Australia’s peak citrus body has assured markets that mandarin harvests will not be affected by recent flooding, with the season set to begin in April, according to a news release.

Citrus Australia CEO Judith Damiani said that while the majority of Australian mandarins are grown in the flood-ravaged state of Queensland, most growers had escaped major crop damage.

“About three quarters of Queensland’s commercial mandarin crop is grown in the Gayndah, Mundubbera and Emerald regions, which were seriously impacted by the floods, however few crops in the region suffered the major impacts we feared,” she said in the release.

“Whilst there has unfortunately been widespread damage to several orchards, most have large quantities of good quality mandarins still available, which is excellent news for growers and consumers – we wish everyone affected a speedy recovery.”

Abbotsleigh Citrus co-owner Michael McMahon said 20% of his farm was inundated but there was still plenty of fruit remaining.

“Our orchard has approximately 50,000 trees in total, so despite the losses suffered the volume we will be delivering to market will be similar to that of the 2010 season,” he said, according to the news release.

“We are confident of being able to harvest most of the fruit that was flooded. However a small number of our trees may take a few seasons to fully recover, and there is also uncertainty regarding the quality of the fruit these trees will produce, so it is likely the effects of these floods will be felt for some time.

“Luckily for most growers however it will be business as usual, and we would like to assure consumers that the quality of the mandarins they will see on the shelves will be of the same high standard that they expect of Aussie growers.”

Glen Grove Orchard owner Greg Parr said less than 10% of his mandarin trees went underwater during the floods but fruit losses would be minimal.

“Many growers in the region including us have been experiencing an ‘up year,’ so production wise there will be ample mandarins to meet demand, so consumers need not worry about supply,” he said in the statement.

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com