AU: Knowledge about other hort sectors inspires citrus
The road trip was organised by Perth Region Natural Resource Management (PRNRM) Graham McAlpine with WA Citrus value chain coordinator Bronwyn Walsh from the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA).
It was designed to include orchard and multiple packing shed visits across the horticulture sector. It also provided an opportunity for Citrus Australia to update its WA members on their programs.
Citrus Australia Market Development Manager Andrew Harty said it’s important that citrus producers take time out from the farm gate to learn and be inspired from other commercial horticulture businesses.
The road trip included a visit to Fruitico table grape, Advanced Packing and Marketing avocado packing shed, Newton Brothers apple orchard and packing shed and Harvey Fresh.
So what did they learn?
Roger Fahl from Fruitico spoke about how they strive to be innovative with their products and are always on the lookout for new and better tasting varieties of grape. By sticking to a strict quality standard (fruit that does not meet this standard is destroyed) they have been able to increase the consumption of table grapes in the area.
Wayne and Jenny Franceschi of APM, pack for a number of growers in the area. As a business, they are always looking for ways to use the whole crop – wasting nothing. They spoke about how they are using contract high pressure pasteurisation to produce processed products such as fresh avocado slices, guacamole and anticipate with their own equipment being able to work with other vegetable and fruit seconds/waste to produce baby food. They also ensure that they are up-to-date with current supply volumes both domestic and internationally to maximise their export potential.
Harvey Giblett from Newton Brothers Orchards runs a tight ship when it comes to quality control. As a business, they are not afraid to try new varieties and trialling new production methods such as high density planting and overhead netting. In addition, they are running part of their orchard as organic to capitalise on growing consumer demand.
With Harvey away, son in-law Paul Goode with his wife Nicole went through their roles in running the production (both conventional and organic), packing and marketing systems of the now multimillion dollar business for the visitors.
General Manager Paul Lorimer from the biggest juicer in WA, Harvey Fresh, spoke about its planned expansion after being bought out by the largest multinational in dairy and juice Parmalat (operates in 200 countries world-wide). The WA company now has the capital to expand nationally and plans to increase juice exports to Asia which will benefit local growers.
For further information:
Graham McAlpine
PRNRM
Tel: +61 0417 042 818
or
Citrus Australia
Tel: +61 03 5023 6333.