Stone fruit cost rises in NSW after poor harvest, while Queensland could have bumper crop

Consumers in New South Wales can expect higher stone fruit costs following a poor harvest caused by record rainfall in late 2022.

Key points: New South Wales stone fruit growers have reported a poor harvest Majority of this year's crop will come from Queensland Recent warm weather has raised hopes of a late harvest in February and March

The flood-affected Midwest and Riverina River are two of the largest areas in the state for growing summer fruits such as peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots .

Orange-based orchard owner Paula Charnock said conditions had been difficult.

"Unfortunately it's not a good season for apricots; when they were in bloom we had a lot of rain and the bees couldn't come out, so we had a very poor pollination," Ms Charnock said.

"Those who took, many of them fell because of the rain, so we have a very light apricot harvest this year."

Ms. Charnock said the conditions contributed to the spread of disease in apples and stone fruit.

'Black spot is especially difficult to deal with in wet years, so we had to have a really good spray program on the fruit to keep it clean,' she said.

>Dependence on Queensland crop

As growers in the southeastern states of New South Wales and Victoria have seen lower yields, growers in Queensland eye a bumper harvest of stone fruit.

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"Queensland industry had a very good year and production was strong; it was not affected by the level of flooding that occurred in the states from the south," he said.

Mr. Ranford said it had been an "extremely difficult" h...