Fruit forecast is shaping up

The forecasting tool, which will be published in late January, is designed to give ‘crucial’ insights into growing conditions and consequential production and pack-out.

APAL representative Cassie Whelan said there was “a good foundation” of contributors to the forecast so far, but more growers could contribute.

“We have a threshold of sufficient contributors, but of course further contributions would be welcomed,” Ms Whelan said.

Growers participating in the forecast will have an industry advantage by accessing a comprehensive report of the harvest forecast.

The report is typically essential to helping farmers make informed decisions about their operation planning.

MJ Hall & Sons operations manager Sam Boyce said this season looked promising “across the board” for local fruit growers and said his own blocks of apples and pears in Toolamba were “quite full”.

Mr Boyce’s staff were currently thinning branches of developing fruit.

“It is shaping up quite well because it has been a much easier spring to deal with,” he said.

“Definitely it is not going to be as good as last year in the region because of the hail events; we were fortunate and had a heavy crop, but the next time it could well be us getting hit.

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

Mr Boyce also said changes made earlier this year to the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme were not a big issue at present.

“My PALM crew came in about three weeks ago and they are heavy into thinning at the moment and then they move into picking plums in about early January.”

The Federal Government made changes to the PALM scheme earlier this year to ensure workers were paid an hourly rate, and the new laws were met with resistance from farmers who had previously paid workers per unit of fruit picked.

“PALM is still going to happen,” Mr Boyce said.

“It’s not the end of the world for us at the minute but I need to think about running through how I move forward with my workers.

“It has only kicked off with a soft start now, but the next few months look okay.”

(Country News reported on August 28 about Mr Boyce’s connection with his returning PALM workers whom he visits regularly at their Pacific Island homes.)

Ardmona fruit grower Mitch McNab said the upcoming apple season looked about normal “across the board” but the pear forecast looked lighter compared to previous years.

Mr McNab’s staff of backpackers are also thinning juvenile fruit at present.

“The pears haven’t had a return crop for this season because the trees had a severe stress event last year with damage to branches,” he said.

“It will be substantially down on historical numbers.”

He said the removal of pear trees by nearby Redlands Fruit on their newly purchased orchard will reduce pear supply.

“It’s a bit of a yes-and-no on getting a better price but the reality is that the supermarkets have such control over the fruit price at the moment and it’s a challenging landscape on what prices may be.

“But the supply of labour is coming in, with the number of backpackers going up.”

Mr McNab also praised the quality of the PALM labour force.

“There are quite a few in the industry who use them and get that more secure and productive work force.

“We tried to challenge (the new PALM wage laws) but Fair Work Australia accepted it

“But if we can get this good productivity out of these workers and get the return workers each year, then now that the wage laws have changed to an hourly rate we need to have those productive workers and still get a good quality product out there.”

Prospective contributors to APAL’s forecast report have until December 18 to register by contacting Lauren Mann at lmann@apal.org.au