A Victorian citrus grower says he is struggling to keep up with demand for navel oranges, in particular M7, the early variety he owns.
Chislett Farms, located near Mildura in Victoria, was the first company in the world to start growing the M7 variety in 2006, and since then Managing Director Greg Chislett says interest has continued to rise year by year.
The farm, in conjunction with Mildura Fruit Company and its M7 growers, ran a program with Coles supermarket last year, but says due to limited supply it could only be run in Victoria. But the farm says the variety of navel is also very popular in China and other parts of Asia.
"We just need a lot more fruit," Mr Chislett said. "I think one thing that is growing demand for navels in general, and the M7 is right up there, is China. The Chinese market, and some other Asian markets, really like Australian navels. They like the M7 because the fruit develops very high brix, and remains very firm. Therefore, to develop this high sugar we are not trying to harvest it too early and allow the fruit to reach near-full colour."
Harvesting this year, as with most varieties of fruit and vegetables, is running later than usual due to the very cool spring, but Chislett Farms hope it can start next week.
"Fruit size, with most varieties of citrus is down due to the cool spring," Mr Chislett said. "But we are happy with our M7s and this year we have also got some good crops of late navels and afourer mandarins. We'll probably have the highest production this year that we've ever had. "
The managing director says this is because more trees are coming into production, and improved growing techniques.
"We've done things a bit differently in terms of nutrition this year," he said. "The M7 is a variety that we've found needs more nutritional copper than other citrus varieties. We found that, from the start, trees showed quite a bit of copper deficiency. Now the trees, not only the M7s but the whole orchid, is benefiting from better nutrition."
But it is not just shaping up as a good year for the M7s, the late season navels (Chislett and Rhode) are showing good signs. The harvest for late season navels is scheduled to be completed by late October.
"We've got very heavy late navel crops with good size fruit, and that's following what we call a good on-year, where we had a heavy crop last year," Mr Chislett said. "We are not sure what we are doing, but we are doing something right. The later you pick late navels, the less fruit you get for the following crop, so we try to harvest before November."
An M7 Open Day will be held at the property on Friday May 5, with 30 representatives, mostly growers, attending to showcase the fruit in the orchard and the trees grown by Chislett Farms in their commercial nursery.
For more information:
Greg Chislett
Chislett Farms
Phone: +613 5038 8238