Nutrafruit director Bill Hatton, whose company holds the exclusive licence to the fruit, says interest is pouring in from consumers, growers, wholesalers and retailers wanting to get a hold of the fruit or its value-added products.
“I’m a fruit grower with 30 years experience and I’ve never seen anything like it. The closest I can think of is the Pink Lady apple when it was introduced, but its only thing is that it’s a great looking piece of fruit. What’s amazing about this plum is the health benefits we’re discovering, and it also tastes great,” he says.
“The research done so far has shown this particular plum can have a huge impact on obesity, sugar levels, diabetes, heart problems, blood pressure – basically all the so-called lifestyle problems that come from a poor diet.”
The Queen Garnet plum was developed in a Queensland Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries breeding program that began in 1997, with initial commercialisation in 2007 before licensing was awarded to Nutrafruit in 2010.
The first major season was in 2015, and media coverage at the time led to what Mr Hatton describes as “a tsunami of interest”. In particular, a program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation television series Landline, caused a huge amount of interest – which was then fuelled even more in a follow up program in March 2016.
“We had people calling and emailing straight away. Thousands of emails came in overnight from consumers, growers, wholesalers and retailers, it was incredible.”
The second season has just ended, and Mr Hatton says there has been a big shift in the awareness and demand for the fruit.
“Since those programs aired, it’s been out of this world. It’s totally beyond belief.”
He says this season they have also had to be diligent about any violations of their Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) held through Intellectual Property law.
“We have heard that some parties are buying Queen Garnet plums with their labels, and then mixing them up with other varieties,” he says.
“So people see the Queen Garnet plum label and in good faith fill up their bag, and then get home with 2kg or 3kg of mixed fruit. We’ve heard from other people that they’ve been told other plums are just as good, but the science is for Queen Garnet plums and no others.”
Fellow Nutrafruit director Hugh Macintosh adds that the “only similarity to other varieties is that they are plums”.
“The good thing is that we’re aware of the PBR breaches, and consumer engagement is extraordinary,” he says.
“There are instances of wholesale and retail deception, consumers have rung me and said they went into a store looking for Queen Garnets and been told that’s what they’re buying and then get home with yellow-fleshed plums, or are told that other plums are just as good.”
He has even noticed a number of businesses changing the variety or brand names of their plums to sound similar to “Queen Garnet”.
“On the wholesale market, we only have one agent per market, but other people might say to buyers “this plum is just as good, it’s a type of Queen Garnet” and will even rename varieties to sound like it.”
Mr Macintosh deals with many of these PBR breaches directly, but Mr Hatton says they are also fortunate to have government support behind them, with modern DNA testing supporting the investigation of alleged breaches.
“Other plum varieties can’t ride on the outcomes of this science,” he says.“The good thing is we have the back up of not just the private breeding program, but we’ve got a government department behind us, with a whole legal team that can step in when they’re needed, and we love that support.”
Nutrafruit is currently working closely with all licensed growers in Australia, as well as collaborating with overseas growers in places including the United States, Spain, France, and other parts of Europe, South Africa and South America.
Mr Macintosh says the local market is set to grow significantly over the next few years, which will help keep up with demand on the domestic and export markets.
“By end of winter this year, we’ll have roughly 250,000 Queen Garnet plum trees in Australia,” he says.
“But we’re also making very sure that the variety will not be commoditised. What that means is we don’t allow dozens and dozens or people to have hundreds of trees, because it’s not possible to maintain the quality of the fruit that way.”
“So we want to make sure we know who is growing the trees, how many and their experience with stonefruit – particularly plums – to maintain quality and consistency.”
Currently the fruit is sold fresh in Australia and parts of Asia from late January to March or April, with value-added products including Queen Garnet nectar also sold through Nutrafruit and available in retail stores around Australia.
Queen Garnet plums reach full production at four years and Mr Hatton says they typically produce around 40 tonnes of fruit per hectare.
“Once they reach full maturity, if you had say 10,000 trees, you’d get about 40 kilograms per tree. But we do say growers will get minor crops after year 2 or 3, and that’s pretty standard for any stonefruit,” he says.
“The important thing is making sure we get serious, committed growers who have experience with plums and an understanding of the pollination process, so that we know every grower can produce high quality fruit and maintain their Queen Garnet orchards throughout the year.”
For more information:
Bill Hatton or Hugh Macintosh
Nutrafruit
www.nutrafruit.com.au