South Africans have a long history of visiting apple and pear growers and researchers in Australia. This year, we reciprocated by hosting a predominantly Australian group undertaking an international tour of South African orchards.
The study tour was organised by Apple & Pear Australia Ltd (APAL), the industry body for Australian apple and pear growers, and led by Nic Finger, Industry Development Manager for Grower Development and Trials. Finger and Justin Smith, Head of Production and Supply, took the time to discuss the Australian pome-fruit industry and how APAL is helping growers move into the future.
Volumes and markets
Australia has about 400 commercial pome-fruit growers, or around two-thirds as many as South Africa. Australian growers produced about 285 000 tonnes of apples and 92 000 tonnes of pears in 2023 (the most recent year for which figures are available).
The Australian pome-fruit industry is valued at AUD 773 million, which is nearly R9 billion at the current exchange rate. Less than 2% of their apples and about 8% of their pears are exported. For context, South African apple and pear volumes were roughly five times those of Australia, and we exported about 42% of our apples and 48% of our pears in 2023.
In the past, Australia exported nearly a third of their apples and pears, and APAL aims to grow exports to 10% by 2027 through its Market Access and Export Readiness programme, a project funded by levies and funds from the Australian Government.
Although Australia’s substantial domestic market might seem enviable, it’s worth remembering that the country covers 7.7 million km2 and is nearly 4 000 km wide. Fruit mostly moves by road, and transport to local markets can cost the same or more than shipping fruit abroad.
Fruit sales in Australia are dominated by two retail chains, leaving growers with limited scope to negotiate better prices. A 2024/5 government inquiry into Australian supermarkets reported that the biggest players wield disproportionate power over fresh-produce suppliers.
For the past decade, annual pome-fruit consumption in Australia has remained relatively stable at 7.8 kg of apples and 2.0 kg of pears per person. Smith points out that the season for fruit such as berries is lengthening, thereby increasing competition with pome fruit and making it difficult to grow market share.
The role of APAL
APAL is the Australian equivalent of Hortgro. Although some APAL programmes and services are funded through levies, APAL doesn’t collect levies. In Australia, statutory levies on horticultural products are collected by the government and administered through Hort Innovation.
Hort Innovation is owned by growers and mainly funded by levies and government contributions. Like Hortgro Science, it invests grower levies in research and development and allocates funding through a consultative process that includes industry representatives.
Levy funding has enabled the above-mentioned Market Access and Export Readiness programme, as well as the Future Orchards and Australian Pome Fruit Improvement programmes.
APAL doesn’t only rely on levies. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Twenty Degrees, the organisation also manages several fruit and vegetable brands, notably Pink Lady, which they assert is the global leader in fresh-produce brands. Other brands managed by Twenty Degrees include Joya and Tenderstem, a hybrid of broccoli and Chinese kale.
Brand management generates income that APAL applies to benefit the Australian apple and pear industry. For example, the Future Orchards programme has been partly funded from international Pink Lady profits since 2021.
Walking in orchards
APAL launched the Future Orchards programme in 2006 with the goal of raising orchard profitability. The programme includes orchard walks and technical events to expose growers to best practices for increasing yields, improving quality, and reducing costs.
Finger explains that, as the Future Orchards programme has evolved, the core programme of offering orchard walks in different growing regions has remained the same. Although Australian pear production is concentrated in the Goulburn Valley in Victoria, apples are grown in every state. It isn’t feasible for a grower from Queensland to attend orchard walks in Tasmania, more than 2 000 km away.
Orchard walks are held several times a year and are split into a northern loop covering Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, and a southern loop covering Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania.
Each series is built around a theme. APAL representatives in each growing region will nominate orchards that illustrate the theme, and a relevant international specialist invited by APAL will accompany participants.
For example, the 2025 Winter Series of orchard walks at the end of July focused on business and block planning. For the southern loop of walks, New Zealand orchard manager Ben James discussed building the orchard team and his views on developing empowered and effective staff.
The northern loop included Italian pomologist Alberto Dorigoni, who has extensive knowledge of multileader systems, gained during his research career and on his own farm. He spoke about the topic at the 2019 Hortgro Science Technical Symposium.
Finger thinks multileader systems have the potential to boost Australian yields and quality. In general, the country’s pome-fruit growing regions have sufficient winter chill, so they lend themselves to multileaders.
Improve or remove
Like their South African counterparts, Australian growers struggle with rising costs in the face of stagnant prices. However, unlike us, Australians’ biggest concern is the cost and availability of labour.
Smith elaborates that labour costs have outstripped inflation over recent years, as the government seeks to lift wage levels. Australian labour costs reached an all-time high in the first quarter of 2025 and are likely to continue rising. Labour shortages are another cost driver.
During its first phase, the Future Orchards programme concentrated on the transition to high-density plantings, which are not only more productive but also enable greater labour efficiency. A current goal of the programme is to encourage growers to take a hard look at each orchard’s performance.
APAL partners with New Zealand agricultural consultancy AgFirst, for the Future Orchards programme. Visiting AgFirst consultants facilitate orchard discussion alongside the other international guests.
Additionally, AgFirst has conducted the APAL Orchard Business Analysis since 2008, collecting both physical and financial data from 24 orchards across various growing regions. This provides Australian growers with another benchmarking tool, including long-term industry averages of costs and returns.
Finger wants growers to assess their orchards critically and then improve or remove the laggers. Therefore, the Future Orchards programme encourages growers to collect data on key orchard characteristics.
However, he acknowledges the power of discussions in the orchard to catalyse change. Holding those in South African orchards is an exciting new initiative for the Future Orchards programme and should strengthen the tradition of shared learning between our countries.
