Eating quality trial update

September 2018 | Presented by Ross Wilson, Craig Hornblow and Jonathan Brookes, AgFirst | Future Orchards® trial update

This Future Orchards® trial update focuses on eating quality and the challenge of producing fruit that delivers a consistent consumer experience. The work sits within a broader program emphasis on moving beyond external appearance and Class 1 packout to include texture, flavour, maturity and internal quality.

The update considers how orchard factors and harvest maturity can create variation in eating experience between fruit from the same variety. Crop load, light environment, fruit maturity and dry matter are among the types of measurements used in Future Orchards® quality work to understand where variation originates.

For growers, the practical objective is to identify the orchard and harvest decisions that can improve repeatability. That includes setting appropriate crop loads, maintaining good light distribution, monitoring maturity and separating fruit where blocks or picks are likely to perform differently after storage.

The presentation helps connect on-farm measurements with the consumer outcome that ultimately drives repeat purchase and market value.