Weather conditions were good for the avocado harvest at Avorama, based on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. The company packs fruit from an area stretching as far north as Beechmont in the hinterland behind the Gold Coast to Mangrove Mountain in the south, approximately 1 hour north of Sydney.
"Summer and the start of autumn have been rather dry," said Alison Tolson from Avorama. "There has been no significant rainfall or harsh weather events. Just enough rain to complement irrigating."
© Avorama2
Alison said that volumes as well as prices and returns were down.
"Our tray equivalent packages through our packhouse were 1.2 million. We exported a lot of fruit due to the glut of fruit on the domestic market.
"The domestic market is over-supplied; some weeks, over 700,000 packages are dispatched. A lot of fruit is being exported to relieve the burden on the domestic market; however, prices for both the export and domestic markets are low, but people are shipping regardless of the increased cost due to the amount of fruit on the domestic market."
© Avorama
Western Australia is just about to finish the harvesting of Hass, and North & Central Queensland are harvesting Shepard at the moment.
Looking forward to the harvest in June, Alison said the trees are looking much better. "We have done lots of research, and orchard management practices have been implemented on our orchards to ensure robust fruit. The packhouse is encouraging growers to do the same. Reinforcing the way to better returns is to produce premium-grade fruit."
"Larger volumes of fruit are expected through the packhouse this year. Our farms could produce double the amount of last year. As everyone knows, we are yet to solve the bi-annual bearing issue, so this year it is the 'on' year for our area. Prices are expected to improve later in the year."
Input costs such as fertilizer and diesel are very high just now, and everyone's business is being affected. "We are fortunate that our crop is sitting on the tree, getting ready to be harvested. Some poor farmers can't or won't be able to plant their winter crops, so our food supply is going to be greatly affected."
For more information:
Alison Tolson
Avorama
Tel: +61 418 262 595
Email: [email protected]
www.avorama.com.au
