Franziska Inderbitzin from Swiss Farms says while production has been steady over the recent months, consumer demand for bananas has been slow.
Ms Inderbitzin's family has been successfully growing bananas at Swiss Farms for over 20 years in the Lakeland area, north of Cairns. The company mainly grows the Cavendish variety under the brand name of Red Valley and Lakeland Plantations, while the company’s other brands include Swiss Farms, Inderbitzin's and Swiss Fresh bananas.
Swiss Farms produces similar number of cartons all year around, while sales have been steady, especially for 'out of spec' fruit.
"The growing conditions have been very good due to a normal wet season," Ms Inderbitzin. "The challenge during the wet season is always to keep up with all the manual field work to ensure quality of the fruit is maintained."
Swiss Farms supply most of the markets in the capital cities, with the exception of Hobart, targeting a broad range of supermarkets and independent retailers.
"It is good news, exporting bananas may increase the demand for bananas in the long term," Ms Inderbitzin. "But I’m not sure if Australian bananas can be competitive in the world markets due to the high cost of production. Australian labour costs are amongst the highest in the world and Australia would be competing with countries who traditionally have very low labour costs."
While she has thrown her support behind strengthening biosecurity across the industry.
"In the long term we hope to see an Australian standard for the banana industry especially in biosecurity as we have seen the outbreak of the dreaded Panama disease in North Queensland," she said. "In my opinion it would be important if all farmers had to adhere to strict biosecurity protocol to ensure the future of the banana industry in Australia."
For more information:
Franziska Inderbitzin
Swiss Farms
Phone: +61 7 4060 2162
sales@swissfarms.com.au
www.swissfarms.com.au