One citrus grower in WA is not looking to export any time soon, as the state’s large navel orange growers prepare to ship overseas for the first time. “We’re a boutique grower and we supply the premium market. We also get a lot of tourists and visitors here,” says Rocco Zampogna, who runs Golden Grove Orchard together with his wife. “Exporting is fine but we find it’s usually done at a lower price. We get a lot of people from all over the world come for our acid free orange variety, which has different names depending which country you come from.” That arrangement suits Mr Zampogna just fine, according to him.
The Zampognas do hire seasonal workers, but don’t need as many as some of the larger orchards that will be exporting. “We prefer experienced pickers,” adds Mr Zampogna. The farm makes a living from visitors and tourists, and supplying high end cafes and restaurants that are local, Mr Zampogna says. “Golden Grove visitors must agree to a minimum amount they will pick when they come to the farm, and a lot of locals also come to buy top quality produce from the farm gate,” He adds.
Apart from oranges, the Golden Grove Orchard produces mandarins (harvested until Christmas time), grapefruit and other niche varieties of citrus.
Fruit is harvested 12 months of the year on the orchard, and the biggest issue is usually controlling fruitfly, Mr Zampogna says. “We bait for fruitfly. It’s been a bit hard but we’ve managed to control it more easily this year.”
The harvest is looking much better than the previous one for current crops too, according to Mr Zampagna. “Last year we had probably our worst year in 37 years, with only about 30% production. This year we’ve probably got 70% production.”
For more information
Visit the Golden Grove Orchard website: www.goldengroveorchard.com.au