Apple and Pear Australia Limited

Following his popular session at the 2026 APAL Industry Forum, strategic foresight and AI consultant Sami Mäkeläinen returns for a practical webinar exploring how growers can turn AI tools into useful applications within their businesses.

Following his popular session at the 2026 APAL Industry Forum, strategic foresight and AI consultant Sami Mäkeläinen returns for a practical webinar exploring how growers can turn AI tools into useful applications within their businesses.

While beekeepers are responsible for managing Varroa mite within their hives, the implications extend to growers who rely on healthy, pollination-ready hives during flowering. Growers need to plan early. Pollination should increasingly be treated as a core farm input that is planned, budgeted, contracted and protected well ahead of flowering. Varroa destructor is now established in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT.

As APAL continues to grow and expand its role in supporting Australian apple and pear growers, the organisation has refined its executive leadership structure to better support the delivery of industry priorities and position APAL for the future. As part of this change, Jeremy Griffith has been appointed General Manager of APAL, assuming responsibility for the organisation’s industry delivery functions and the day-to-day leadership and integration of APAL’s operations.

Snacking has become a core part of how Australians eat. Recent consumer tracking and retail behavioural data – from the Consumer usage and attitude tracking 2025–26 (MT24201) project and the Consumer behavioural data program (MT21004) – shows that almost all Australians snack, with over half choosing fresh fruit when they do. Snacking is no longer a marginal behaviour – it is a central eating occasion that shapes what people eat between meals.

End Food Waste Australia is working on practical solutions for surplus and value recovery for downgraded produce. Australian apple and pear growers reported an average crop loss of 23 per cent per farm in 2023–24.¹ Across Australia, a staggering one million tonnes of all fresh produce never makes it to market2 – an estimated value loss of up to $2.5 billion a year.3 A new national research program, led by End Food Waste Australia and Hort Innovation, is looking to change this.

Modern apple orchards are increasingly adopting innovative management practices that enhance soil health while supporting long-term productivity. By reducing reliance on herbicides and minimising intensive machinery use, growers have opportunities to improve soil structure, limit compaction, reduce topsoil erosion, and foster greater biological activity.

Can the native parasitoid Diachasmimorpha kraussii (D. kraussii) help Western Australian growers suppress Medfly populations? Research being undertaken through the PIPS 4 Profit Pest and disease management (AP22001) project is showing promising early results that indicate this native parasitoid could become an important biological control agent for Medfly in Western Australia’s apple and pear growing regions.

Understanding the true costs and returns of orchard production is critical to making informed business decisions. A new series of Orchard Business Analysis (OBA) how-to guides has been developed to help apple and pear growers improve the way they collect, track and analyse production and financial information. The guides cover key areas including orchard background data, revenue, labour, postharvest costs and financial coding.

All APAL members are invited to attend APAL’s 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday 26 November 2026. The in-person event will be held at the The Hotel Windsor, 111 Spring St, Melbourne VIC 3000. A registration link will soon be available for online attendance. The 2026 AGM will be hosted as a hybrid event. Instructions will be sent to registrants on how to access the meeting online. The AGM Meeting Agenda and Members Pack will be sent to all current members.