Macadamia orchard area expands up east coast, doubling in size
Australia's macadamia production area more than doubles as orchards expand up east coast
Seasonal workers sort macadamias. (ABC News: Brooke Tindall)
In summary:
The Burdekin region in north Queensland is harvesting its first commercial macadamia crop.
Australia's macadamia production area has more than doubled in the past decade.
Prices are expected to remain strong for consumers, as global demand and export opportunity increase.
Australia's macadamia production area continues to expand, with more than 8,000 trees planted annually over five years in north Queensland.
But that increase in production is not expected to bring down the supermarket cost of Australia's most expensive nut, with domestic and international demand remaining strong.
Andrew Cross is harvesting his first macadamia crop after starting to transition from sugar cane five years ago. (ABC News: Brooke Tindall)
Andrew Cross, farmer and area manager for MH Premium Farms in the Burdekin, about an hour south of Townsville, is having his first commercial harvest this year.
"It's a bit of nervousness to see the yield and that come through," he said.
"So, to put the harvesters in and [see] the yield come off is very, very comforting."
Macadamias fall before they are harvested. (ABC News: Brooke Tindall)
Mr Cross started transitioning sugarcane country to macadamias about five years ago.
"The value of permanent plantings has very much proven itself to be a stable, high-value thing if we can make an operational profit on it," he said.
MH Premium Farms owns 16 farms in south-east Queensland, and is continuing to expand with macadamias in the Burdekin region, planting more than 8,000 trees a year over the past five years.
"We only started off with 8,000 trees in the first planting, just edged our way in to see if they would grow and how much they would produce," Mr Cross said.
"So far, we haven't had any surprises and it's going well."
Potential for further expansion
Agronomist Courtney Richards said she saw potential for more growers to jump on board the macadamia boom.
This macadamia orchard was once sugar cane. (ABC News: Brooke Tindall)
"They're very different, obviously, going from a row-cropping situation into a permanent tree-cropping situation," Ms Richards said.
"But we've proven that we can do it [by] asking the right questions and leaning on those people in the industry who have got the knowledge."
She said it had been trial and error to adapt Bundaberg growing methods to the Burdekin's climate and soil types.
"That has certainly been a big part of the challenge."
Consumption remains strong
Australia produces 50,000 tonnes of macadamias each year across 48,000 hectares of orchards.
Australian Macadamia Society industry development manager Leoni Kojetin said the expansion of growing areas had been rapid.
"We have more than doubled the production area for macadamias in the last decade," she said.
Macadamias have a green shell before they turn brown. (ABC News: Brooke Tindall)
But she did not expect to see that bring down the price of Australia's most expensive nut in the face of strong domestic and international consumption.
"More Australians eat macadamias than anyone else in the world," Ms Kojetin said.
About 75 per cent of Australian macadamias are exported to 40 different countries, including the growing market in India, with which Australia recently signed a free trade agreement.
"Worldwide expansion of macadamias is happening much faster than we are expanding in Australia," Ms Kotejin said.
But she was not not concerned about the market being saturated, saying the quality of the Australian product gave it a competitive edge against other global producers.
"Australia is the natural home for macadamias," she said.
"When you look at size, when you look at the amount of kernel that you get in each nut, and when you look at the taste, the texture, we get a very good-quality crop from its natural home."
