The project team is monitoring randomly selected melons approximately every fortnight at the wholesale markets in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth and in various Coles, Woolworths and Aldi stores in each city.
The monitoring results available through the Melons Australia website are updated within a day of being collected. Melon growers can view the monitoring results here: https://www.melonsaustralia.org.au/grower/melon-quality-project
In addition to the publication of these results, the project team is now able to create confidential reports for individual growers. These reports, generated mostly from the monitoring carried out in the wholesale markets, will provide growers with timely detailed feedback of their fruit condition in the market in terms of its maturity, skin and flesh condition.
Melons Australia Chief Executive Officer, Johnathon Davey, views these reports as a powerful feedback mechanism for growers. They will show growers what consumers are experiencing in the market and also serve as a quality assurance tool for each grower’s supply chain.
Because the monitoring is based on random sampling, only the growers whose fruit are selected will be sent the reports. Reports can also only be sent if the melons can be traced back to the specific grower. This is usually easy to do in the wholesale markets but generally not possible in retail stores.
The project team expects to start sending interested growers these retail monitoring reports by the end of July. If you would like to receive these for your own produce, please email Mark Loeffen at: mark.loeffen@delytics.com.
