Mark & Catherine Scott – Nannup

The Scott family have been growing fruit on their property since 1901. Nestled on the banks of the Blackwood river north of Nannup, the three current generations grow a mix of Stone, Pome and Citrus fruits from nearly 20000 trees on 20ha.

Nannup Fresh Fruit has an emphasis on ready to eat yellow and white peaches and nectarines. Fruit production starts in early December stretching through to late March with plums. They strive to provide a consistent supply of great eating stone fruit for the consumer. This commitment to eating quality is shown through the hand packing process, meaning the fruit can be harvested much closer to full maturity. Reinvestment in new varieties on a yearly basis means that there is always something new and exciting to try.

The Scott Family, through Nannup Fresh Fruit, look forward to continuing to provide a safe, quality, fresh product to consumers.

Mike Tranchita – Roleystone

Mike Tranchita from Roleystone was originally raised in Karragullen has developed a very late nectarine that is picked in early April. To Mike’s knowledge, this is the first developed in Western Australia, if not, Australia.

The nectarines are grown by fifteen different growers with approximately 8000 trees. These include one in Pemberton, one in Bridgetown, three in Jarrahdale and the rest of the growers are in the hills including Roleystone, Karragullen and Pickering Brook areas.

Mike has been trialling these trees for the past seven years and the first commercial crop will be harvested this year.

The nectarine has a yellow flesh and hangs on the tree well, stores in the fridge for four to five weeks.

John Hearman – Donnybrook

Hearman Ag is a family owned business located on Charleys Creek Road in Donnybrook. The 294ha property consists of cattle, with 8ha dedicated to the fruit orchard producing quality plums, yellow fleshed nectarines and apples .

John Hearman has been heavily involved in the business for over 13 years. 2ha of apples were first planted by John’s father 16 years ago. Stonefruit production on the orchard started 2 years after the first apple trees were planted. After finishing school in 2003, John’s dedication to the industry is still evident in his involvement with the family orchard.

The Hearman Ag orchard is under netting, so the focus is on producing high quality produce. Great care is taken to make sure that the fruit is picked at the right maturity to ensure the consumer gets a great eating experience.

Anthony Fullam – Bridgetown

 

Edenvale Orchard is a family business which has been operating for 69 years in Bridgetown. Bridgetown was once the largest fruit growing area in the State but unfortunately today only two stonefruit growers remain.

Anthony Fullam, owner of Edenvale has been running his family orchard for the last 27 years on a full time basis. Although a small amount of plums are exported these days, Anthony continues to strive towards producing high quality fruit for the Canning Vale, and export market.

The original orchard had no irrigation and was dry, only producing apples and pears but in the mid 1970’s, Anthony’s family trialled the planting of the new Necta-Red series of nectarines and found that they grew really well in Bridgetown. With this, more stonefruit trees were planted and produced, with new dams built to irrigate the trees.

Today, Edenvale Orchard is 10ha in size and produces beautiful plums, nectarines, peaches, apricots, pears and chestnuts.