An Irrigation manager provides professional and technical support to the horticulture and agriculture industry sectors in developing, designing and managing irrigation systems. This role can be as an internal business manager or by external consultancy.

Located in the Goulburn Valley region, Bhavesh Donga is the Irrigation Manager at Plunkett Orchards in Ardmona, Victoria – a large scale supplier of premium quality fresh apples, pears and stonefruits to retailers around the world.

Plunkett Orchards’ state-of-the art growing and irrigation techniques help achieve high yields, with approximately 9,000 tonnes of fruit produced from 300,000 trees spread across 235 hectares of orchards. This amount of fruit relies on precise management of innovative irrigation infrastructure.

Bhavesh’s role is quite diverse and his duties involve setting and checking the irrigation systems, pest monitoring, spray management, and other day-to-day duties like slashing and tractor driver jobs.

After he ensures each orchard block has enough water, Bhavesh drives into the orchard rows every two hours where he checks the fruit and leaf quality to ensure the trees are not stressed and are growing well.