By Ian Williams
Hidden under an impressive span of shade netting in the Riverland is a new fruit crop that local citrus growers are no doubt monitoring with keen interest.
Citrus veteran Richie Roberts has introduced the first blueberries to the region in an innovative venture to capitalise on the rapid global demand for the tiny super food.
Richie is in the process of turning over more than a third of his 20-hectare citrus farm to blueberries and is the first to admit he’s taking a big risk.
Citrus veteran Richie Roberts has introduced the first blueberries to the region
“It’s been a very big learning curve and there are no neighbours I can talk to to learn from their experiences,” he says.
“But the signs are encouraging. I planted the first three hectares last November and they made it through the summer and that’s prompted me to plant a further four hectares.”
Richie says he’d been pondering the idea of growing blueberries commercially after regular visits to citrus farms in the US.
“I kept noticing blueberry farms next to citrus farms in California but I wasn’t sure if they could be grown successfully in South Australia. Apart from a couple of small farms in the Adelaide Hills I haven’t come across anyone growing them here on a commercial basis.”
The decision to innovate and diversify came three years ago when the Australian dollar was very high and the returns for citrus were relatively poor.
Support for starting the new venture came through a grant under the Federal Government’s Irrigation Industry Improvement Program (3IP), which is part of the South Australian River Murray Sustainability initiative.
“It was quite a substantial outlay to set it up and without that grant I probably wouldn’t have gone ahead, or at least not on the same large scale,” he says.
The funding has allowed Richie to invest in the latest shade netting to shelter the plants from damaging winds, the fierce summer sun and birds, while reducing evaporation.
He is also using an advanced hydroponic irrigation system to minimise water usage.
Harvesting is just starting for his first small crop of blueberries with the yield expected to increase over the next two to three years as the plants mature.
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