China deal bears fruit for citrus growers

Fortunes for farmers in Australia's citrus industry have made a remarkable turnaround. The lower dollar has helped - but so too has the emergence of a new export market for the fruit.

You might not have heard of Waikerie, but there’s a good chance your stomach is well acquainted. 

The small South Australian town lies on the banks of the Murray, and if the river is its lifeblood, the citrus industry is its beating heart.

Waikerie's unofficial mascot – the orange – bears down from shop signage, and if you missed the giant fake orange tree on the way in, you can’t miss the fruit-shaped rubbish bins lining the streets.

Even without these reminders, it's hard to miss the hundreds of orchards that hug the town's centre.

It takes a keener eye to see the dead and dying trees among the healthy groves – remnants of an industry that was in decline just five years ago.

Citrus grower David Arnold, who runs a 100-year-old family owned orchard, remembers it well.

"It was very tough, the dollar went quite high, a lot higher than anyone expected,” he said.  

“Prices were not that good and export markets were very slow, so the return to grower was well below cost production, and in some cases well below harvesting it.

“Some of the crops, if we could leave them, if they dropped on the ground later on, some of them were left."

New growers turning to twisted old fruit

The millennium drought which hit many farmers across the country in the early 2000s, was also being felt.

Many older growers took advantage of government incentives to leave the industry.

It was in this era of downturn another Arnold family - no relation - was just getting started in the business.

Ryan Arnold says many people questioned his judgement when he turned towards citrus farming little more than a decade ago.

"I think the whole town [asked why] when we did it, because we were previously just farmers, we had a dairy farm and a dry land farm,” he said.

“And the property that we bought was not only citrus it was really run down and I think that everyone thought we were a little bit crazy."

The drought and downturn put pressure on the fledgling business.

But Ryan Arnold says he and his brothers, who he works alongside, were optimistic the tide would turn. They also had youth on their side.

"I won't say we weren't nervous, we were nervous at that time,” he said.

“The drought definitely affected us, too, but we could still see a future in the industry.

“We are a lot younger than those guys who were getting out who were probably approaching retirement age. I suppose they had an opportunity to get out at that time, too, with some water buybacks."

Taking a punt on oranges, lemons and mandarins has paid off, Ryan Arnold said, and business on the family's Loxton farm is going well.

New markets on the horizon

Andrew Harty, Market Development Manager of Citrus Australia, said many growers who stuck with the industry are seeing their efforts bear fruit. 

The fall of the dollar has played a part in a resurgent industry, as has the emergence of a new export market.

"We've focused on our quality, our varieties, and we've gotten into some premium markets like China, which has really turned the industry around for us."

Setting up an export agreement with China hasn't been easy, he said, but it has been lucrative.

"We got official market access in 2006, and the protocol that was given to us by China was so difficult to comply with that, at that time, growers said, 'Oh, this is too hard'.”

“But a lot of money from our industry was invested into research, and to the credit of our researchers they figured out some ways that we could overcome these pest issues, and it's required the orchardists to do quite a bit of extra work at expense, but the money that's been returned from China has more than paid off for that."

Back at David Arnold's third-generation orchard, survival has come from planting some more unusual citrus products.

The large, sweet pomelo and a bunched, claw-like fruit known as Buddha's Hands have been popular with local buyers.

"We did have more niche varieties which sort of kept us going, basically. That kept our head above water.”

“But yeah, at the moment this year the prices have been higher than expected, definitely, and even following on from last year, last year was a reasonable year as well."

While optimism abounds now, a looming El-Nino weather pattern has unnerved some growers.

Most still agree the future is far brighter than it was just a few short years ago.