By Xiaoyu (Mia) Ren
WHAT IS SPRAY DIARY?
When grape growers take a well-deserved rest at the end of the harvest season, it is the most optimum moment to perform an insightful review of what has happened in the orchard over the season. As a result, the spray diary becomes an important tool when we examine what was done throughout the season and investigate what may be done to improve it for the following season.
Spray diary is an agrochemical record of the sprays applied to the entire vineyard throughout the growing season including the block name(s), varieties, growth stages and the order in which they were sprayed; the weather conditions under which it was carried out; and the chosen label rate of registered agrochemicals used as well as its intended target pests(Spray Diary -The Australian Wine Research Institute, 2021). By following this, the grower should satisfy the maximum residue limit (MRL) listed in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code both on grapes and through winemaking.
Example of a spray diary
(Agric.wa.gov.au2018)
WHY IS SPRAY DIARY VALUED?
Correspondingly, the grower should be aware that certain exporting countries that have MRLs vastly different to, and sometimes lower than, those set by the Australian Government. As a result, a breach will not only jeopardize that grower from the market but possibly their whole Australian industry (Filippi 2021). Furthermore, some wineries might not accept the delivery of grapes without receipt of a signed spray diary from the producer. Therefore, along with the residue sample testing, a detailed and up-to-date industry-accepted spray diary is the only form of defence and appears particularly important.
WHAT IS SPRAY E-DIARY?
The spray e-diary is cloud-based, which offers numerous advantages to growers over traditional handwritten spreadsheets or universal programs built into their desktop PCs. Being on the cloud means no more paperwork; each authorized user may access your vineyard spraying data from anywhere, at any time, by using a smartphone, tablet and other mobile devices with internet connectivity (Tree fruit 2021).
In general, Spray e-Diary solution assist grape growers and wineries to:
– Submit, receiveandmanage spray diary records electronically
– Receive alerts if the sprays are outside industry guidelines or defined dose (e.g., Organic, Sustainable viticulture)
– Receive notifications to stop spraying prior to the harvest date
– Access a variety of industry information and local weather forecast (e.g.,regional climate, microclimates, topo-climate, standard day degrees, etc)
– Modify tables easily with expandable columns that are designed to be customised
– Improve the communication and interaction amongst various parties
– Manage the quality assurance and food safety obligations in an efficient and cost-effective manner
FORESEEABLE BENEFITS
1. Easy to Use & Time Saving
Your spray process is carried out in full compliance with just a few clicks per day. All of your block, equipment, and operator data has been imported, and all other related data has been pre-entered. Everything you need is at your fingertips, and it accelerates the reporting procedure, reduces your workload by conveniently exporting reports.
2. Easy to Access & Real-Time Management
This user-friendly solution makes vineyard spraying data available to all authorized end-users at any time, from any device, online and offline. It also enables traceability of the spread through time, sustainability tracking, and the use of a digital ledger to ensure compliance with regulations. Furthermore, it will simultaneously keep up to date while maintaining historical spray records, implying that existing data can be integrated and consolidated.
3.Digital & Secure
Spray eDiary is a SaaS platform that allows for more straightforward and accurate data entry, reducing the risk of human errors, and selling grapes in an efficient way during harvest by reporting all sprays, exporting the report in xls, pdf, csv, or other customisable formats. There are also a vast number of reports which you can view on screen or download into your devices in PDF format, ready for e-mailing if required. All of your recordings are securely archived without the use of paper, giving you complete peace of mind.
4.Customisable features
Aside fromthe chemical products, each target related, equipment uses, operators and weather conditions, you can alter and select only the needed information to personalise your dashboard or report. It will also warn you if you are intending to apply a chemical with a withholding restriction too close to a harvest date to ensure that residues in their treated produce will not exceed the maximum residue limit (MRL).
REFERENCES
Agric.wa.gov.au. 2018.[online] Available at: https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/sites/gateway/files/Viticulture%20Spray%20Guide.pdf [Accessed 7 October 2021].
Filippi, T., 2021. An article from Integrity Fruit -“What is the Value of a Spray Diary?”. [online] Fgv.com.au. Availableat: https://www.fgv.com.au/grower-services/latest-updates/grower-news/413-an-article-from-integrity-fruit-what-is-the-value-of-a-spray-diary [Accessed 29 October 2021].
The Australian Wine Research Institute. 2021. Spray Diary -The Australian Wine Research Institute. [online] Available at: https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/viticulture/agrochemicals/spray_diary/ [Accessed 20 October 2021].
Tree fruit. 2021. Make audits a breeze with a new electronic Spray Diary. [online] Available at: https://www.treefruit.com.au/shed/software/item/408-make-audits-a-breeze-with-a-new-electronic-spray-diary [Accessed 29 October 2021].
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