Fruit

Citrus growers are struggling to produce fruit that meets market specifications and truckloads of rejected but "quality" oranges, tangelos and mandarins are being sent to feed cattle and sheep.

Alan Carle was hunting otherworldly fruit with fluorescent tentacles and bubbly flesh that folks back home had never even heard about, much less tasted — and he was willing to risk his life to find it.

Produce from small-time Riverland growers is disappearing from supermarket shelves as soaring treatment costs for the ongoing fruit fly outbreak risks allowing bigger businesses to muscle them out.

A robot designed to pick mangoes and hopefully ease worker shortage issues, expected to "create ripples through the supply chain", has landed $1 million in venture capital.

The pollination season is just starting in South Australia and almond growers need more bees, but the state government is cautious about allowing hives from New South Wales, which remains under varroa mite restrictions.

Australians each throw out a whopping 300 kilograms of food every year. But these tricks from award-winning author and broadcaster Alice Zaslavsky can help reduce your waste — and put money back into your wallet.

An increasing number of businesses are using fruit that would otherwise be dumped, with one retailer attaching EFTPOS facilities to his honesty boxes.

Australia's 2023 vintage is well down on the 10-year average thanks to challenging weather and economic factors — but the industry hopes higher quality fruit will mean better prices.

Prominent winemaker, John Cassegrain says significant financial struggles have forced him to put the winery on the market, but he hopes the family can retain ties to the business. 

Australia's passionfruit farmers have a problem — no matter how well they care for their vines, yields of the delicious fruit are declining. But a solution could be on the horizon.

Translating agricultural information into different languages is a game changer for people like Navjot Singh's parents who never hear it directly from the source.

There are calls for compensation for farmers impacted by the number of beehives destroyed in the effort to stop the parasitic varroa mite. Without enough bees to pollinate produce, there are reports of crop losses and, conversely, huge fruit and veggies.

Buying a mango farm while on holiday has brought its fair share of challenges, but the Nguyen family haven't looked back.

It has been 12 months since the bee-killing parasite was detected in Australia, but eradication efforts will continue for at least another three years.

Far North Queenslanders have rallied in support of an avocado producer facing the prospect of having to dump three tonnes of fruit. The avocado oversupply is expected to cause more pain for growers in the years to come.

Australia's first consignments in years of famously sweet carabao mangoes imported from the Philippines are reportedly due within weeks.

Fifth-generation apple, pear and stone fruit grower Mitchell McNab says robotics will play a major role in the future to keep production costs down.

This fruit picker is supporting his family in Vanuatu to recover from cyclones. He hopes changes to the Pacific worker program will help him send more money home.

Fruit and vegetable growers say they'll be forced to employ fewer workers from the Pacific when the Australian government introduces changes to its foreign labour scheme.

An orchard in south-west Queensland is celebrating a record persimmon crop, but few Australians have ever tasted the fruit.

A Queensland orchard is celebrating a record persimmon crop, but few Australians have ever tasted the fruit. Growers like Rod and Jeanette Dalton are trying to change that.

More fruit and vegetables are expected to hit supermarket shelves soon as backpackers and holidaymakers return to north Queensland. 

Australia's citrus industry welcomes an administrative milestone, the publication of a new list of orchards, packhouses and treatment facilities allowed to export to China.

There's concern new regulations could potentially price some small-scale growers out of business, but the peak industry group says growers — irrespective of their size — need to commit to food safety.

One of the world’s most popular apples, the Pink Lady, was developed in Australia 50 years ago. Growers hope the new Bravo apple will have the same success, but say it’s vital the mistakes of the past aren’t repeated.