Thinner buds, fatter fruit
From the October 2007 edition of Agriculture Today.
Peach and nectarine growers counting labour as an increasing - and their main - production cost may have found a partial solution.
According to Colin Nicolson, a fourth generation stone fruit grower at Forest Glen in the Sydney Hills district, farm labour has increased by 30 per cent over the last five years.
One of the most labour intensive activities in stone fruit growing is fruit thinning, usually by hand picking blossoms, which can account for up to 10pc of total costs.
Research has shown early fruit thinning, around blossom time, can increase both fruit size and earliness.
"Earliness is everything for coastal growers," NSW Department of Primary Industries district horticulturist at Camden, Lawrence Ullio, said.
"A week late delivery of fruit to the Sydney market can mean a difference of several dollars per tray."
Mr Nicolson has been trialling a new product, ammonium thiosulphate, which he hopes may help reduce his fruit thinning costs.
Applied at full blossom, this product works by burning off (desiccating) most of the newly opened flowers, which prevents excess fruit set and reduces the need to thin blossoms.
"Several growers trialled the product last season but felt there was more work needed to get it right before adopting it as part of their production system," Mr Ullio said.
"Anything to reduce farm labour costs and improve viability is a winner with fruit growers."
Colin Nicolson says while there is no labour shortage, the cost of growing and packing fruit is getting up around 10 dollars per five kilogram tray and labour accounts for more than 50pc of the cost.
"We can employ up to 30 people on-and-off through the season and most are casuals," he said.
"This can start from winter pruning through to fruit thinning, harvesting and packing."
Like most growers, fruit growers have mechanised as much as possible to cut costs but some of the more detailed work, like fruit thinning and harvesting, are still labour dependent.
The Nicolson family grows 30 different varieties of fresh peaches and nectarines in the Hills district that they sell at the Sydney markets from late October to the end of December.
Contact Lawrence Ullio, Camden, (02) 4640 6408
