KESHAV Timalsena, from Armidale has been awarded a prestigious Nuffield Scholarship.
He received the award at the organisationʼs prestigious national conference dinner last month in Perth.
He will research the use of semi-close glasshouses to maximise tomato production while minimizing inputs and waste.
Keshav is employed as senior grower manager of Tomato Exchange, a hydroponic tomato producer with 20 hectares of production under glass at Guyra.
The company produces over 12 million kilograms of truss tomatoes and over a million kilograms of cocktail tomatoes annually and supplies major supermarket chains.
Keshav is responsible for day-to-day glasshouse operations, including all aspects of growing and plant management activities, production, budgeting, forecasting, environment control, as well as managing 164 glasshouse staff.
Keshav says there is an opportunity in the Australian industry to modernise glasshouses, resulting in higher yields while reducing environmental impact.
“There is new technology in the US called semi-close module greenhouses, which have a very clean environmental footprint,” he said.
“In this system, carbon dioxide produced from burning natural gas is retained within the greenhouse – most of this air is recycled rather than released to the outside air as is the case with typical glasshouse operations.”
Keshav says the development of this technology is advancing so quickly that itʼs imperative Australian growers visit producers overseas to learn about the new operations.
“In Australia there is a distinct lack of knowledge covering semi-close environments, so my goal is to learn the practicalities of this new system,” he said.
“Iʼd like to then implement my findings into the construction of a semi-close glasshouse here, meaning savings in fossil fuels, water and carbon dioxide.”
Once this new technology is established in Australia, Keshav believes it will help his industry reduce both environmental impacts and input costs.
Keshavʼs travel itinerary includes the USA, Europe, Mexico, Brazil, Canada and New Zealand.
Nuffield Australia is an organisation providing opportunities to Australian farmers to travel overseas on an agricultural research scholarship. It is a 16-week program consisting of both group and individual travel.
In March 2014, a group will be travelling through Canada, United States
(California and Washington DC), Mexico, Europe, Brazil and New Zealand, while a second group will tour South Africa, Kenya, Eastern Europe, Europe and USA.
