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Edition 21

👋 Hey TropicalBytes family, welcome to this week’s edition of Q.U.I.P.S.!

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In Today’s Email:

• Q: A - H, What Cultivars Are These? 🤔

• U: A Day in the Life of JAFF 1's Harvesting Approach 🥜

• I: German Engineering Meets Macadamia Magic 🌳

• P: Flowers, the Colour of a Vibrant African Sky 🌅

• S: Grab Your TropicalBytes Stanley Flask Today! 🎁

Question❓

A - H, What Cultivars Are These?

Eight cultivars, eight pictures – which ones are which?

Hit 'Reply' to this email with your best guesses, we'll mark them up and send you your score! 📝

A -

B -

C -

D -

E -

F -

G -

H -

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Upskill 📚

A Day in the Life of JAFF 1's Harvesting Approach 🥜

It's Throwback Tuesday, and today we're taking a trip waaay down memory lane—right back to JAFF 1 and his crafty tool to make harvesting more efficient.

JAFF 1 isn't your typical farmer; he's a mindful cultivator concerned with sustainability. You won't find him using chemicals like ethapon; he’s concerned about the effect it has on subsequent production.

Instead, he's got a trick up his sleeve....

Theoretically all the nuts will eventually fall off the trees (varieties like 816, 344 and 788 drop well). So, you could just let nature run its course. But that’s not JAFF either.

And waiting too long would result in an unruly mix of nuts and flowers on the tree simultaneously. Managing that? A total headache.

Instead, JAFF’s strategy is to start manually stripping trees about 6 weeks after the first nuts hit the ground. Already by the end of May, his team had harvested all the 344 and 741 orchards, using his 'special' stripping sticks (illustration of the head below👇).

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Here's a slice of farm life for you. On that day, 90 skilled workers were busy stripping and picking. They put their harvest into measuring containers and then into a trailer and are remunerated daily (per task), not on volume. Stripping is considered a different task to picking. Each 'unit' can pick roughly 120kgs while stripping is about 80kgs per 'unit'.

👉 Intrigued to uncover more secrets from JAFF 1? Check out the full article right here → [link]

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Information ℹ️

German Engineering Meets Macadamia Magic 🌳

If you enjoyed our walk down memory lane with JAFF 1, you're going to love our next pitstop. Meet Mr & Mrs JAFF, aka JAFF 15—the couple making macadamia harvesting 100x easier!

Mr & Mrs JAFF are all about precision. They harvest per tree, allowing them to dial into exactly what's working—and what's not—in each orchard. The result? Stellar decision-making that's as informed as it gets.

Per-tree harvest records are possible because of the shaker they use. A tractor-powered tree shaker inspired by—you guessed it—a German invention initially used for apple picking (see videos below). A rope is strategically placed high up in the tree to prevent root damage. A short, sharp tug is given from a PTO-pulled cable, sending nuts raining down onto a spread-out shade cloth below.

Each season is carefully assessed, field by field, to identify the most efficient harvesting method. Their ultimate goal? Maximise efficiency while minimising nut loss.

2 litres per hectare of ethapon is also used throughout the farm, except on the 816’s, which are on the slopes anyway, where the shaker cannot be used.

And for those stubborn, hard-to-reach treetops? Where necessary and accessible, a custom-built, 3-point linkage trailer is used. Men stand at the top, sticks in hand, knocking down the remaining nuts. This also disrupts the food-stores for stink bugs, which—as we all know—love to hang out at lofty heights.

👉 Want to learn more from Mr & Mrs JAFF? Read the full article here → [link]

Picture 📷

Flowers, the Colour of a Vibrant African Sky 🌅

Flowers, the colour of a vibrant African sky, dutifully attended by an African bee.

Despite the challenges, we are so privileged to live here.

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That’s a wrap folks! We hope you enjoyed this week’s QUIPS.

Happy farming, deep learning, and warm smiles.

We'll see you next week! 🌱

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