Award-winning grower Brett Squibb shares how SWAN Systems helps him balance every drop of water for healthier trees and better fruit.
Brett Squibb, Managing Director of RW Squibb & Sons and 2025 APAL Grower of the Year, is a third-generation apple grower in Spreyton, Tasmania. With all his farm’s water coming from capture sources, careful irrigation management is essential to protect both tree health and fruit quality.
Working with SWAN Systems, Brett and his team have simplified planning and gained confidence in every irrigation decision.
Managing irrigation on variable soils has always been a balancing act for Brett – too little water stresses the trees, too much risks their health and the crop. That’s where SWAN has made a real difference.
“Irrigation is a really big part of growing a crop of apples. If we under irrigate it can be detrimental to the fruit. If we over irrigate, it’s the same, we can be detrimental to the fruit and to tree health… Working with SWAN’s been great. Everyone’s been really easy to work with. The system’s simple, it’s on my phone. It can be shared between me and my team members. I’m really, really happy with the way the program’s ran and looking forward to continuing on with them in the future.”
With SWAN, Brett now schedules irrigation weekly, giving his team clear, up-to-date schedules they can view from their phones and follow with confidence.
“It tells us when we need to water, it tells us how long for, and we can just irrigate to plan… We save so much time. And we know exactly what’s going on from day to day when it comes to irrigation practices.”
For Brett, success means using water to its best ability without over- or under-irrigating. With SWAN, his orchards are managed more efficiently, his team has greater clarity, and he knows every drop is being used wisely.
Brett has been a proactive participant over the past three years in a trial led by the Building Sustainable Soils project – part of the apple and pear industry’s PIPS 4 Profit program. The project is evaluating the use of SWAN Systems to optimise irrigation, and Brett has provided invaluable insight into its water efficiency and economic benefits for his Tasmanian apple business, RW Squibbs & Sons.
