My last update was on the 17th of September, so I thought it was time to write a little more.

The last week in The Netherlands was great. The international students at PTC+ have now been included into my address book, with all of them saying you must come and visit. They have all promised to come to Australia also. The nutritional calculations, for the recirculating nutrients, I was hoping to learn was covered by an introduction to a wa,ter testing facility.

They test the water, see what the nutrient levels are and compare them to a list derived from years of research and then advise the growers to add so much of N P K and so on. It seems I'll have to buy a computer program, as all growers referred to this type of 'blueprint' growing. We also visited a strawberry grower, an apple and pear orchard, a rose breeder/producer and went to the Alsmeer flower auction. I still am amazed by the concept of the central auction idea, and how supermarkets use the market to draw from, whereas at home the supermarkets try hard to deal direct with growers and use the relationship as a negotiation tool.

An area we went into while at the auction was the receivals area from other countries, where each agent unpacked, trimmed and re-packed all of the flowers before entering the market. It was amusing to see boxes of cotton stems in flower. It was explained to us that when people want to decorate their houses, they try and decorate with something unique! During some of my time away from the training college I also managed to visit one company, who, apart form growing 7ha of roma type tomatoes and 10ha of capsicum, grows 18ha of cherry tomatoes with 75% of the fruit destined for the United Kingdom. They manage about 16 tonnes of cherry tomatoes through their pack house a day!

It was also great to catch up with my first night's host to compare my expectations to what I actually experienced. It was only in the last day that I twequeked to what they were saying after a phrase on the radio, 'puntnl', which is instead of saying "dot au" after a web address.

One week in the United Kingdom was probably just right for me as most of the tomatoes grown in use similar technology to the Dutch. Tim Pratt, UK Nuffielder, hosted me for a day and a night, took me to a few growers.

Some of the growers had the electricity company install generators. The growers get to use the heat and the CO2 in their greenhouse while the electricity generated goes back to the grid. Nice idea till the cost of gas goes through the roof and the electricity companies decide that to burn coal is not such a bad idea after all. Tim also introduced me to the UK model of the supermarket. Everything pre-packaged! You also don't have to use the check out, you can scan through items yourself, just don't get caught by the checkout police if you try and buck the system.

The washing machine at John and Sarah Yeomans took a beating, by yet another Australian. Also managed to wash my mobile phone, John will have to share that story, I blame the late night at a ram sale.

I was also fortunate to catch up with a cousin of mine in the UK, who is my age. He is in the UK maturing his voice as an opera singer. It was good to hear of the frustrations he and his family had encountered when moving to the UK, and how different the systems are since de-regulation.

Next, Canada for two weeks. The Australian Hydroponic and Greenhouse Association together with funding from Horticulture Australia Limited, led a tour group to Canada for a time which coincided with the Canadian Greenhouse Association Conference. What an opportunity, so of course I joined them.

The bonus of joining a group like that, while not just being aware of the issues facing Australian growers, is that other group members ask questions you probably hadn't thought of or are not game enough to ask. There is also a great chance to discuss ideas from the perspective of 'different' individuals. While there is not much expansion in the Canadian greenhouse industry at present, the industry is well organised and dynamic. They have access to the largest dedicated greenhouse research facility in North America.

Growers are changing their energy source from the traditional natural gas to biomass, particularly wood waste boilers. These boilers are the same as I saw in Belgium, although some growers were trying to build their own. They still need the natural gas boilers for the production of CO2 for enriching the environment in the greenhouse, and are a handy backup. Growers are moving to biomass boilers as the exchange rate with the United States becomes unfavourable for exporting. The higher Canadian dollar value reduces the return to the grower so the grower analyses the biggest cost centres. Sounds like the similar story for Australian exporters doesn't it.

Most growers were paying $9/Gj for natural gas and were quoting $3.50-4.00/Gj for the biomass, burning them 165 days a year paying for the installation in 5 years. The dearer the gas the sooner the payback. Fortunate to catch up with my roomy, Eric Ritchie, at the conference.

Eric is also looking at the whole biomass question as his study. Was good to see his great smile and to hear of his travels. He concurred that the management of the biomass systems in terms of its texture and consistency was the biggest issue.

Saw some very large operations in Leamington, close to the US border, of varying technology, including one operation of 8ha of tomatoes, 1.6ha cucumbers and 10.4ha capsicums. The capsicums were all in one very impressive new glasshouse complex. One structure we saw at another property of 4.8ha was 6.5m to the gutter! We visited a plant production nursery of immense proportions. The hygiene was meticulous and you could eat your dinner off the floor!

On the way back to Toronto we stayed for one night at the Niagara Falls, a truly humbling experience as 3 mega litres pour over in a second! Toronto is a concrete jungle and only appealing for catching up on emails and my diary.......

Mexico next before pointing towards home. Time for sleep before more culture!