From July 2023, Ag Dynamics LDA has been registered in Portugal, and can now offer services to local companies and investors throughout the Iberian Peninsula and the greater EU.

In April and May of 2023, Caritas Switzerland engaged Ag Dynamics to undertake the Final Project Evaluation for the Sustainable and Inclusive Rural Economic Development (SIRED) project. Stuart Pettigrew was the Lead Evaluator and engaged the local consulting team of Luan Hoti (rural and MSD expert) and Antigona Dajakaj as the Gender (GESI) Advisor to implement this programme.

Stuart has recently settled in Portugal to pursue opportunities in the rapidly expanding nut and fruit sectors in this region. 

The massive Alqueva Dam is providing reliable water to the Alentejo region of Portugal, and with a climate suited to crops such as almonds, olives and citrus, there has been a rapid increase in production of these.

Driven by the increasing global demand for nuts, and plant-based foods in general, the whole of Iberia is rapidly increasing production of almonds, pistachios, walnuts and more. It is an interesting time to be here, and to see how the expansion is managed. Having seen similar explosive growth in Australia (think wine in the '90s, almonds in the 2000s) there will be some growing pains - but so far it is a really impressive development.

In May of 2022, Stuart returned to Kosovo to lead the mid-term review of a project being implemented by IADK. This was a short mission, but it was great to return to a country I called home for 3 years and see the progress. 

Ag Dynamics own 8 hectares of orchards in the Riverland region of South Australia. This includes a mixture of navel oranges (Washingtons, Cara cara and lates).

Since early 2019, Stuart has been engaged by Arrow Funds Management to manage the development of the Boombera Park macadamia orchard. The property is located near Lawrence in northern NSW, and now that planting is complete, there are over 240,000 trees.

Pistachio orchards in Australia are largely free of damaging insect pests, but the industry is being proactive by assessing what potential pests may be present but are yet to emerge into economically damaging levels. A 3 year project undertaken by Ag Dynamics has provided improved knowledge of pest management for pistachio orchards in Australia.

Between December 2019 and July 2020, Arrow Funds Management Limited took over operational management of the Advinco Farm property near Mildura, Victoria and engaged Stuart to coordinate day to day management. The property consists of nearly 700 hectares of predominantly dried grapes but with a small area of citrus production.

The almond industry, through Hort Innovation, is undertaking two projects aimed at improving management of pests and diseases in orchards, as well as post-harvest. Ag Victoria are leading these projects.

Aroona Farms has recently been featured in the Stock Journal, as well as other media outlets. Developing a large new orchard in the Riverland, the focus of these articles is on the employment and regional development of such investments.

In 2018 Stuart was engaged by Coffey International to lead the scoping study for a potential new agribusiness support programme in Afghanistan, on behalf of DFID.

In December 2017, Stuart was engaged to lead the Programme Completion Review of the Growth and Employment in States (GEMS 4) program in Nigeria. This was Stuart's fifth review for the GEMS suite of projects in Nigeria since 2014.

Investing in a new property requires a thorough understanding of the business - both opportunities and risks. Ag Dynamics provide Horticultural Reviews of a wide range of agribusinesses to both Australian and international investors. Out independent, personal and confidential approach to these reviews has helped investors in more than 50 projects ranging from small business transactions to some of the largest horticultural transactions in Australia.

Stuart is involved with a major development in the Riverland of South Australia. 

Ag Dynamics has many years of experience in the areas of biosecurity, industry engagement and horticultural production. Through these activities, we have also developed a large number of partnerships with other service providers throughout Australia.

Information on the recent surveillance in the Northern Territory can be found HERE

In mid-2017, Stuart visited Spain to review Super High Density (SHD) almond production. Stuart was hosted by Agromillora, a global nursery business producing a range of tree species for high density plantings, including olives and almonds in Australia.

The Citrus Biosecurity Project that Stuart Pettigrew has been engaged with since October 2013 has now been completed. The project was extended until May 2017, and included work on increasing surveillance for exotic pest threats across northern regions of Australia.

Enviroveg is the industry owned certification scheme to assist growers to improve their production practices. In September 2016, Stuart Pettigrew conducted an Independent Assessment of Impact on behalf of AUSVEG.

The Enviroveg programme has now received further funding, and will continue to support vegetable growers in providing the best products possible to the market.

In July and again in December, Stuart visited Ghana to review the DFID funded program 'Market Development for Northern Ghana (MADE). The review assessed the performance and strategic approach of MADE across the rice, groundnut and vegetable sectors.

In late 2016, Stuart visited Rwanda to undertake the Annual Review for the DFID-funded Programme of Support to Agriculture (PoSA)