{"id":823854,"date":"2026-07-25T23:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823854\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T23:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T23:41:14","slug":"south-australian-orange-and-mandarin-supply-down-amid-extreme-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/823854\/","title":{"rendered":"South Australian orange and mandarin supply down amid extreme weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

The middle of winter is the peak of citrus season in South Australia but consumers may find supermarket shelves have fewer locally grown mandarins and oranges.<\/p>\n

Extreme weather issues, from record-breaking summer heatwaves to wetter, colder winter days have led to a downgrading of fruit and losses for growers.<\/p>\n

At his orchards in Sunlands, in the state’s Riverland, citrus grower Mark Doecke said pickers were often starting their shift about noon to avoid damaging fruit.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Pickers are starting later and working shorter shifts due to colder mornings this season. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)<\/p>\n

“You can’t pick fruit under 12 degrees with any moisture on it because \u2026 in three or four days after you pick it you’ll see [it] with five finger marks on it,” Mr Doecke said.<\/p>\n

“Some sheds have a second class line but the grower gets significantly less for that.”<\/p>\n

The Citrus SA Chair said aside from the logistical challenges, more rain and cooler conditions meant financial losses for farmers and pickers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mark Doecke says there are rules about the temperature at which you can pick fruit to ensure the best quality for consumers.\u00a0 (ABC News: Eliza Berlage)<\/p>\n

“We have to stop [work] at four o’clock, so you get a four-hour day, and the pickers don’t really like that either because they want to make some money,” Mr Doecke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fruit downgraded\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Doecke is one of about 50 Riverland growers who supply fruit to packing facility Venus Citrus in Loxton, where it is sorted into different classes to go out to market.<\/p>\n

\"Gloved<\/p>\n

In Australia, citrus is graded into four classes from premium to processing for juice and puree only. (ABC News: Eliza Berlage)<\/p>\n

Fabio Spiniello, who works in the company’s sales and marketing team, said 60 to 70 per cent of fruit had been downgraded this year.<\/p>\n

He said growers who had fruit protected under netting were more likely to have their produce accepted at a premium, the highest class.<\/p>\n

“With blemish, it’s generally the winds we get over December, January when the fruit is still small,” Mr Spiniello said.<\/p>\n

“The oranges are about golf-ball size and they just rub up against sticks and leaves, then as they grow the blemish becomes larger.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fabio Spiniello says more growers are putting their crops under netting to avoid weather damage. (ABC News: Eliza Berlage)<\/p>\n

Wind damage, coupled with more rain than usual for this semi-arid region, has weakened the skin of some fruit.<\/p>\n

“We are seeing a little bit of that with the Washington navel [oranges], but the Cara Cara [oranges] have been sensational,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Spiniello said mandarin supply was also down about 20 per cent due to late flowering, and record-breaking heatwaves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We did have that period over the summer with 10 days of about 45 degrees and that would have affected it as well,” he said.Damaged but still delicious\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mason’s Fruit and Veg in Barmera is one of the places where Riverland-grown citrus ends up for sale.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ryan Oakley says citrus demand has been strong from local customers. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)<\/p>\n

Owner Ryan Oakley said while some produce might look less than perfect, it was still good to eat.<\/p>\n

“If you go into the shops, pick up your fruit and have a bit of a feel to see if it is firm,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If the skin’s a little bit soft, that’s when you know it’s going to be a bit bruised on the inside.”<\/p>\n

Mr Oakley said while his business was purchasing more citrus from interstate to fill supply gaps, local fruit was still available and affordable.<\/p>\n

“Lots of the supermarkets are still importing at this time of year,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve been buying in bulk and buying stuff that has a little bit of a blemish on it just to keep the prices down for people.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The middle of winter is the peak of citrus season in South Australia but consumers may find supermarket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823855,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,250321,397903,68,397901,397904,397905,397900,6878,1124,397902],"class_list":["post-823854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-citrus","tag-citrus-sa","tag-climate-change","tag-mandarins","tag-mark-doecke","tag-masons-fruit-and-veg","tag-oranges","tag-riverland","tag-south-australia","tag-venus-citrus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823854\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}