AU: Fruit growers question quota cut late notice

Goulburn Valley fruit growers say they have been let down by SPC Ardmona's decision to cut the amount of fruit it will take this year. The cannery has cut its peach quotas by 17 per cent for the current season but only told growers after they had already started to prepare their trees. Ray Pool of Invergordon says if growers had of know about the cuts earlier they could have saved time and money. "To go and prune trees, put your winter sprays on and then find out there is going to be a 17 per cent reduction in quotas has really knocked the stuffing out of a lot of growers," he said.

SPC Ardmona managing director Vince Pinneri says the company will work on improving communication with growers. He says the cannery adjusted the quotas of fruit it took from growers because sales of tinned fruit slumped. "Even though we've been aggressive during this year in terms of our activity with all of our customers and are gaining share, our actual sales are down 14 per cent," he said.

Source: www.abc.net.au