Sunraysia Region Research Articles

Fruit Picking and Farmwork as Racialised Stigma: The Children of Pacific Migrant Workers in Rural Australia

ABSTRACT Pacific youth growing up in rural horticultural towns in Victoria, Australia, frequently experience the stigmatising labels of ‘fruit picker’ and ‘farmworker’. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the Sunraysia region, we focus on schools as early sites of racialisation and racism, and compare the perspectives of students and teachers. While teachers often blame ‘culture’ for poor academic performance, students complain of teachers’ racism while also experiencing low confidence and poor self-esteem that hinder their academic progress. Underpinning these issues is the racial hierarchy in the towns, shaped by their particular histories of colonisation, migration and intercultural relationships. Current theories of rural multiculturalism tend to focus on everyday interactions and strategies to encourage social cohesion, with the inherent danger of neglecting the deeper structural issues. We argue that Pacific youth seeking to move beyond the casual and precarious farmwork undertaken by their migrant parents encounter structural barriers that begin in schools and profoundly shape their future opportunities.

Cultivating Engagements: Ethnic Minority Migrants, Agriculture, and Environment in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia

Despite decades of challenge to the Enlightenment dualisms of Western environmental thought, they remain deeply embedded with respect to agriculture because of the ways in which cultivation is implicated in humanity’s move out of nature and into culture. In contrast, in non-Western contexts, scholars have more commonly discussed cultivation as a close engagement between humans and the more-than-human world. Emergent research examines how environmental engagements change in the encounters of migration from Majority to Minority Worlds, providing new ideas and practices for sustainable futures. We contribute to these debates with a study in the Sunraysia region of Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin, an area facing significant climate change impacts. We examine environmental engagements of ethnic minority migrants (Burundian, Hazara, Tongan, Vietnamese, and Italian) alongside Anglo-Australian residents. Findings identify both differences and connections between these groups and show complex interweavings of environmental engagement, ethnic background, migration history, and generational change. Groups perceive and respond to the local environment differently and in the context of their premigration experience, challenging dominant (Minority World) perceptions of environment as a freestanding and separate entity. The strongest cross-cutting theme is valuing environment for its food provision, associated with positive emotions and an ethic of care. Participants relate to food gardens rather than farms as places of pleasure and close engagement. Australian farms are understood as places where different rules apply and harmful chemicals must be used. Food gardens are an important site of cross-cultural encounter and experiment that can move environmental scholarship forward in the search for alternative futures. Key Words: agriculture, cultivation, migration, settler colonialism.

Irrigator relations with water in the Sunraysia region, northwestern Victoria

AbstractIrrigated agriculture faces significant challenges under climate change, and may not be feasible in parts of the Murray‐Darling Basin beyond 2050. Recent research into the cultural politics of water has paid limited attention to the water cultures and relations of irrigators in Minority World countries. We analyse the water relations of grape farm irrigators in the Sunraysia region of Victoria using interviews and farm tours undertaken between 2014 and 2016. Findings are summarised under five themes: (1) the sociality of irrigation water, (2) temporal and spatial relations, (3) the risk of rain, (4) the micro‐scale of water knowledge, and (5) environment as actor. These themes shed light on the diverse relations that constitute both environmental and irrigation water. Irrigators are embedded in these relations at multiple scales, local and distant, mediated by technology and infrastructure. The scale of our focus makes visible water and other forms of environmental knowledge that often go unnoticed in broader debates over irrigation. The concept of “the environment”, understood as an embodied actor in policy discourse and by irrigators, is an emergent trend that warrants ongoing research attention.

Sustainable farming entrepreneurship in the Sunraysia region

PurposeSustainable entrepreneurship is crucial for the ongoing viability and growth of rural economies. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the role of farm entrepreneurs in the sustainable development of rural regional areas by focusing on the Sunraysia farming community in Australia.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical framework of evolutionary economics is utilized to understand the process of sustainable entrepreneurship for entrepreneurs in rural areas and a case study design is utilized to build theory linking place attachment, innovation legitimacy, and coopetitive behavior to sustainable farm entrepreneurship. The case studies are analyzed using an inductive approach to make theoretical contributions to rural and sustainable entrepreneurship.FindingsThe key findings are that coopetition is necessary amongst sustainable farm entrepreneurs in order to induce a culture of innovation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focuses on the Sunraysia region of Australia so might be limited in scope and replication to other geographic areas.Originality/valueThis study focuses on the role of rural regional areas and the special entrepreneurial characteristics of the Sunraysia region due to immigration and location advantages.

Experimenting with agricultural diversity: Migrant knowledge as a resource for climate change adaptation

Climate change poses serious challenges for agriculture and adaptation to its impacts is widely understood to be necessary – now and into the future. This paper focuses on Australia's horticulturally productive and culturally diverse Sunraysia region. Due to the high seasonal labour demands of horticulture, this region has a large population of temporary and permanent migrants. Many were farmers in their countries of origin. We bring together literature on climate change adaptation in agriculture, and migration and agriculture, to identify a common theme: experimentation. The former emphasises the need for experimentation in uncertain times, and the latter draws attention to the experimental food growing capacities of migrants. We argue that migrant farmers' desire to grow culturally important crops in their post-migration contexts, alongside their experience with diverse environmental conditions, constitute a poorly recognised adaptive resource. When migrants have access to farmland to demonstrate their agricultural capacities, migration can expand the suite of adaptive options available. This paper draws these experimental threads together, alongside empirical evidence gathered from qualitative research in the Sunraysia region. We conclude by describing an experimental, action-oriented project which seeks to explore what happens when migrant farmers are, quite literally, given the space to show the broader community what they know and what they can do.

Management practices impact vine carbohydrate status to a greater extent than vine productivity.

Light pruning and deficit irrigation regimes are practices which are widely used in high yielding commercial vineyards in the warm climate regions of Australia. Little information is available on their impacts on carbohydrate dynamics in vegetative organs within and between seasons, and on the resulting plant capacity to maintain productivity and ripen fruits. This study was conducted to address this gap in knowledge over five vintages on Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Franc, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon in the Sunraysia region of Victoria, Australia. Lighter pruning did not change the total carbohydrates concentration and composition in wood and roots within seasons in Cabernet Franc and Shiraz. However, the total carbohydrate pool (starch and soluble sugars) at the end of dormancy increased under lighter pruning, due to higher vine size, associated with retention and growth of old-wood (trunk and cordons). Water deficit negatively impacted trunk and leaf starch concentrations, over the day and within seasons in Cabernet Sauvignon. Soluble sugars concentrations in these tissues tended to be higher under limited water supply, possibly due to higher sugar mobilization as photosynthesis decreased. Trunk carbohydrate concentrations markedly varied within and between seasons, highlighting the importance of interactive factors such as crop load and climate on carbon status. The period between fruit-set and véraison was shown to be critical for its impact on the balance between carbon accretion and depletion, especially under water deficit. The lower leaf and trunk starch concentration under water deficit resulted in a decrease of yield components at harvest, while similar yields were reached for all pruning systems. The sugar allocated to berries at harvest remained remarkably stable for all practices and seasons, irrespective of vine yield and carbohydrate status in vegetative organs in Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Effect of site-specific irrigation management on grapevine yield and fruit quality attributes

Spatial variation in yield and fruit composition has been observed in many vineyards, leading to low productivity. In this study, site-specific irrigation was applied in a commercial vineyard (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Shiraz) block in the Sunraysia region of Australia to improve production in low-yielding areas of the block and decrease differences in yield and quality between irrigation management zones. Data collected under uniform irrigation management showed that spatial variation in canopy cover, yield and fruit composition across the vineyard block was substantial. Normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) and canopy temperature data supported delineation of three irrigation management zones and decisions regarding irrigation strategy. Water use efficiency and yield improvements were achieved by implementing site-specific irrigation. Fruit composition results were varied; pH and titratable acidity showed increased similarity between zones, but other parameters maintained differences between zones. These results lend support to the use of NDVI to determine irrigation management zones.

SEBAL-METRIC ESTIMATES OF CROP WATER REQUIREMENT IN HORTICULTURAL CROPS GROWN IN SE AUSTRALIA

ISHS XXVIII International Horticultural Congress on Science and Horticulture for People (IHC2010): International Symposium on CLIMWATER 2010: Horticultural Use of Water in a Changing Climate SEBAL-METRIC ESTIMATES OF CROP WATER REQUIREMENT IN HORTICULTURAL CROPS GROWN IN SE AUSTRALIA

Influence of sustained deficit irrigation on colour parameters of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz microscale wine fermentations

Background and Aims: This study aimed to explore the influence of sustained deficit irrigation (SDI) on the grape and wine colour parameters of two premium red wine grape varieties grown in the Sunraysia region of South Eastern Australia. Methods and Results: The SDI experiments were conducted during three vintages from 2003 to 2004, 2004 to 2005 and 2005 to 2006 on the Vitis vinfera cultivars Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grafted to 140 Ruggeri (V. berlandieri × V. rupestris) rootstock. The grapevines were drip irrigated providing 100% of estimated ETc (control) and three graded sustained water deficits (Cabernet Sauvignon 70, 52 and 43% of the control; Shiraz 65, 45 and 34% of the control). Microscale wine fermentations were conducted on grapes from the 2006 harvest to assess wine colour density, wine hue, red pigments, anthocyanins, phenolics and copigmentation products in the wine. Wine anthocyanin and phenolic concentrations for both varieties showed significant increases with increasing intensity of SDI. Conclusion: Increases in wine colour with SDI may result from changes in flavonoid biosynthesis as a result of grapevine responses to water deficit. Alternatively, increases in red wine colour could be caused by changes in chemical properties of the anthocyanins to copigmented or polymeric forms during the winemaking or ageing process. Significance of the Study: The Australian wine industry is currently affected by drought and reduced water allocations resulting in production of wine from grapes exposed to water deficit. Findings from this study provide knowledge to the wine industry as to how sustained deficit irrigation may modify wine colour.

Sensory attributes of wine influenced by variety and berry shading discriminated by NMR metabolomics

Sensory analysis of wine is expensive and time consuming. Alternatives to characterise aspects of wine flavour and aroma are thus highly desirable. Here, it can be demonstrated that certain mouth-feel parameters identified from sensory analysis can be strongly correlated to NMR-based metabolomics analysis of wine. Wines were made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes ( Vitis vinifera L.) subjected to different levels of sun exposure in a commercial vineyard in the Sunraysia region of Victoria, Australia. Descriptive analysis revealed that the wines from the shaded treatment were significantly different from other treatments for a number of flavour and aroma characters, particularly those related to mouth-feel. Metabolomic analysis allowed classification of the wines based on grape variety and shade treatment in a manner similar to that by sensory analysis. The NMR analysis described here is rapid, inexpensive and allows the simultaneous assessment of multiple metabolites contributing to wine quality. Metabolomic analysis of wine may therefore offer a more affordable technique to investigate certain sensory aspects of wine.

Condensed Tannin Accumulation and Composition in Skin of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon Grapes during Berry Development

Condensed tannins derived from the grape berry play a significant role in wine astringency, bitterness, color stability, and aging potential. Understanding the regional, varietal, and seasonal variability in winegrape tannin composition throughout berry development is essential for developing vineyard strategies to manage and manipulate winegrape tannin to meet winery specifications. Current knowledge of tannin accumulation and composition in grape berries is largely based on a single variety and geographical region, with most studies investigating seed tannin. To explore the variation in tannin accumulation and composition, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon grape skin from two growing seasons in the Sunraysia region of southeast Australia were measured by acid-catalyzed cleavage in the presence of phloroglucinol. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to quantify the subunit composition, total tannin content, and average polymer length throughout berry development. The pattern of tannin accumulation and composition were similar for both varieties and seasons, with tannin content highest at fruit set before declining toward veraison. The pattern of accumulation and composition seen in grape skin from this study was different to that previously reported in Shiraz from the cooler growing region of McLaren Vale in South Australia where tannin content was highest at veraison. Results indicate that the differences between the pattern of tannin accumulation and composition in Sunraysia and McLaren Vale may be due to regional influences, which had greater impact on tannin composition than varietal or seasonal variability. Further research is required to determine the full extent of variation between regions and to determine the environmental factors that can be used to influence the pattern of tannin accumulation.

Effects of sediment quality on macroinvertebrates in the Sunraysia region of the Murray–Darling Rivers, Australia

A field-based microcosm approach was tested to identify deterioration of sediment quality in waterways using freshwater macroinvertebrates. The method can potentially identify the nature of contaminants based on species-specific responses. Sediments were collected from the Murray and Darling Rivers and irrigation drains within the Sunraysia region of south-eastern Australia and compared to non-polluted reference sediment. Clean sediments were also spiked with fertiliser to test whether nutrients affected the aquatic fauna. Seven of the eight sediments from the Sunraysia region had a negative impact on the macroinvertebrates, in particular sediment from the Darling River, which supported an impoverished fauna. Three species of chironomid showed varied responses to sediment quality and, although it was hypothesised that nutrients may have impacted on the macroinvertebrate fauna, the results suggest that other pollutants are also involved. The field-based microcosm method proved effective for determining the impact of sediment quality on indigenous macroinvertebrates.

Partial Shading of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz Vines Altered Wine Color and Mouthfeel Attributes, but Increased Exposure Had Little Impact

Few studies have investigated the impact of vine shading on the sensory attributes of the resultant wine. This study examines the effects of canopy exposure levels on phenolic composition plus aroma, flavor, and mouthfeel aspects in wine. Wines were made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) subjected to different levels of canopy exposure in a commercial vineyard in the Sunraysia region, Victoria, Australia. Canopy exposure treatments included control (standard vineyard practice), exposed (achieved with a foliage wire 600 mm above the top cordon), highly exposed (using a foliage wire with leaf plucking in the fruit zone), and shaded treatment (using 70% shade-cloth). Spectral and descriptive analyses showed that levels of anthocyanins, other phenolics, and perceived astringency were lower in wines made from shaded fruit; however, the reverse was generally not observed in wines of exposed and highly exposed fruit. Descriptive analysis also showed wines from the shaded fruit were different from other treatments for a number of flavor and aroma characters. These findings have implications for vineyard management practices.

Specifying the farming styles in viticulture

Fourteen styles of viticulture are defined: Astute Business Grower; Experimentalist Grower; Industry-Endorsed Early Adopter; Professional Scientific Manager; Experienced Manager; Labour-Efficient Grower; Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture Grower; Traditional Grower; Ethnic Grower; Conventional Grower; Retiree Grower; Hobby Grower; Sea-Change Grower; and Marginal Grower. The methodology to identify these farming styles included 6 focus groups in Mildura, Victoria, a face-to-face interview with 142 grape-growers in the Sunraysia region of Victoria, and qualitative interviewing with industry personnel and extension staff. Problems of social desirability response bias, the lack of self-identification by growers with styles, and literacy and other methodological issues meant that qualitative, participatory (emic) methods for identifying styles were not reliable. Following considerable immersion in the field, the researchers identified, on the basis of expert judgment (etic classification), the 14 farming styles in viticulture which they regard as a typology of ideal types. Benefits of the identification of farming styles in viticulture in terms of extension are discussed.

Yield-salinity relationships of different grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) scion-rootstock combinations

Three data sets derived from 5– or 6-year field experiments at Merbein (Victoria), Dareton (New South Wales) and Loxton (South Australia) were used to assess the relationship between yield of own-rooted or grafted grapevines and electrical conductivity of the saturated soil paste extract (ECe). This involved a non-linear least squares fit method to determine the threshold of ECe at which yield begins to decline and the slope of the yield reduction with increasing ECe above that threshold. Threshold and slope are the two key parameters in this piece wise linear model of grapevine response to salinity. The soil ECe values were integrated to take account of both spatial and temporal variation in soil salinity within the profile. The ECe threshold for own-rooted Sultana at Merbein in the Sunraysia region was found to be 2.3 0.2 dS/m and the slope of yield reduction above the threshold was 8.9 1.2 % per 1 dS/m increase in soil ECe. At Dareton, a similar threshold of 2.1 0.3 dS/m was found for own-rooted Sultana, however the higher slope of the yield reduction (15.0 2.0 %) relative to the same vines at Merbein may have been related to the higher sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) in irrigation water and its impacts on soil physical properties, especially in that part of the vineyard with a heavier soil type. The rootstock Ramsey resulted in a threshold of 3.3 0.2 dS/m and slope of 5.7 0.4% with the scion Colombard at Loxton, indicating a more tolerant combination of scion-rootstock to salinity. The rootstocks 1103 Paulsen and R2 with Sultana as scion were the most salt tolerant, with no discernible yield reduction until ECe exceeded about 4 dS/m. Of four other rootstocks with Sultana as scion, compared with own-rooted Sultana, J17–69, and R4 had similar threshold values (2.3 0.2 and 2.5 0.2 dS/m) and slopes of yield reduction (10.1 1.9 % and 8.0 0.5 %, respectively), while R1 had a similar threshold of 1.8 0.2 dS/m but a lower slope of yield reduction (4.3 0.9 %) than Sultana on own roots and R3, J17–69, R1 and R4 rootstocks. Comparatively, R3 rootstock responded differently by way of a higher threshold of 3.0 0.2 dS/m than own-rooted Sultana and J17–69 and R1 rootstocks and a higher slope of yield reduction of 12.4 1.0 % relative to Sultana on own roots and R4 and R1 rootstocks. Based on our long-term studies of yield-salinity relationships on contrasting sites, the pre-eminence of certain rootstocks in conferring tolerance to soil salinity has been confirmed. Ramsey, 1103 Paulsen, and a new hybrid designated here as R3 were generally outstanding, with Ramsey varying only slightly in its comparative effectiveness when grafted to different scion varieties. An overall interaction between scion variety and rootstock genotype was thus evident in the form of yield-salinity relationships.

Response of grapevines to irrigation-induced saline–sodic soil conditions

The responses of grapevines (Vitis vinifera L.), ungrafted and grafted to Ramsey rootstock, to saline irrigation have been investigated in drip-irrigated trials at Loxton, Dareton and Merbein in the Riverland–Sunraysia region of the southern Murray–Darling Basin. Soil type and climate were similar across the sites and the characteristics of the soils were monitored in relation to salinity treatment. The treatments involved application of defined irrigation water salinities throughout the season at Merbein and Dareton, while at Loxton, a high salinity treatment was applied between flowering and veraison with low salinity being applied in the remainder of the season. Between-site comparisons of the same rootstock or same cultivar in the fifth season of irrigation show that for water of similar salinity (volume weighted electrical conductivity of 1.4–1.6 dS/m), the ion accumulation patterns were not equivalent. Leaf petiole sodium ion (Na+) and chloride ion (Cl–) concentrations in ungrafted Sultana vines at Dareton were 2-fold those at Merbein, which aligned with differences in electrical conductivity of the soil saturation paste extract. Differences between salinity of soil and ion content of leaves at the 2 sites were attributed to different irrigation management with the estimated leaching fraction at Merbein nearly double that at Dareton. The average ECe at Loxton was equivalent to that at Merbein. However, the leaf lamina Cl– in vines grafted to Ramsey rootstock at Loxton was 2-fold that at Merbein and leaf lamina Na+ was 10-fold. Cultivar differences between the 2 sites — Sultana at Merbein and Colombard at Loxton — may explain a small part of the increase in leaf Na+ and most of that in leaf Cl–. However, a far more plausible explanation is that vines at Loxton experienced transient waterlogging which increased their uptake of both Na+ and Cl–, and increased the rate of Na+ uptake relative to that of Cl–. Transient waterlogging was probably caused by a combination of soil sodicity, small excesses in irrigation, and the combination for part of the season of low electrolyte concentration and high sodium adsorption ratio in the soil solution. Under waterlogged conditions, the uptake of Na+ relative to Cl– at Loxton would have been further enhanced by the inherent differences between Loxton and Merbein in the properties of the soil solution. The soil solution at Loxton had a higher Na:Cl ratio.

A comparison of rootstocks for Valencia orange in the Sunraysia region of Australia

SummaryThe effects of rootstocks on tree growth, yield and fruit quality of Valencia orange were evaluated on sand and sandy-loam soils typical of the Sunraysia district. Carrizo and Troyer citrange and Emperor mandarin rootstocks were the best. Sweet orange rootstocks, especially Symons selection, were comparable but their longer-term mature cropping levels were generally lower. Rough lemon rootstock also cropped well but lower fruit juice and sugar levels resulted in less production of total soluble solids (TSS) per unit of area than the aforementioned rootstocks. Similarly, yields produced on Rangpur rootstocks were average, but lower fruit juice and sugar levels gave low TSS levels per unit of area. Small fruit was also a problem of Rangpur. Williams Trifoliate orange rootstock produced small trees, having smaller crops and less TSS production per unit of area by comparison at the 6.5 m × 3.8 m tree spacings. Good general fruit quality and tree health, however, suggests that at closer tree spacings it...