Establishing an orchard for small landholders

Lifestyle choice: do you really have the time?

The thought of semi-retiring on a small property and growing fruit to provide some income can be an attractive one. However, a small scale orchard is hard physical work with long hours and often little profit at the end.

As most orchard work is carried out during spring and summer, holidays will need to be arranged around these peak periods.

Legal considerations: are you allowed to develop an orchard in your area?

Before establishing an orchard, development plans should be discussed and approved by your local government authority (LGA).

There are limits on, and/or licenses needed for land clearing, surface and groundwater extraction and fertiliser use in water catchment areas.

Development plans will need approval from the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER).

Production factors: is the land and climate right for an orchard?

When looking at establishing an orchard there are a number of points to consider:

Are the land aspect and soil types on your property suitable? Consider slope, drainage, land fertility, frost risk, physical restrictions (for example rocks) and previous activities carried out on the land.

Is the water supply sufficient and is it good quality? Fruit crops require between 3 and 18ML of good quality water per year depending on the growing region, crop type and irrigation design. Excessive amounts of salt can affect growth and productivity.

Is the property in an area where pesticide spray won’t drift onto neighbouring properties now and in the future?

For deciduous fruit crops, what is the average number of winter chill hours required?

If trees are already present on the property, obtain as much information as possible on their age, variety and production history. It may be beneficial to hire an independent professional to report on the enterprise's production potential.

Before embarking on a new venture, it is a good idea to talk to neighbours with similar businesses and assess if there are any limiting factors to growing fruit in the area.

Budget requirements: do you have enough capital to invest?

Developing a business plan is a must before planting or buying an orchard.

Land preparation and planting costs are considerable and there will be some delay to your first reasonable crop. This may be two to three years for stone fruit crops, or up to 9-10 years for some nut trees to come into bearing.

During this non-productive period there are still the ongoing annual orchard maintenance costs to be met.

Major infrastructure required for an orchard includes:

• secure water supplies e.g. a dam or bore
• irrigation equipment such as pump, filter mains,  sub-mains and outlets
• fruit trees, trellising, bird netting, sheds and in some instances a cool room and fruit grading equipment
• tractors, spraying equipment, slashers and fruit bins.

The total orchard development cost for the first three years can be high, depending on planting density and orchard set up and it's important to do your research before committing.

Research also ongoing operating costs after your initial setup, as well as costs of packaging and delivering fruit to markets as these can also be high.

Marketing - can you sell your crop?

A small fruit producer will compete in the same markets as bigger producers, with their years of experience and economies of scale. The product you grow must be safe for consumption and all major fruit purchasers will require your fruit to be grown according to a quality assurance scheme.

Fruit price in the local market can be variable, relative to supply and demand, and growers should also consider varieties with an export potential.

A local market niche, which has provided high returns to existing orchardists, may not exist in two to three years as fruit growers are quick to notice and take advantage, causing an oversupply. Small, specialised, high return crops would generally have the associated high risks attached.

In Western Australia, fruit prices are available each market day from the Canning Vale markets.

Networking

Joining your local industry organisation (for example Pomewest) or orchard improvement group is a great way of widening your knowledge base.

General technical information on fruit growing is available from the DPIRD website. Some industry magazines containing research results and industry information will be available to you as a levy paying fruit grower.

Technical skills - do you know how to?

Fruit growing for profit is a highly specialised field requiring a wide knowledge base, including skills in:

• plant nutrition
• tree training and pruning
• fruit thinning
• harvesting
• grading and packing
• irrigation
• insect, weed and disease management
• handling and applying chemicals
• fruit varieties and characteristics
• marketing.

In some cases, professional advice from consultants can be sought, but a weakness in knowledge in any area can heavily affect your profit margin.

Consider enrolling in a fruit growing course, working in an orchard for at least one season and reading about fruit production before making a final investment decision.

Orchard management also requires a broad set of practical skills. This includes maintenance and repair of machinery as the cost of calling out a mechanic for minor break downs and repairs is often uneconomical.

Skilled labour for orchard activities is in short supply and in many small orchards the owners are required to do a lot of the work themselves.

Fruit growing is physically demanding and requires a reasonable level of fitness to cope with the hot climate and hard work. In commercial orchards, half of the total on-farm production cost is labour with harvest representing half of the total labour cost.

Unfortunately, some timesaving machinery used in full-time fruit growing is too costly for the small orchardist.

For the purchase and application of some pesticides you will also need a ChemCert certificate.

Bird control

Parrots are the most damaging pest to small and/or relatively isolated orchards. Most small landholders with only a few fruit trees will lose most, if not all of their fruit to parrots.

The Rainbow Lorikeet has also become a serious pest in some fruit growing areas where it can pose an even greater threat to crops than the twenty-eight and red cap parrots.

Some of the black cockatoo species that occur in WA can also cause significant damage to orchards but they are listed as threatened and cannot be shot or killed as a means of reducing damage to crops.

Bird control methods include:

• Exclusion netting - Although expensive (approximately $60,000/ha or more) this method may, depending on the netting used, also alleviate the effects of extreme weather events such as hail storms and hot temperatures (sunburn). When assessing the advantage of netting as a means of bird control, the percentage of crop loss as well as the time spent controlling birds by other methods must be taken into account.
• Bird scaring devices - Birds generally become accustomed to scaring devices and noise generators in the orchard and their effectiveness is quickly lost. Varying degrees of control can be obtained by swapping from one device to another and altering their location in the orchard. Contact your local government authority and the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) prior to scaring birds as noise regulations will apply and permits may be required.
• Culling - Some species of birds can be controlled by culling under some circumstances. Contact DBCA prior to culling any birds to determine whether this method of control is appropriate and to obtain any required permits. If culling is permitted you may find the job of killing parrots an unpleasant chore and not one you would wish to continuously carry out.

Without netting, bird control is time consuming and requires a constant commitment to prevent crop damage. If you are fruit growing on a part-time basis, increased fruit losses from bird damage is to be expected when the orchard is left unattended.

It is too late to realise this when your trees are coming into their first crop and with all the setting-up and growing costs behind you this will be detrimental to the business.

Organics

Establishing and operating an organic orchard can be a difficult proposition if you are an inexperienced grower. In organic production, more emphasis is placed on integrated production systems for tree health and pest control because the range of chemical control options are limited.

Organic growing is more challenging and labour intensive and specialised skills and knowledge are required beyond those needed for conventional fruit growing.

Markets are expanding for organic fruit, but premiums paid for organically produced fruit might decrease as volumes supplied increase. The final outcome can be disappointing if the premium received is offset by higher input costs and/or lower yields and pack-out grades.

Full organic certification takes at least three years. Organic ‘in conversion’ status can be achieved after one year.