SEVEN hectares of new permanent bird and bat netting has been installed over lychee trees on a fruit farm near Rockhampton, in time for the upcoming harvest.
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Paul and Krystal Caton from Lush Lychees near Rockhampton, grow Kwai May Pink, Kaimana, Baitangying, and Erdonlee, among other varieties of lychees.
They recently erected the extensive netting in under a month, with help from NetPro and a co-contribution grant from the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority.
"We've just in the last month employed a team through NetPro to put up a new permanent netting structure over our new lychee orchard," Ms Caton said.
The QRIDA Horticulture Netting Program offers co-contribution grants of up to $300,000 to offset the cost of purchasing and installing horticulture netting for primary producers.
The grants are available for those with established horticulture production, and can go towards purchasing netting and associated infrastructure, as well as engaging contractors.
Applications for funding will close on April 30, 2024, or when the funding totalled at $11 million has been allocated.
For the Catons, the permanent netting structure will help protect their new young lychee trees.
"We've been planting trees over the course of two years; we've tried to put in some [new] lychee [varieties] to extend our own season, where we had gaps in our own marketing," she said.
Beyond pest protection for the tropical fruit, Mr Caton said there were other benefits for the lychees to be covered by netting.
"The net's 30 per cent UV, so it shades the likes of the Kaimana, and shades them a bit, because we get a lot of skin damage with the heat of November over them," Mr Caton said.
While the permanent netting is a win for the lychee farmers, the forecast for this year's crop isn't strong, with a warm winter meaning there was limited fruit set on many of the varieties.
"Winter was too warm," Ms Caton said.
"[However], our Kwai Mai Pink variety, [...] produced well, because the winter was what it liked."
The Catons are expecting to have limited fruit to harvest before Christmas but hope their later season varieties will have more on offer in the new year.
The couple have been farming lychees near Rockhampton for seven years, and as well as extending varieties are also looking at further diversifying the business through growing broad acre crops, farm gate sales selling locally grown fruit and ice cream, and hosting "pick your own" events.
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