Growers feel pressure of bats and business

LOCAL apple growers are reporting increasing costs of business amid static apple prices, with fruit bats a nuisance this year as they flew from the north in search of feed. Freeburgh orchardist Peter Caloutas said it had been a tough season caused by fruit bat incursions, a warm autumn failing to colour fruit, and a quiet wholesale market. This was only compounded by growing costs of business, such as input prices, wages and packaging. “Everything around us is going up except our bottom dollar,” he said. He said they will no longer sell fruit at the Melbourne market in Epping, a major Victorian wholesale market for growers and retailers. “After 60 years we're going to throw that in because the customers are running dry,” he said. Mr Caloutas said he lost a considerable amount of fruit during the picking season due to fruit bats, which he said hadn’t visited his orchard in large numbers for three-four years. “When it comes to picking, we need to lift the nets off and by doing that, you're exposing the fruit to the elements,” he said. “The bats come in and just cause havoc.” Stanley orchardist Henry Hilton had similar concerns around increasing business costs, suggesting they were becoming unsustainable for growers. Mr Hilton suggested inputs, such as electricity, transport and packaging, had increased his costs by around ten percent on the last financial year. “It doesn't matter whether I buy a ballpoint pen or I reinsure – they're all climbing,” he said. “Our product is not going up at the same rate. “You end up treading water or going backwards where you can't keep doing that. “You've just got to shut the door, and that's that, but, I mean, that's going on across all agricultural and horticultural industries that I'm aware of.” Don Nightingale, of Nightingales Apples in Wandiligong, said fruit bats were a nuisance from March through to April, and they forced pickers to take the fruit from underneath netting. “Once they find a source of food, they're going to keep coming back,” he said. He agreed times were tough for the industry but didn’t want to complain. “There's no doubt about it,” he said. “There's the high cost of production, and we're not getting any more for the fruit.” However, he said the season had produced a good crop, with ‘club’ varieties, such as Jazz, Kanzi and Envy growing in popularity. “We've picked nice fruit, our tonnages are where we thought they'd be, and quality, especially in the second half of the season, quality was good,” he said.

Growers feel pressure of bats and business

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