At Battunga Orchards, the 2026 apple season is shaping up as a solid one, with strong fruit quality across varieties despite less-than-ideal conditions. As production manager Mark Trzaskoma puts it, "It's ticking along, not too bad," with early indications pointing to a consistent, if not exceptional, year.
© Battunga Orchards
The Gala harvest has been a clear highlight. "The Galas are fantastic, coloured exceptionally," Trzaskoma says, noting that this has come somewhat against expectations. "I wouldn't have said it's been great colouring weather, but all of our coloured varieties look to be colouring really well." That performance has set the tone for the rest of the crop, even as the business continues to rework parts of its Gala orchard, with newer plantings gradually coming into production.
© Battunga Orchards
Attention has now shifted to later varieties, particularly Pink Lady and Granny Smith. "Pink Ladies are starting to colour really well now, which is our last variety — Kanzi coloured well, Jazz coloured well, Envy's colouring well, the Gala was great, so that's nice to see," he says. The results across both club and commodity varieties have been positive in a season where weather conditions have been mixed.
Granny Smith has presented more of a challenge, particularly under heat pressure. "It was challenging with the heat and the sunburn on green apples," Trzaskoma explains. Managing that risk has required a more hands-on approach in the orchard. "We use sunscreen, we've got a bit of blush here and there, and we put people on the back of the harvest machines to take juice fruit out of it while we're picking Granny Smith, to improve what we've got in the bin for what we put in storage."
© Battunga Orchards
While production and quality have been encouraging, demand has softened slightly at the start of the season. "Well, I think across the apple category demand has weakened going into the new season — not drastically, but it has weakened a bit," he says. The reasons, he suggests, lie in the transition between seasons. "I'd probably put that down to finishing last season with some really good-eating quality fruit and seeing quite a bit of fruit that might be a little bit immature being harvested and presented early in the new season."
That early fruit, driven in part by growers chasing strong returns, can undermine consumer confidence. "There's been the temptation for fruit that's probably not quite at its best eating capacity yet to be harvested and presented," he says, describing it as "the lesser of two evils" compared with over-mature fruit held too long for colour.
© Battunga Orchards
Despite the dip, Trzaskoma expects the category to recover as the harvest progresses. "As we progress further into harvest, everything's improving as we go along. I think the category will recover from that fairly quickly." Prices have eased slightly but remain stable. "The prices have dipped, but not significantly. I think it will still be a good year."
With favourable colour, solid yields, and improving eating quality, the outlook remains positive. "This year we are happy with what we're getting," he says.
For more information:
Mark Trzaskoma
Battunga Orchards
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +61 437 363 887
