Consumers can look forward to juicy, sweet mandarins, thanks to a booming citrus season in Australia's unofficial mandarin capital.
Growers in Gayndah, near Bundaberg in Queensland's Burnett region, are delighted with the exceptional quality — particularly of imperial mandarins — coming off the trees.
"We've got a good crop on, and the quality is looking really good, internals are great," grower Dennis Smith said.
"I'd say we're probably up about 30 per cent [from last season].
"The sugars are coming up nicely, plenty of juice, so it's looking good."
Mr Smith said it was wonderful to be able to provide consumers with tasty fruit after a well below average 2022 season, despite a slow start.
Crops have hit peak quality two to three weeks later than expected, and he said the industry disagreed with retailers about when produce should be shipped to supermarkets.
He said many growers would prefer to send higher quality fruit later in the season, rather than on time at a lower quality, and it was an ongoing issue.
"It's what farmers do, you know, we love to see our crop and we nurture it from the word go and to see it come to fruition and get it here and after all the work you've got to do … that's everything," he said.
"It's very exciting, we're happy that we're producing and happy to be supplying fruit to the state and the country again.
"It puts a smile on our face when ... we get to put the fruit out and hopefully get some good feedback from customers that they're really enjoying the imperial mandarins and the navel oranges that are hitting the supermarket shelves."
Backpackers return
Fellow Gayndah grower Matthew Benham's production is also booming this season, and he was happy to see an influx of labourers picking on his farm.
"We've actually got a few backpackers ringing around again, which we haven't seen since before COVID, which is refreshing to see," he said.
Backpackers are filling up hostels in the horticultural region after three years of border closures.
Mr Benham said the supply of labourers had vastly improved.
He said it was a relief to see his produce flowing through the packing sheds to shelves.
"It's nice to see the fruit going in the right colour boxes as first and second grade, instead of second and third grade, and [the] majority is first grade," Mr Benham said.
"We had a horrible season last year with quality and volume.
"We were probably 20 to 30 per cent below average for crop, and quality last year we were probably anywhere from 20 to 50 per cent below where we want to be.
"That was a combination of just general fruit blemishes and then hail on one farm."
Price still a concern
But Mr Smith said he was producing fruit close to the cost of production, and wanted prices to get back up to "where we can make a little bit".
"Like nearly every rural industry at the moment, price is an issue," he said.
"Costs have gone up and don't look like they're going to come back down anytime soon."
