One of Australia's largest papaya growers, Skybury Farms is confident of some strong summer months, despite admitting a lot of volume is hitting the market, as production ramps up.
"We have had steadily increasing volumes from about June/July onwards, following a slight downturn in production coming out of summer last season," General Manager Candy MacLaughlin explained. "We had some small fruit, a few challenges, but since July supply has slowly been increasing. At the moment we are going through a bit of a flush and so are a few of our neighbours - so there's a lot of papaya on the market. It's always challenging at this time with competition from stone fruit and mangoes. We are never disheartened by a flush; instead, we see it as an opportunity to encourage more people to put it in their shopping basket, and give it try - or just reward our loyal customers by providing relief financially with good value fruit."
The Skybury plantation is based near Mareeba, north of Cairns in Far North Queensland, it also grows coffee and has a retail store and cafe on-site, with farm visits. It was one of the first commercial plantations to introduce the larger red varieties to the Australian market, and this year the climate has been good for the fruit's quality.
"With the volumes, our quality is still holding, so we are really excited by that," she said. "The Brix is up, and on-farm we are carrying on with our normal planting and block rotation. We haven't had anything weatherwise as yet, but it is still early and the rainy season hasn't arrived yet. In the next four weeks, we will start to see the storms roll in and they can be strong and isolated, but heavy. So, it's just the luck of the draw. For us, January to March, I wouldn't say anxious but we just don't know if the thunderstorm will roll through and what the impact will be on your community and your sector. Just be prepared to be resilient."
With the extra volumes on the market, Skybury is also noticing more people are trying the fruit as the category as a whole grows.
"We know that we are heading in the right direction based on the figures that are coming out of our retail partners," Ms MacLaughlin said. "It is very exciting for us, but also for the category. The most exciting thing for the category, is the opportunities ahead, in terms of the continual growth that should resume again when we can get out there and talk to consumers again, start attending trade shows and education is really vital, when we are aiming to get more people trying it. We are very lucky that we have some very loyal followers, especially in Melbourne around our composite boxes, and our retail partners have been amazing in supporting the growth."
Ms MacLaughlin also explains that her business in Far North Queensland experienced slightly different effects through the COVID-19 pandemic to much of Australia.
"It's been the flip opposite for us," she said. "We have been incredibly lucky that we have been so isolated that the impacts haven't been felt in this region. We had the initial six-week lockdown and then after that, we have carried on as normal, other than not being able to travel. However, what we are seeing at the moment, is that because the Queensland borders have been closed for a very long time, backpackers have wanted to travel and leave the state, but none have been able to return - so we are really starting to see the impacts on staff now."
For more information
Candy MacLaughlin
Skybury
Phone:+61 7 4093 2194
[email protected]
www.skybury.com.au