Tasmania produces around 350 metric tons of apricots annually, accounting for 14 per cent of Australia’s total output. Apricots represent approximately a quarter of Lowdina Orchard’s production, with cherries making up the remainder.

“That’s two years in a row of very light crops,” Mr. Newnham said.

“The trees aborted a lot of the fruit buds in the first half of spring before flowering.”

The orchard consulted two agronomists to assess the lower fruit set, but the cause remains unclear.

“We think it might have been wind, because there was some gnarly wind in spring, but we don’t know.

“It wasn’t frost, it wasn’t chemical, it wasn’t drought, and it wasn’t because of rain.

“We’re at a bit of a loss at the moment.

“Some trees were okay and had a bit of a crop on them, and then there were trees with absolutely nothing.”

In a standard season, approximately 30 per cent of Lowdina’s apricots are sold within Tasmania, with the remainder shipped to mainland Australia. Due to the lower yield, about half of this year’s crop was marketed locally.

“We couldn’t meet demand this year,” Mr. Newnham said.

“It’s embarrassing when you only get half a crop, and you have to decide who to supply to.

“We ended up cutting everyone back a little bit and made everyone unhappy.”

Mr. Newnham stated that apricot production presents greater technical demands than cherries.

“I can teach someone to prune a cherry tree in 10 minutes and probably a year or two to prune an apricot tree.

“It takes a couple of seasons for them to be able to look at a tree and cut.

“It takes practice and time.”

He added that harvesting apricots is also more complex than harvesting cherries.

Lowdina Orchard is Australia’s largest grower of the Moorpark variety. The orchard has not adopted newer cultivars.

“We don’t have any of the newer varieties.

“A lot of them look better, but they don’t taste better.

“We stick with the traditional Moorpark because that’s what our customers like and want.”

Mr. Newnham indicated that after his retirement, the orchard will scale back apricot production and focus on supplying the Tasmanian market.

Source: Tasmanian Country