Fankhauser apples: On-farm weather station improves efficiency
Investment in technology is improving efficiency on this orchard in West Gippsland, where consumer expectations drive decisions.
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If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then the Fankhauser family of West Gippsland must be some of the healthiest people around.
Since the 1880s, the Fankhauser family have grown and harvested apples at Drouin, cultivating up to nine varieties across 40 hectares.
Brad Fankhauser is the fifth generation to farm the land, working beside his parents Liz and Glynn, and his wife, Darlene.
Spanning two properties, the apple operation yields 4500 bins of fruit a year, or about 18,000 tonnes, with varieties including pink lady, golden delicious, Granny Smith, yello, and the alvina gala, a variety discovered on the orchard in 2000.
In a bid to keep up with consumer demand, the orchard is constantly expanding, replacing up to 10 per cent of trees each year.
“Some years we don’t do much, or we’ll do a bit more,” Brad says. “It’s to try and keep up with consumer demand … you’ll take out something that’s not performing, and put in something which hopefully will.”
Trees are sourced from “everywhere”, including Tasmania.
But Brad says it has been a struggle in the past 12 months, after bushfires in early 2020 wiped out a major source of tree stock.
MACHINERY MOVES
Harvest takes place every autumn, with the orchard moving away from bins and ladders towards machinery instead.
On-farm labour has also been difficult to source in the past 12 months, due to Covid-19-related shortages. In an average season, up to 40 casual pickers work the harvest, whereas just 18 pickers worked the most recent harvest.
About six permanent part-time workers are involved on-farm.
“Pruning takes place in winter,” Brad says.
Netting and the planting of new trees also takes place in the colder months, with trees pruned and shaped for optimal yield. The orchard is irrigated, with the second, smaller property using recycled water. But in a wet area such as Gippsland, where the family’s property averages about one metre of rainfall a year, keeping on top of black spot fungus is crucial for the business.
“Fungus is our main enemy … and wherever it rains, it can be terrible,” says Brad, explaining spring is peak season for fungicide application.
“We put in a program about 12 years ago with a weather station, which forecasts fungus conditions and the likelihood of spread.
“That’s turned us around. We don’t use less chemical, but we’re using it at a better time, and we’re getting much more efficiency.”
Brad says Fankhauser Apples was not only one of the first orchards in Australia to deploy such a weather station, but one of the first in the southern hemisphere.
“There must be about 20 or more weather stations around Australia now,” Brad says.
This season, rainfall has been steady and strong.
“Our rainfall is fairly consistent throughout the year,” Brad says.
“It’s been wet this year … the last month or so hasn’t been so bad, but it was wet leading into winter.”
Well-timed rain in spring is essential to boost fruit growth, but can also result in the sporing of fungus. It’s all part of the delicate balancing act Brad treads each season; working to keep on top of the wet weather, which will see the orchard flush with fruit, but can also result in an outbreak of black spot.
“The weather plays a huge part in all of it, whether it’s the fungus, or the growing size and colour (of the apples),” Brad says.
DIRECT BUYING BOOST
Following harvest, Fankhauser Apples are sold across the country through Priest Brothers and Montague’s. “We pack about 1000 bins ourselves in our shed, under the Fankhauser Apples brand,” Brad says. A portion of the apples are sold direct to the public through the shed all year.
Covid-19 has influenced buying habits, Brad says, with a lift in people sourcing fruit direct from the farm. “We have a few small onsellers … not quite shoppies, but online farmer boxes,” he says. “Then we do bulk, which goes through Montague’s at Narre Warren. They get sent all around Australia. Priest Brothers in Pakenham also take our fruit. We do export to the UK as well, through Montague. “
Brad says while it’s too early to tell if the UK-Australia free trade agreement will make a difference to the industry, “our biggest hurdle is red tape”.
Fankhauser Apples has GLOBAL GAP certification, a quality assurance program that helps growers sell their produce domestically and internationally.
TASTE TEST
When Brad throws you an apple from the cool room, he lets you know it’ll be the best apple you’ve ever tasted. “The best way to check maturity (of fruit) is by taste,” he says.
Biting into the firm flesh of a Yello apple, you’d be hard pressed to find a sweeter tasting piece of fruit.
Brad and his family take great pride in their work. And that passion for producing quality, delicious fruit has passed down to one of his sons, 18-year-old Jacob. “My oldest is doing VCAL on the farm … he seems to be enjoying it,” Brad says.
When asked if he thinks his son will follow in his footsteps, Brad smiles. “I think he’ll end up here — that’d be nice.”
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