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M7 Season 2014
Chislett Farms Report
Greg Chislett
October, 2014
M7 fruit grown on Chislett farms at Kenley, Victoria, Australia
Fruit Production
Seasonal Weather Conditions
Abnormal conditions:
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Strong, sustained wind in November in the region caused high levels of blemish on fruit of all
varieties. In the case of M7, due to most fruit being produced on young or recently top-worked
and exposed trees without very effective wind protection, this resulted in a substantial negative
impact on pack-outs.
Warm autumn caused a slight delay in rind colour development on early navel varieties in
general.
Extreme heat in February caused sunburn on fruit of all varieties but particularly M7 and
Navelina due to their advanced fruit size. Apart from a small proportion of sunburnt fruit no
other adverse effects were apparent.
Cultural Practices
The tendency for the variety to set high densities of fruit is now well known. It has been found that it
is relatively straight forward to achieve optimum fruit size, using techniques well established for other
navel varieties, of annual pruning, and crop manipulation. Reducing the fruit density without reducing
yield has been achieved by applying a GA spray in winter to reduce flowering.
A 2 4-D spray at the end of flowering was very effective in reducing splitting and closing the navel of
fruit.
Four nutrient copper sprays were applied during the season to address the variety’s requirement for
additional copper compared to other citrus varieties.
A kaolin spray was applied to protect the fruit and foliage from sunburn during the abnormally hot
weather in February. Some damage occurred prior to the first application and a more proactive
approach, starting in early February, will be considered next season according to weather forecasts.
This has become standard practice for all navel varieties on the property.
For further details on cultural practice options refer to the M7 Orchard Protocol available at
www.chislettnavel.com.au or by request from Chislett Farms.
Chislett Farms Pack-out Information
Production of M7 on the farm totalled 126 tonnes from a range of tree age, planted from the nursery
and top worked trees. Producing and nonproducing trees currently total 27.16 hectares.
Harvest analyses for plantings representing the majority of production are detailed below.
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2014 Harvest Analysis
Block:
M10, 20, 28, 29, 30, 31, B17
Planted Summer 2009-10
Tonnes Harvest
Bins
Area
Yield
Trees per Ha
Irrigation
69.0
168
8.3 Ha
8.3 t per Ha
640
Planted on mounds.
Irrigated and fertigated with double dripline.
Scheduling by Enviroscan.
Comment:
Fair amount of wind blemish. High temps in Jan, Feb caused sunburn and splitting.
Overall Size Distribution
20%
18%
16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
18.3%
16.2%
15.3%
14.0%
11.0%
9.7%
6.4%
5.1%
2.6%
32
36
40
48
56
64
72
80
88
0.5%
0.2%
0.5%
100
125
138
96-103 92-98 87-93 84-90 81-87 78-84 74-80 72-78 69-75 66-72 64-70 60-66
Size range C31 and (mm)
Historical Results
Tonnes Harvest (t)
Bins
Area (Ha)
Yield (t/Ha)
2013
21
48
8.3
2.5
2014
69
168
8.3
8.3
1st Grade %
2nd Grade %
3rd Grade %
Juice %
2013
42.9
22.6
11.5
23.0
2014
29.7
28.2
26.2
15.9
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Packout %
Juice
16%
1st
30%
3rd
26%
2nd
28%
Figure 1: 4.5 year old planting
Figure 2: 3.5 year old tree with crop
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Marketing
Market Conditions
Domestic and export markets were experiencing a short supply condition with prices strong:
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Severe drought and frosts in California contributed to domestic markets almost devoid of
imported late navels.
Strong demand from China and other markets for navels in general.
Figure 3: Fruit packed at Mildura Fruit Company
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Market Acceptance
M7 Promotion with Mildura Fruit Company
(Excepts from a report “M7-MFC Promotion Day”, Michael Littore, MFC)
Melbourne Wholesale Market Visit:
Michael Littore and Mara Milner from MFC and Susan & Greg Chislett in conjunction with merchants
La Manna conducted a variety awareness exercise with pull-up banners and cut up samples of M7
fruit on 5th May 2014.
Figure 4: La Manna promotion
Highpoint Green Grocer:
The next stop for us was the Highpoint shopping Centre, where we set up a trestle, our pull up banners and
handed out cut fruit.
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Figure 5: Retail tasting promotion
Summary:
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The feedback from the market agents was the M7 is a great variety. They suggested for MFC to
pack into our OB Black carton as it is known for its high quality.
They liked the standard domestic 18kg pack and the M7 fruit sticker.
The fruit that was sent to Sydney had an equally as positive response.
The start of the 2014 Australian citrus season has been strong due to the USA navel shipments
finishing early.
Thoughts for season 2015 would be to wait until natural colour is achieved, then the superior
M7’s only competition would be misshapen, pale Navelina’s.
The M7 fruit variety is becoming more well-known and there is no doubt that it has the potential
to overtake the Navelina or the last dregs of the counter seasonal export fruit.
If we nurture the variety and continue to promote its great characteristics the Australian
consumer will benefit by eating the best early navel.
Other Comments from the Domestic Market
Larry Simminetta of Simfresh Packers near Mildura:
“The M7 navels we packed and marketed this season were received very well by domestic markets and
in particular Coles Supermarket. All the buyers were eager to get higher volumes of the variety in the
future to replace Navelinas which are recognised as inferior in eating quality and appearance.
We packed all our growers’ M7 fruit before starting on Navelinas.
One grower has consistently supplied M7 fruit, from nursery planted trees, of high quality and
optimum size over the last two seasons without any crop manipulation to increase fruit size.”
Shane Kay, Moora Citrus Orchard Manager, Moora, Western Australia:
“Moora Citrus harvested the first commercial crop from 10 500 trees on 13 hectares last season. The
trees cropped heavily and the fruit achieved a rich full colour without any de-greening by mid-May.
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Both internal and external maturity was 10 to 14 days earlier than Navelina. Fruit shape was round
and uniform and no albedo breakdown or splitting was experienced. The fruit was very well received
by the market.”
Justin Parsons, Moraitis Fruits, Perth Produce Market:
“Until the M7 appeared on the scene, the only options for Australian grown navels were Navelina and
Newhall varieties. These were problematic with an elongated shape and large protruding navel
buttons, and many growers would heavily gas these to get them to the market sooner to compete with
late season USA fruit. This did no favours for either the growers or these varieties, as the fruit wasn’t
yet eating well and had shelf life issues. Consequently most of my customers preferred to stay with
late season US varieties as it looked and ate better than the first Australian citrus, and I ran my import
program accordingly.
The M7 in contrast, is sweet, always firm with an attractive colour, round shape and smaller navel
end. It shows similar characteristics to late season fruit which makes it very popular among
retailers. Most of my customers will prefer an Australian variety of navel to offer to consumers, but
not at the expense of quality.
I have been recommending the M7 variety to all our growers who have been looking for a quality
alternative to early fruit.”
China Feedback
Ferdi Bergamin, Mildura Fruit Company Marketing Manager received very positive feedback
from a pallet sample sent to Shanghai, China. Comments were that they really liked the better
colour, fruit shape and eating quality compared to Navelina and that they were keen to receive
the variety in volume as soon as possible.
M7 was commanding a $3.00 to $4.00 per carton premium above Navelina at the same time.
Licensed Growers and Packers
To date, 55 growers have been licensed to grow and seven packers licensed to pack M7 in
Australia. Plantings and grower commitments to plantings currently totals 270 hectares, with a
high level of enquiries for trees from the nursery.
Chislett Farms continues to implement the Spanish VisualNACert system, a web based variety
management system for recording complete information regarding growers’ plantings of the
variety. It has been found to be a very efficient and convenient method for the protection of
Plant Breeders Rights.
Conclusion
The 2014 season continued to confirm that:
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M7 fruit is superior in all respects to Navelina.
That the domestic and export markets are prepared to pay a significant premium for M7 over
Navelina.
Simple procedures have been devised to produce optimum fruit size with good yields.
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