SOURCE: Mark Foreman, ABC
Carnarvon banana growers are enjoying their best season in over a decade thanks to favourable weather conditions.
The past few months have provided ideal growing conditions with warm temperatures, combined with increased humidity, with yields up 60 per cent compared to their usual January average.
“It’s great, we’ve got our biggest January since 2008, so it’s shaping up to be a really good summer season,” Sweeter Bananas business manager Doriana Mangili said.
“We’ve had that really good growing weather, so size is a little bit bigger, taste is great and we’re getting that lovely yellow bloom.”
This year, Mrs Mangili said the region had so far avoided damaging heatwaves, which can easily ruin the fruit.
“Every year there is some sort of event which knocks out about 10 per cent,” she said.
“Whether it’s wind, drought, heatwaves or cold snaps, there’ll be something that creates a bit of disruption.
“I’ve got to touch wood, because as soon as you say nothing has happened, something will.”
Local growers pick big numbers
Chris Collins is one of Carnarvon’s largest growers and attributes his strong summer to the slightly warmer winter conditions.
When temperatures in winter are too cold, the trees can experience “choked bunches”, a term used by growers to describe the congestion of the leaves at the top of the tree due to slow growth, preventing the bunch from fully emerging.
“This year there was minimal choking. Some years we can have lots of choked trees but this year there were minimal bunch losses due to the cold winter”.
“We also had a relatively wet winter too, which kept temperatures slightly warmer”.
Flooding impacts widespread
Flooding across Queensland could also benefit West Australian growers significantly, with flooding and supply issues opening a market gap for local produce.
“If [Queensland] have packed fruit which is delayed in arriving, that might give us a window to supply WA while Queensland fruit is travelling across,” Ms Mangili said.
But the delay has a flip side, with the potential for flood-delayed fruit to hit the market all at once, driving down prices.
That’s great news for consumers, less so for growers.
“It creates an artificial shortage in the market, so I hope we are clear by the time it turns up,” Ms Mangili said.
Market West Chief Executive Rod McPherson said wholesale suppliers expected there to be a delayed impact for local consumers.
“Quite a bit of produce is already on the road that will arrive over the next few days, so the real effect won’t kick in for a week or so,” Mr McPherson said.
“It’s a good thing for locally produced bananas, particularly out of Carnarvon.
“If the Queensland bananas don’t look good, that can put consumers off and they seek out an alternative.”