![Batlow Fruit Co-operative general manager John Power with a tray of Pink Lady apples bearing the distinctive “Batlow” green sticker. Batlow Fruit Co-operative general manager John Power with a tray of Pink Lady apples bearing the distinctive “Batlow” green sticker.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-agfeed/2057231.jpg/r0_0_1024_683_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
AT ANY given time of the day or week, chances are somebody is eating a Batlow apple in southern and eastern Australia.
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Initiated by growers early last century, the Batlow Fruit Co-operative Ltd remains grower owned and today is one of the most recognised horticultural brands in Australia, thanks to its crisp mountain apples and the small green "Batlow" stickers - a branding initiative now widely used within the horticultural industry and introduced by Batlow.
The 100 per cent Australian-owned co-op is also recognised as one of the largest storage and packing operations in the country, marketing and packing on average three quarters of a million cartons of apples each year, says general manager John Power.
"The co-op has invested heavily in the latest packing technology," Mr Power said.
"It's also one of only a few packing sheds in Australia to attain the world recognised quality standards of ISO 9002 and HACCP 9000."
The Batlow story began thanks to a school teacher, Oliver Courtland-Barberie, who was working at Upper Adelong in the late 1800s.
Mr Power said Barberie noted the quality of fruit trees, especially apples, which had been planted by the miners who flooded the area on the discovery of gold in 1852.
"Barberie realised Batlow exhibited the right combination of climate and soil types for growing top quality apples," he said.
"He started planting fruit trees close to Batlow in 1897 to begin experimenting with different varieties to see which were best suited to commercial production.
"This included 50 different varieties of apple from which he discovered Jonathans, Red Delicious and Granny Smiths were best suited to commercial growing and it was these varieties for which Batlow was to become famous for in years to come."
Barbarie left teaching in 1905 to concentrate on his May Day orchard, which was for many years the only orchard of consequence in the district and still remains in operation today.
Barbarie wrote articles to Sydney and Melbourne newspapers, which claimed the fruit had its own "delectable flavour" and, that drew many orchardists to the Batlow district through the early 1900s.
According to co-op records, the first commercial fruit production from Batlow started in the decade from 1900; by 1907 there were seven orchards but by 1918 this had risen to nearly 80.
During the same period the number of trees grew rapidly - from 5000 in 1907 to 18,900 in 1910, 37,800 in 1913, 112,000 in 1916 and 150,000 in 1918.
Of the 150,000 trees planted by 1918 there were 100,000 apples and pears, 30,000 prunes with the remainder cherries and other soft fruits.
The railway reached Batlow in the early 1920s and with fruit tonnages growing Mr Power said orchardists recognised the need for bigger and better facilities to handle the crop.
By this time the industry was growing but lacked organisation with individual growers packing their own fruit and undertaking their own marketing, which Mr Power said led to a variation in standards and an excessive number of brands.
A group of fruit growers realised the need for co-operation so they could reach a common goal and the Batlow Co-operative Cool Stores Ltd was established in 1922.
A separate co-operative, the Batlow Co-operative Packing Company, was formed in 1923 and in 1927 the cool stores and packing companies amalgamated to form the Batlow Packing House and Cool Stores Rural Co-operative Limited.
In 1939, the name was shortened to the Batlow Packing House Co-operative, then in 1967 renamed Mountain Maid Foods Co-operative, before undergoing another name change in 1978 to the current Batlow Fruit Co-operative Ltd.
Batlow co-op today is a modern business continually evolving to meet market demands, which involves updating growing techniques and varieties.
Mr Power said during the past 15 years growers had been moving towards intensively planted, more efficient orchards using dwarfing root stock to ensure "more fruit not leaves" was produced.
"Orchards today are planted at a rate of 2400 trees a hectare, compared to older blocks at 500 trees/ha and in some cases even less, and trees are grown on trellising in a two-dimensional rather than round shape for ease of picking," he said.
Older trees are removed as production volumes drop but swapping over has become a costly exercise, as the price of apples had hardly moved in recent decades.
"With returns to growers sitting about $1 a kilogram this isn't much different to where it was 25 years ago," Mr Power said.
"In a good year growers can see a return of $2.20/kg, however, costs continue to rise.
"Labour represents about 50pc of an orchardist's costs because thinning, pruning and picking have all got to be done by hand."
Batlow's premium produce
FRUIT handled by Batlow Fruit Co-operative is graded from premium to juicing and all local fruit (produced within a 30-kilometre radius of town) is branded with the green “Batlow” sticker.
The co-operative packs fruit for growers outside this area but it is branded “Mountains of Flavour” and packed in generic boxes.
In 2013 about 25pc of the fruit packed at Batlow was from apples grown in other regions.
Batlow produces a large amount of premium grade fruit with about 30pc fitting this grade in 2013, Class 1 then makes up another 35pc, Class 2 averages 15pc to 20pc.
In 2013 Batlow co-op packed 600,000 cartons of fruit, packing an average 360,000 apples a day; with a big crop general manager John Power said the co-op would pack one million cartons in a year.