting conversations and great
ideas for your business.”
“Growers and industry members are welcome to attend any of our webinars and orchard walks – not just their local sessions,” said Mr Turnbull.
“The live webinars are an opportunity to ask questions of the presenters on the day. If you can’t make the session – or you want to revisit some of the content - you can access the presentations
from our website shortly after the event.”
The next webinar is scheduled for Thursday 27 May. The virtual orchard walks are tailored to the regions with the first walk scheduled for Orange from 9 am on Tuesday 9 June. Each webinar will run
for approximately 40 minutes and the virtual orchard walks will run for approximately 90 minutes.
To register and to explore the full program visit https://apal.org.au/events/