Orchard Practices

We are seriously committed to sustainable farming. That is to say, producing apricots in a way that does not cause damage to the soil, pollute the air or destroy local flora and fauna. To ensure that our commitment to quality and to sustainable farming is inherent in every facet of the orchard work, Qew is operating towards implementing a very tight Integrated Fruit Production Program (IFP). The IFP will dictate planting, cultivation, pest control, harvest, sorting & storage, transportation & the cool chain as well as the post harvest work. Many facets of this program are already in place.

Our trees are grown on mounted soil and on a tatura trellis. The mounting prevents ‘wet feet’ and overcomes the complexities posed by the duplex nature of some of our soils. The tatura trellis allows for more intensive agriculture thereby allowing us to only use land that had previously been cultivated. This has allowed us to leave our hills untouched and in their original state. The tatura trellis also ‘opens’ the trees allowing the sun to bask each fruit thereby encouraging maximum sugaring up.

We use drip irrigation and a fully computerized moisture feedback system. This saves significant amounts of water as the evaporation rates are low and water is only delivered when required. By not allowing the soil to dry out, our system also acts against falling water tables and rising salt levels.

We are very fortunate in Tasmania in that we have far fewer pests and bacterial infestations that plague other growing regions. As a result we need fewer chemical sprays. Our Integrated Pest Control system, which forms part of the IPP, highly regulates the type and quantity of chemicals used. We do not like using chemicals and so avoid their use as much as possible. Experiments are on going, such as the use of guinea fowl to control earwigs, so as to further minimize chemical usage.

We hand pick all our fruit and this fruit is immediately cooled to reduce bacterial multiplication without chemicals. We then sort the fruit on a MAF ‘no impact’ system and this packed fruit is immediately re-stored in another cool room. All fruit picked is quality checked twice. Once by hand and the other by means of QA sampling. Once packed and stored, the cool chain is then monitored and maintained until it reaches the retailer.

We have undertaken, at tremendous cost in terms of time and expense, to try to ensure that you will get the best. If there is a problem with any of the fruit from Qew please do let us know. Please click here to Contact Us.

Our IPP and other work has won both orchard and sorting shed SQF2000 certification. Please click here to view the certification.