WITH domestic demand keeping up with rapid expansion of the North Coast blueberry industry, two growers on the Dorrigo Plateau are throwing their hat into the ring.
David and Sally Tosh, Bostobrick, are in the middle of their first harvest, tending to more than 8500 bushes ranging from low-chill Rabbit Eye to the promising Elliot, a northern highbush; all on raised beds. More planting is planned.
Nearly next door the Beelitz family has recently bought into a property with 150 plants of mixed variety. Tahnee Beelitz has a partner named Jessie Tosh – son of David and Sally. So the pioneer blueberry growers are creating something of a family affair.
Mr Tosh runs an earthmoving business and has been looking for alternatives. “I dug a lot of dams for Indian blueberry growers on the coast and thought, why don’t I give it a go?’,” he said.
The cool climate of the plateau must surely be an advantage to this bush, native to New Jersey and Michigan and already they report less rust but that may also be due to the fact no other plantation is anywhere nearby.
“We are cautiously optimistic about this venture,” said Mr Tosh.
The Plateau initiative currently employs local labour to hand pick berries that ripen over time making a machine pick impossible. Next year Mr Tosh anticipates double the production with 40 pickers required during peak season – which fortuitously for price comes after the main market squeeze in August and September.
“However, getting that many pickers may be difficult as they might already be employed down on the coast,” he said.
All fruit is sold through the OzGroup co-operative, which grew out of the Indian community around Coffs Harbour and now includes enough small growers to sustain a massive packing shed in the city’s old Bunnings building.
OzGroup has ties with Californian-based Driscoll’s, as does the Costa Group – which owns a huge growing area at Corindi, the birthplace of the Australian blueberry. The Driscoll’s arrangement enables export access for growers large and small.
As a safeguard all growers exporting through OzGroup must pass muster on spray regime and other growing practices.
At Bostobrick, which gets more sun than Dorrigo, bushes face north and cooler temperatures equal less humidity which reduces the chance of rust. Acidic granite soils suit the blueberry. No neighbouring plantations means less pressure from disease. As a result chemical sprays are light and infrequent.
Instead of nets Mr Tosh is trialling a bird-scaring laser beam which scans the entire plantation with a frightening beam of green light between dusk and dawn.
Post harvest treatment key to export market
WITH blueberry production on the rise key players in the industry have long said export is the only way prices will stabilise.
That’s saying nothing against domestic consumption – which has remarkably kept abreast of double digit growth on-farm. In fact Aussies eat more blueberries now than at any other time in history which is a very good thing for a grower reliant on high prices to pay his human harvesters.
But for stability and confidence key to future growth is export and president of the International Blueberry Organisation, Peter McPherson – who helped found Australia’s industry at Corindi – is now pleased both State and Federal trade ministers are ‘singing out of the same hymbook’ when it comes to Asian access.
Helping the the trade with a kick-along DPI director of horticulture Dr Shane Hetherington said recent changes to the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code allow a new quarantine treatment of blueberries and raspberries using x-ray irradiation.
The result is fresh fruit export to agreeing nations like the US and New Zealand.
Japan will likely never accept irradiated foods, even with milder x-rays, says Mr McPherson but China will. They already use the practice internally – and Chinese want our berries badly.
Fruit fly has long been a bug-bear to export with Australian blueberries and an alternative treatment is cooling berries to just above freezing and ship them overseas.
“X-ray treatment is welcomed by industry as it is a much quicker process for fresh, perishable produce compared to the current cold treatment where the produce is required to be stored at 2ºC for 14 days prior to export,” Dr Hetherington said. “Low-dose irradiation treatment eradicates fruit fly without affecting fruit quality or nutritional value. It is a safe proven technology which allows treated produce to access new export markets, like Indonesia, where the treatment is accepted,” Dr Hetherington said. “Results from the research demonstrated that postharvest disinfestation did not affect fruit quality or nutritional content of Australian blueberries and raspberries.
“These results have been accepted and published in international scientific journals and helped with the approval of this treatment.”
Northern NSW is the blueberry capital of Australia. Blueberries are an important and growing horticultural industry in NSW which continues to expand with 10,000 tonnes harvested this season, valued around $140 million.
This initiative was co-funded by NSW DPI in partnership with Australian Blueberry Growers Association, Raspberries and Blackberries Australia and Horticulture Innovation Australia. The research was undertaken in collaboration with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.