SHOULD pineapple go on pizza? How about a steak burger? If you’re in Central Queensland for Beef 2018 – the answer to both should be yes.
Pineapples are planted and harvested weekly at Brooks and Sons, Bungundarra, near Yeppoon, and one of the sons, Ryan Brooks, said he hoped to see the local industry supported during Beef.
With an influx of an estimated 100,000 people flocking to the region over the next week, Ryan said it was set to be a big week not only for the region’s graziers, accommodation providers, and eateries, but all local producers.
“CQ is pretty diverse, there’s a lot pineapples grown here and mangoes as well as cattle, there’s the lychees, so it is pretty diverse,” he said.
“Here we just grow – we don’t have any cattle.”
The weekly harvest is currently underway at the original Brooks and Sons farm. The family also operate on another block with a total of 330 farmable hectares.
They focus on pineapples, with the Smooth Cayenne for the canneries, and two varieties of hybrids grown for the fresh food market.
“It has its ups and downs like all farming,” Ryan said.
“There was the oversupply so that hurt the fresh fruit market but that seems to be getting a bit better.
“Because we do a lot of cannery – the weather has been playing havoc with the fruit – so that has been a bit stressful this year.”
Pineapples take about 18 months from planting to harvesting. With about seven hectares to harvest this week, it’s all hands on deck.
Yield is measured by tonnes for cannery produce, or by fresh fruit it is measured by tray, and Ryan said they are currently yielding well.
“You always grow big fruit at this time of year,” he said.
“Then it will get a bit smaller towards spring.”
The farm supplies local shops in the region, as well as Tropical Pines and the Golden Circle cannery to keep diversity in their markets.
For the past two years it has been the weather which has proved the most challenging.
“We haven’t had a lot of rain, and then all of a sudden we will get half a meter, then a meter, then nothing again,” Ryan said.
“It is challenging with the warm winters, that brought on fruit a lot earlier last year.
“It goes from one extreme to the next and it makes things harder, but you just work through it.”
Ryan operates alongside his dad, Barry, and brother Jake.