Australian Stonefruit Grower Magazine Issue 4 April 2017 | Page 17

Feature
being allocated visas according to
size and type of farm. Also, both
permanent and seasonal labour comes
from Arab and Druze villages, about
90 minutes’ drive from the Golan
farms.”
What are the major costs of
Due to the mild
climate, the harvest
season lasts longer,
starting in mid-April and
coming to an end
in December.
“I work with an outside packhouse
located in the Hula Valley, about an
hour’s truck drive from the orchard,”
Jon said. “There are a number of
other growers from my moshav who
also work with this packing house.
However, on my moshav there are also
production? Jon Nathan is definitive a number of growers who have their
about this. own packing house and marketing
“Water and labour,” he said.
“Labour is in pruning, thinning and of course, picking.
Fruit size is very important so there is large emphasis on
structure. They grow large areas, and they are
self-sufficient.
“For smaller sized units, like mine, the structure of
thinning, done manually where no mechanical or chemical the packing house we work with is suitable for our needs,
options are available.” and provides an excellent marketing solution. There are
Would private ownership be the most common orchard
instances where the packing house buys the whole of the
ownership? And how does orchard ownership work on crop from the farmers in other areas but this is not the case
a moshav? Are there many kibbutzim (pluralof kibbutz) with us.
growing stone fruit?
“In the moshav sector the orchards are generally
“The packing house packs a volume of about 15,000t
p.a. and altogether markets a total of 25,000t, some of
privately owned the land being part of the allocation to the which – plums for example – is picked and packed into trays
settlement by the Israel Land authority,” Jon explained. in the orchard and also fruit is sold in bins. They pack and
“There are also kibbutzim growing stonefruit.” market stonefruit, pipfruit, avocado and pomegranates
What is the packhouse situation for you?
plus a small amount of citrus fruit. There are between 80 to
100 growers, some of them from kibbutzim working with
the packing shed.
“The packing shed representatives maintain close
contact with the growers during the growing and picking
season in order for both sides to achieve maximum results.”
How does the pack house pay you? Do they take
ownership of the fruit on arrival in the packhouse? Do they
pay for quality such as size and cosmetic appearance?
“When the fruit arrives at the packing house it is initially
documented, and registered and put into cool store,” Jon
said.
“Each bin has a barcode label with the grower’s name,
with the fruit and variety printed on it. It is then dealt with
according to marketing strategy and orders for fruit in the
marketing department.
“In my case, fruit is sorted, graded and packed and sold
Labour for pruning, thinning and harvesting
comes from Arab and Druze villages, about
90 minutes’ drive from the Golan farms, as well
as foreign workers mostly from Thailand.
summerfruit.com.au
on my behalf.
“Good colouring pays more and blemished fruit, less.
The difference in price between sizes can also be quite
significant.
April 2017 | Australian Stonefruit Grower
17