For growers, orchard redevelopment isn’t just about the next season - it shapes performance, cost and risk for years to come. With rising input costs and labour pressure, those decisions matter more than ever.

The Next Generation Orchard project (AS23003) is focused on reducing uncertainty. The work is helping growers make clearer, more confident choices earlier, particularly around varieties, orchard systems and long-term investment.

Early signals are emerging across a few industries including:  

• Citrus: early findings are bringing forward returns from new plantings while managing redevelopment risk, including identifying traits like earlier fruiting and pest resilience sooner.
• Macadamias: work here is improving harvest efficiency by better understanding traits that reduce passes through the orchard and ease labour pressure.

While still early, these examples point to a broader shift, moving toward orchard systems that are not only productive, but more predictable. For growers, that confidence is critical when making decisions that need to hold up over decades.