Win tickets for a deep dive into best-practice irrigation

January 2026 will see the XI International Symposium on Irrigation of Horticultural Crops held in Australia, being hosted at the Tatura SmartFarm in Victoria. Running from 18-23 January, the six-day event features plenary sessions, keynote, oral and poster presentations, workshops, technical tours, a conference dinner and social activities.

Presented by Agriculture Victoria, the Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible (IAS-CSIC, Spain) and the University of Melbourne, and under the aegis of the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), the Symposium’s overarching theme is “Acting on water for climate change, environment and energy”.

More event information can be found here, and the program overview here. A detailed day-by-day program will be released in the weeks leading up to the symposium.

Industry workshop and technical tour

Hort Innovation is a platinum sponsor of the event and, in conjunction with Agriculture Victoria, is supporting the participation of up to 50 horticultural growers in an industry-tailored workshop and technical tour being held as part of the Symposium.

The workshop theme is “Sustaining future orchard profitability in years with reduced access to irrigation water”. Discussions will cover the use of AI, cutting-edge irrigation technology and innovative agronomic practices to mitigate financial risks associated with low water availability in modern orchards.

The workshop will be facilitated by an Agriculture Victoria extension officer and will feature a panel of scientists, growers and policymakers. Audience interaction will be encouraged to foster dynamic discussion.

Three of the free two–day tickets are available to olive growers, enabling attendance at the symposium research and development sessions, presentations and workshop on Tuesday, 20 January and the technical tour around the Goulburn Valley on Wednesday, 21 January.

You’ll just need to cover your own accommodation and/or general transport costs (bus transport during the Wednesday field day is included). We’ll also get you to report back on your observations and experiences, so we can share your learnings with other olive growers.

This is an outstanding opportunity to learn about the latest and best in water management strategies, so if you’re keen to nab one of the free symposium tickets, just tell us in 25 words or less why you want to come and what you’d get out of it.  Send your response to [email protected] before 30 November.

Winners will be notified in early December and we’ll follow up on the Symposium’s learnings in the March edition of the olive levy output publication, R&D Insights.