Valley growers bite into $20m apple plan
Family-owned Red Rich Fruits has taken a $20 million gamble on an exclusive new apple variety to revolutionise Australia's fruit industry.
A Yarra Valley-based fruit growing operation is far from relying on the old adage “she’ll be apples” for its future.
Red Rich Fruits has instead embarked on a brave $20 million program to introduce a new variety bred in the United States to regain market share for apples.
To date, 360,000 Cosmic Crisp apple trees have been planted and there are plans for another 200,000 to go into the ground, most of which are on Red Rich Fruits orchards but also grown by a small number of other growers.
And in its first year of sales in 2024, the crop of Cosmic Crisp apples sold out within six weeks, a reaction that Red Rich Fruits director Matt Palise said reinforced their decision to try something new.
Matt is in a partnership with the Napoleone family who have grown fruit in the Yarra Valley for seven decades.
Their 1000ha of orchards grew a mix of apple varieties including Pink Lady, Royal Gala, Granny Smiths, as well as pears and wine grapes.
But Matt said they needed to do something to address stagnant sales in the apple category.
“There were consumer complaints about the lack of consistent quality,” Matt said.
“We wanted to look for an apple variety that stood up, was more consistent and was good for the farmer too.
“It was a very big financial commitment to go down this path so we needed to make sure we got the right variety.”
APPLE SEARCH
Their search led them to the United States, where Cosmic Crisp is now the number one variety with more than 20 million trees in the ground.
That was enough for Matt and the Napoleone family to make the big jump to import plant material.
And knowing the process was going to be expensive, Red Rich Fruits obtained the exclusive rights to grow and market Cosmic Crisp apples.
This, Matt said, would allow them to have exclusivity around marketing, but also maintain quality parameters.
The variety was chosen for its appearance (red skin), shelf life, eating quality, flavour, large fruit size, productivity – it ticked all the boxes.
Planting started at the Yarra Valley in 2019 with 2900 trees/hectare.
When they are in full production, the goal is for at least 70 tonnes/ha of fruit, or 185 apples per tree per year, a yield which they hope to obtain within the next couple of years.
The apples on the trees are hand thinned, decreasing fruit load to try to obtain the optimum size, but even these plans can be thwarted by the weather.
“We can set up the tree, but it will be Mother Nature will have the final say,” Matt said.
And it certainly did in the past growing season, with the elongated and hot summer this year not ideal for apple production.
But even that was good news for Red Rich Fruits, with the Cosmic Crisp apples coming through unscathed.
“We got good yields for young trees and the red colour was good and there were no red flags in terms of what we saw,” he said.
“They held up well in all the conditions that were thrown at them.”
RED VARIETY
The trees are grown on a V-trellis to maximise exposure to sunlight and to develop colour in the fruit. All the trees are covered with netting to prevent hail and bird damage.
Agronomically, there’s plenty of information from the US which is helping in the Red Rich Fruits quest.
“We share the agronomic information from here and they share with us,” Matt said.
The crop from the first trees planted yielded 30,000 boxes of fruit, and sold within five weeks. This year, there’s 60,000 boxes and they are expected to last on the shelves for six weeks.
To spread risk, they have allowed another 13 growers to plant Cosmic Crisp – some in the Yarra Valley, some at Batlow, NSW, and some in Manjimup, Western Australia. All areas were chosen to be similar to the growing climate where the variety was developed in Washington State.
And while it does spread the climate risk, it’s also about being able to offer fruit close to where it is grown.
“Trying to limit the food miles means that people know they are buying a locally grown apple – the Victorian-grown Cosmic Crisps are grown in the Yarra Valley, the Batlow apples go to NSW and Queensland and the Manjimup apples are sold in WA,” Matt said.
“We want the apples to be grown close to where the consumers are.”
PREMIUM FRUIT
The Cosmic Crisp apples retail at a slight premium to better known and more common varieties like Pink Lady and Royal Gala.
They are sold at a range of retail outlets, with premium quality fruit going to Woolworths and those which do not fit specifications by being either too small or too big offered through Harris Farms and Costco.
Their apple production is just part of the business which employs 120 staff nationwide, and with the range of fruit in peak production over the course of the year, allows logistics and cold storage including a 9000 square metre cool store to be fully utilised, not only by apples.
Yet it’s the new variety hitting the market that has everyone in the business excited.
As one of the last family-owned major apple growers, the move to introduce the Cosmic Crisp variety was a gamble, but Matt said it was paying off.
“We feel like it’s been a slam dunk, and it’s rating as the best apple in its category and is going to change the way people think about apples,” he said.
“Fruit prices have been flat or even deflated and it’s been a tough time but this is something new and exciting to grow.”
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