In July 2023, our man Richard Currie headed across the ditch to investigate the possibilities for introducing orchard platform systems to the vast horticultural lands of South Australia.
Drawing on Galaxy Group’s experience in introducing this game changing technology to New Zealand apple growers during the past seven years, Richard’s initial focus was on connecting with their Australian counterparts.
From his base in Sunbury, Melbourne, he and the team clocked thousands of kilometres with platforms in tow, conducting on-orchard demonstrations and selling the platform story to large scale apple growers.
Just when life couldn’t get any busier, Richard got a call from one of Australia’s largest citrus growers wanting a platform demonstration to assess the potential benefits to his operations in South Australia, Victoria, and Central Queensland. This was our first foray into the citrus industry and the beginning of a fruitful relationship that kicked off with the first order of Automated Ag and Tecnofruit systems.
Galaxy’s growing involvement in this new market has shown that Australian citrus growers face many of the same challenges as apple growers back in New Zealand. Fruit yields and pack outs are not as high as they could be, there’s a shortage of labour at key times, weather events are a constant unknown, and older style growing systems are not delivering the quantity or quality of fruit that consumers expect. Furthermore, continued use of traditional harvesting methods using ladders and picking bags makes health and safety an ever-present concern.
In a nutshell, citrus growers are coming around to the idea they need to do things differently to make the most of what they have. This realisation is sparking a gradual shift in fruit growing practices, from older style plantings with wide row spacings and 3D trees, to modern systems using hedging or trellis training to create walls of fruit. As more orchards make the transition to these intensive growing practices, Galaxy’s orchard platform systems will come into their own by lifting the quantity and quality of fruit picked, as well as making year-round tasks easier, safer and faster.
Gerry Blampied
E. gerry@galaxygroup.co.nz
M. (NZ) +64 212 209 046
