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Sunday, June 15, 2025

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Dried Fruit
News

Getting into the swing of the season

GRAPEVINES are liking the recent dry weather; most varieties have completed the flowering process and are at the setting stage. Obviously if we have a poor fruit set, we have fewer berries and overall, less fruit, but it still all looks...

25 Nov 2024
North West Farmer

Having a grape time down on the farm

THE warmer weather is great for the grapevines and hopefully the chance of further frosts has now passed, and we can dodge the summer storms that some say are ahead. Many wine regions have seen losses from the frosts last month, but it’s looking...

19 Oct 2024
Dried Fruit

To Boldly go... Sunraysia industry monitoring closely promising new vine

A Sunraysia industry may well be on the verge of a bold new era, and Dried Fruits Australia chief executive Thomas Cheung says the clock is ticking to see just how well it goes. The January unveiling of the commercial licensing of the CSIRO-bred...

19 Jul 2024
Dried Fruit

Reluctant nurseryman taking a Bold step

Born and bred on a Merbein block, Andrew Zrna went to great lengths – including a detour to obtain a Bachelor of Science in biology – to get off the land. Anything, he says, that would keep him from being a dried fruit grower. And he’s...

19 Jul 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
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
Most popular
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
North West Farmer

Working smarter, not harder

A WEB-based app enabling the risks of downy and powdery mildews in vineyards to be monitored remotely from a computer or mobile phone is hoped to save growers in the Murray Valley and Riverland in SA thousands of dollars. Murray Valley Winegrowers...

02 Feb 2024
Dried Fruit

Merbein sunmuscats number one -- again

Merbein’s Cos Dichiera prides himself on producing top-quality dried grapes. His father would say “If you’re going to do something, do it properly”.It’s that work ethic that saw him awarded the top honour in the 2023 Dried Fruits Australi...

13 Sep 2023
North West Farmer

Relieving the harvest time bottleneck

It was one of the most challenging dried grape seasons in recent times, and one of the lowest crop yields in years. The 2023 season – plagued by wet weather and downy mildew – yielded about 7500 tonnes, about half of the forecast for the...

08 Sep 2023
News

High hopes for narrow orchards

A TEAM of scientists, engineers and economists have been assembled to reimagine what orchards in the future could look like through a $13.6 million program aimed at improving efficiency in resources and labour. The five-year program...

25 Aug 2023
Dried Fruit

‘King of the Currants’ reigns supreme

CARDROSS grower Daryn Gardner has been dubbed the “King of the Currants”, having taken out this year’s DriedFruits Australia Top Crop Award. In what was described as a challenging year for dried fruit...

04 Aug 2023
Innovation

Hooked on lock benefits

ROWENA Smart had a bit of an extra spring in her step when hosting a field walk at Red Cliffs. This first crop on her, and husband Warren’s, new block in their 30-acre aggregation had just delivered the highest-yielding Sunmuscat harvest in the...

24 Jul 2023
Dried Fruit

Systems thinking for dried fruit

DRIED Fruits Australia’s most recent field events have highlighted the range of trellis systems in use in the industry today. Innovation is at the heart of the industry. The innovative Shaw swingarm trellis developed by Ivan...

17 Jun 2023
North West Farmer

New harvester design gives growers control

What does the dried grape industry do when faced with a challenge? Rises to it. Season 2022 was a difficult one. Wet conditions meant limited windows to remove fruit, leaving many growers producing poorer quality fruit that cost more to dry and...

15 Jun 2023
Dried Fruit

Grapes boom in the Millewa

THE traditional wheat-growing region of the Millewa might not be where you’d expect to find some of the dried grape industry’s newest plantings. But that’s exactly what’s happening at Grewal Farms at Cullulleraine, between Mildura and the...

21 Mar 2023
North West Farmer

Testing vital to avoid sour grapes

Time of harvest is one of the most critical and challenging viticultural decisions for table grape producers. Assessing grape maturity requires experience to ensure sampling is conducted appropriately, and genuinely reflects the maturity of the...

18 Jan 2023