The SuniTAFE SMART Farm was awarded for their quality dried fruit at this year’s Sunbeam Foods Grower Meeting.

At the event held on 31 January, the SuniTAFE Farm was placed within the top 18 of the highest quality fruit growers in the region.

SMART Farm Manager Kevin Sharman is proud of this win.
“This is my sixth dried fruit award in the 19 years as farm manager here. I get a thrill out of winning the awards and I love to boast that the SuniTAFE Farm produces award winning dried fruit.”

“The awards demonstrate that we are one of the best producers in the region,” he said.
As part of their coursework, students enrolled Certificate III in Horticulture (AHC30716) must observe the operations of the SuniTAFE Farm.

Kevin says that producing quality dried fruit is a lengthy and complicated process, so it is positive for SuniTAFE students to see that this hard work pays off.

“The students monitor and observe irrigation on the farm, fertiliser applications, canopy management, harvesting operations, finish drying operations, and sometimes chemical applications.”

“These awards demonstrate to students that we are very good at producing horticultural crops, and that our practices are good to learn from,” Kevin said.

Interested in studying AHC30716 Certificate III in Horticulture at SuniTAFE? Click here for more course information.

To learn more about the SuniTAFE SMART Farm, click here.