VALLA macadamia growers Peter and Denise Ranking have risen to the ‘top of the crop’ to be crowned ‘Small Grower of the Year’ by the industry’s peak industry body, the Australian Macadamia Society (AMS).
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Large and Small Grower of the Year awards recognise growers with high ‘saleable’ (and low ‘reject’) kernel (SK) per hectare and competition between Australia’s 600-plus macadamia growers is always intense.
Peter and Denise’s 2015 crop was their second biggest year (after 2014), and Peter attributes the success to their effective nutrition and pest control programs. They posted a 2159kg SK/ha result in 2015 which secured them the top prize.
So impressive are their results, that the AMS recently hosted a ‘MacGroup’ grower workshop on their farm so that other local growers could come along to see the secrets behind their success.
“We had no idea we were going to win,” Peter said. “We put it down to controlling lace bug effectively, and staying committed to our nutrition program even when prices were low.”
“2016 is looking pretty good too,”
The Large Grower of the Year award went to Upper Duroby’s David and Sharon Wardrop.
