President Mark Napper of Low Chill Australia, an association which combines the activities of low chill stonefruit growers, said the number of producers was now about half its peak of about 120 growers, concentrated in coastal northern NSW and extending into south east Queensland. With the number of low chill stonefruit growers dwindling, the industry is now looking to work closely together to pick up gaps in the market.
The industry had contracted for a range of reasons, from seasonal, production and marketing challenges to management of fruit fly with the withdrawal of the chemical fenthion a major blow.
Mr Napper said low chill had now been reduced to a hard core of small growers, most with diversified farming interests plus the major orchard at Childers in Queensland established by the Rewards Group before it failed in 2010.
He told producers attending the Low Chill Australia annual meeting in Bangalow, NSW, in December that while the reduction in grower numbers was disappointing there was a new openness to working together.
Mr Napper said the low chill industry marketing window had been shrinking and was effectively now only about six weeks in October-November.
Increasing imports from the USA were putting pressure on markets at the start of the season and traditional high chill stonefruit production was coming to market in volumes earlier.
“With reduced low chill production, we were expecting strong prices, however this has not necessarily eventuated,” he said.
The 2015 season was disappointing; with a dry, warm start trees had not gone into full dormancy, dragging production down. Prices had been down on last year with a lot of late fruit overlapping with early high chill fruit.
Mr Napper said control of fruit fly remained the main on-farm issue with the withdrawal of the chemical fenthion after four decades of use after this season being a major blow.
While fruit fly had not been such a significant problem in 2015, it remains a big concern for the future.
There were some encouraging areas of research within the wider horticulture sector including an area-wide management trial which showed promising first year results.
Work was continuing on the development of a lure for female Queensland Fruit Fly with the aim of having an effective product by 2018.
There was also major research on the large scale production of sterile male flies.
Queensland Government plant scientist Dr Bruce Topp said an industry-supported breeding program held considerable promise with some superior new varieties now in field evaluation before commercial release.
More than 2000 hybrid seeds were produced from cross pollinations at Nambour in 2015.
“We need new varieties which will have their minimum chill requirements by the end of May and flower in June,” Dr Topp said.
Dr Topp also reported on a feral peach diversity study which had involved the collection of 47 accessions from trees tracing back to rootstock introduction by Chinese gold miners.
DNA samples had been extracted and feral traits compared to modern cultivars.
The study was expected to uncover promising new genes to introduce into the low chill breeding program.
Source: goodfruitandvegetables.com.au
