Happening this month

This month on the farm 

The New Year heralds the start of the Pome fruit harvest on all our farms with Early Bon Chretien the first commercial variety to be picked.  Management sends away samples to be independently tested and the results are sent to the Farm Managers as well as Technical managers at the pack sheds. Armed with this info as well as in field observations they collectively decide when to harvest to ensure that we pick the fruit at it's optimum maturity.

The weather is crucial at this stage of the game and we need to manage the irrigation in order to keep the trees well watered and in a position to defend themselves against the very high temperatures that can occur during this month.

The early fruit is picked by a few teams that we keep employed over the holiday period and the full compliment of pickers will arrive during the later part of January to tackle the 2012 harvest.

There are a few pests and diseases that we need to keep monitoring and the crucial fruit fly control measures need to be implemented.  We are using a helicopter to do four aerial sprays on Graymead, as this area wide application is more effective in controlling fruit fly and we have convinced all other growers on the island to join us in this effort.

All focus will be on ensuring we protect the crop and pick it so as to optimize the return to the farms and to provide the pack house and marketing team with a product we can collectively be proud of.