Friday, May 3, 2024

Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Almond season shows an end-of-season all time sales record for the industry

Demand for Australian almonds in one of the most challenging seasons on record has exceeded expectations. The Almond Board of Australia’s final monthly sales position report of the 2023-24 season shows an end-of-season all time sales record for the...

19 Apr 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Mixed nuts outlook

THE Australian almond harvest has started with pre-season estimates predicting a return to a crop size more in line with the industry’s orchard footprint. After the disaster that was the 2023 crop, down 34 per cent on expected yields and in the...

22 Mar 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

A history of hard yakka

Just like his pioneering farming family, Merbein’s Neal Bennett has no hesitation taking on daunting projects beyond his own property. ANDREW MOLE reports MERBEIN almond grower Neale Bennett’s great grandfather might struggle to find his bearings...

17 Mar 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Managing Nutrient Imbalance: Tips for growers using whole orchard recycling

GROWERS who do whole orchard recycling may need to apply nitrogen as a fertiliser at greater rates than what is normally recommended for trees in their first leaf. Returning 26 tonnes of wood chips to the soil per hectare provides 180kg of nitrogen...

15 Mar 2024
Innovation

Recycling’s a meal ticket for almonds

PROGRAM leader Professor Paul Petrie and his team are working hard to revolutionise the long-term management of Sunraysia’s almond industry and from there, eventually, all Australia’s almond growers. It’s just that he is doing it in slow...

15 Mar 2024
News

Neale Bennett: From Dried Fruits to Almonds - A Story of Adaptation and Resilience

MERBEIN almond grower Neale Bennett reckons he is ahead of schedule in this year’s harvest. And he’s not just talking about the two, 21-acre blocks he runs with wife Debbie. Because, in his spare time, he and a mate are also harvest contractors...

09 Mar 2024
Most popular
Wine Grapes

Wine industry faces pruning, says ABARES

WINE grape growers are forecast to leave the industry for more profitable returns following forecasts of higher production but weaker prices in the years ahead. According to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource...

08 Mar 2024
North West Farmer

Almond sales bounce back

THE Australian almond industry looks set to crack a big year after some subdued recent seasons with sales still tracking 5 per cent better than the previous 12 months. Both Almonds Australia and global agri-financier Rabobank agree the industry is...

26 Feb 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Orchard recycling trial site praised

A Whole Orchard Recycling (WOR) trial underway in a Merbein almond orchard could pioneer a revolutionary method to redevelop unproductive permanent plantings. The pilot program has drawn lavish...

23 Feb 2024
North West Farmer

Farms want no slugs

BIOSECURITY at our borders is the big news, but one leading researcher says there are problems just as big at the next property – or in the next truck passing through. Entomologist Michael Nash said slugs and snails were problems on the...

02 Feb 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Keeping watch for destructive pests

THERE’S a new frontline in the citrus biosecurity business and Jacqui Mitchell is the woman who has been enlisted in the battle to keep the industry’s bogeymen offshore. If not forever – the preferred goal – then certainly for as...

19 Jan 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Almond sales are up

THE almond harvest is set to kick off in a few weeks. Everyone is hoping for dry weather conditions, so the crop can be shaken of the trees and swept off the ground and placed into storage or...

18 Jan 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Taking up disease fight

JACQUI Mitchell is under no illusions about the importance of her new biosecurity role with Citrus Australia, based in Mildura in the heart of some of the nation’s biggest citrus-growing regions. Just as she knows the next big threat to...

12 Jan 2024
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

New citrus meet’s profit motive

CITRUS Australia chief executive Nathan Hancock is planning to take his industry in a new direction in the new year. The first Australian Citrus Congress, bringing the who’s who of the global industry together, will be held on the Sunshine Coast...

15 Dec 2023
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Almond board ‘disappointed’

THE Almond Board of Australia has gone public with its “extreme disappointment” after the Senate voted to support the Water Amendment (Restoring Our Rivers) Bill, without changes. ABA chief executive Tim Jackson said in recent months...

02 Dec 2023
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Orange benefits spruiked nationally

A SUNRAYSIA citrus grower appeared on national television to help launch Hort Innovation’s new campaign for fresh oranges. Tim Vandenberg of Timmel Ridge Estate was part of the morning weather crosses from his Gol Gol property. The six live crosses...

01 Dec 2023
Citrus, Stone Fruit & Nuts

Striving for excellence

THE Almond Board of Australia has this week officially taken ownership of the Almond Centre of Excellence orchard at Loxton. While the 60-hectare experimental and demonstration orchard is...

24 Nov 2023