Red Rich Fruits (NSW) Limited has acquired three new citrus orchards in Gayndah, Queensland. We had a quick chat with Red Rich Fruits (NSW) Managing Director Matt Palise to find out more.

What can you tell us about the new citrus orchards?

The properties include 150 hectares of mandarin, grapefruit, lemon and orange trees; grown in good quality alluvial sandy loam soil on the banks of the Burnett River. They also feature a 1530 square metre packing shed, two cool rooms, full irrigation infrastructure, and generous water allocations.

What does this mean for Red Rich Fruits?

It’s a new phase of Red Rich’s strategic growth. We pride ourselves on supply chain integration and see this as a great strategic fit, enabling us to harvest and sell our own fruit year-round and across three major categories. The new properties also incorporate arable land so there’s plenty of room to grow from here.

Red Rich Fruits (NSW) Managing Director Matt Palise and Farming Operations Manager Tim Teague inspect the 2018 Imperial Mandarin crop.

How is the 2018 citrus season shaping up?

We’ve had a strong start to the 2018 citrus season. Picking and packing for the 2018 citrus season at the three new orchards commenced over Easter, with approximately one third of the total volume already packed. Growing conditions have been ideal over the last few months with consistently good volumes of rain and good sunshine. We’re getting great fruit and good size, and are expecting this to continue over the next few weeks.