Nutrano horticulturist leading the way for the industry
Nutrano’s general manager Tania Chapman has worn many hats during her time in the horticulture industry and continues to lead the way in ensuring a focus on quality.
TANIA Chapman is synonymous with citrus.
As the inaugural chair of Citrus Australia for almost a decade until last year, she was catapulted into the industry, named the 2012 Victorian Rural Woman of the Year and a 2014 Nuffield scholar, examining new citrus varieties.
She went on to become the inaugural chair for Voice of Horticulture, on top of running her own 140ha citrus farm in Mildura from 2004 to 2016.
So when Nutrano Produce Group secured Tania as their operations general manager at their Sunraysia headquarters last year, it was a signal to industry the company was serious competition.
TANIA CHAPMAN
MILDURA
NUTRANO Produce Group operations general manager
HAS 934ha of produce under production
PRODUCE includes mandarins, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and mangoes
SAYS industry needs to focus on quality
“Nutrano is relatively new — a group of wholesalers who bought Seven Fields-Abbotsleigh in 2016 — and our mantra is ‘to grow’,” said Tania, who continues on a number of boards, including SuniTafe, the National Traceability Project and the Victorian skills advisory group.
“I’ve done a lot of work in the industry so now it’s my opportunity to help expand a leading citrus company.”
With headquarters in Melbourne, Nutrano’s largest land holding is in Sunraysia, with more than 400ha across three sites, overseen by a permanent staff of about 40.
In the Northern Territory the company has 344ha and in Queensland 190ha, alongside a nationwide network of up to 40 growers. Each site includes automated packing sheds with robotic packing and grading technology. The Northern Territory, for instance, has a packing capacity of 1000 citrus cartons and 2500 mango trays per hour and in Sunraysia, a capacity of 240 citrus cartons per hour.
TASTE OF SUCCESS
THEIR biggest yielding crop is mandarins, afourer, murcott, and imperial, with different farms growing in different sizes, tailored to different markets.
Tania said generally they preferred to grow afourer to a lower yield than the industry average, about 50-60 tonnes/ha (compared to up to 80 tonnes/ha across the industry).
“Yield isn’t everything. Size is more important and a consistent piece of fruit. Some markets like Canada prefer smaller, compared to Australia.”
Nutrano grows navel oranges, yielding about 30-40 tonnes/ha, followed by lemons, grapefruit, mango up to 50 tonnes/ha, as well as 12ha of blueberries in Queensland, yielding an average 500 tonnes annually.
The company is also an onseller for banana growers.
Tania said having inherited established farms, Nutrano created annual “capability and capacity” master plans to assess crops, based on factors such as changing consumer demands and new varieties and growing methods.
“When any grower is determining what they’ll plant they should look at Citrus Australia’s tree census, which says what is in the ground around the country. A good grower will look at trends and what that means for them in five years’ time,” she said.
“You should always look at the rest of the industry.”
PLENTY OF A-PEEL
TANIA’S Nuffield scholarship examined new citrus varieties suitable to grow in Australia. She said the results of that research were still a long way off with seedless, easy-peel mandarin varieties currently in quarantine, needing financial backing to then trial.
Nutrano has a nursery, buying in germinated seeds and growing out root stock, aiming to grow up to 70 per cent of their own trees in coming years.
Tania said all bud wood was sourced from Auscitrus, ensuring it is disease free.
“One of the biggest issues we face as an industry is biosecurity.
“There was an outbreak of citrus canker up north recently. Huanglongbing — or HLB or citrus greening — is a disease affecting citrus production all over the globe, while xylella fastidiosa has been identified as Australia’s number one national priority plant pest.
“The message needs to be strong to keep it out, even from Fair Work staff or pickers going from farm to farm,” she said.
SPACE RACE
GROWING methods on Nutrano’s properties vary across regions and all farms.
Spacings, for example, are planted in low, medium and high density, and results compared.
On a 100ha section of their Sunraysia farm, Nutrano has netted seedless delight mandarins, a type of afourer, as well as navel, measuring inputs and outputs.
Tania said they used GrowData Developments systems such as their harvest app to record all inputs, labour, and costs, from paddock through to packing shed.
“Being able to say how many kilos per tree and the costs per kilo makes it easy to make farm decisions, for managers to have a good, clear understanding of what they need to manage and how much capital they can inject in,” she said.
Nutrano works with European chemical company Valagro on spray regimens for all farms, which ensures they meet export residue limits.
Between 30-50 per cent of total production is sold to export markets to 20 countries. Domestic market sales are through wholesalers and to major retailers including Woolworths, the sole distributor of their Delite brand.
QUALITY WINS
TANIA said as an industry the focus should not be on new markets, but on quality of exports.
“One of the biggest mistakes we make as an industry is to see China as one country, whereas we should see it as a multiple export destination with different tier cities for middle class consumers,” she said.
The company’s dedication to technological innovation continues in their four packing sheds, with potential to build a second new shed in Mildura next year, (This year they bought an additional shed in Griffith to get product to market faster.)
Tania — who was initially hired by Nutrano last year to roll out new traceability software — said most of their sheds were automated, including speed packers that used suction cups on fruit, from labelling to dispatch, or volume fillers that could pack the exact specifications, “even if it’s 13.2kg”.
“Technology changes all the time and we’re always looking for more efficient advances,” she said.
“Personally I thrive on the next challenge, on taking it to the next level.”
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