Now that the company Green Planet Agriculture has secured the rights to Nadia, they plan to begin growing the cherry-plum hybrid in Tasmania. 250 juvenile trees have been grafted and are being nurtured at Tahune Fields Orchard Farm at Huonville, in the state’s south.
Green Planet Agriculture managing director Justin Birchmore said it was still early days for the plant but, once mature, they will be transplanted to 10 waiting farmers across the state for optimisation trials.
The optimisation trials will find out which growing conditions are best for the plant, but it is still about four years before any of the Tasmanian Nadia plants will begin to bear fruit.
“Nadia is exciting because it’s high-yielding,” Mr Birchmore said. “It presents on the palate like a cherry but is larger in size. It is also counter-seasonal to the predominance of current Nadia plantings in South Korea.”
“As a purple fruit, it also has a compelling antioxidant profile and we intend researching this further to attain a more accurate understanding of its benefits, which will be akin to the Queen Garnet plum,” he said.
