Considered as one of the best in the industry this large mango orchard has 570 acres of Kensington Pride (KP) variety trees. The KP variety is renown for best fruit quality for fruit market and juicing. The majority is freehold with only 48 acres of the total area leased from a neighbour.
There are approximately 17,800 trees on five separate lots that make up the enterprise . The orchard is irrigated by a fully automated system which draws water from bores and the Sunwater channel on the property and delivered through under tree micro sprinklers each with an output of 90 litres per hour. The whole orchard can be irrigated in two days and at peak period irrigated every three to four days. The four freehold properties have 921 megalitres of Sunwater channel allocation and 189 megalitres of bore allocation. The leased farm has its own bore allocation.
The farm produces approximately 2,000 tonnes of fruit per year. This year flowering looks promising and could even exceed this figure. A further 1,000 tonnes of fruit is usually sold for juicing at an average price of 55 cents per kilo on farm.
A full range of machinery (list available) includes tractors, slasher, forklift, bins, etc. There are two purpose built, six fan Hydrosprayers with folding arms and 23 self propelled cherry pickers. Nine of these were designed by the vendors and incorporate special fruit protection, sprayer and protected elevator which transports the fruit down to the bin after it is hand picked and gently dropped it in. The cost of these nine units was in excess of $500,000.
The 76.5m long x 30m wide packing shed incorporates a packing train which includes unloading elevators, hot dip and over 30 packing tables which are operated by 40-50 operators during the packing season. The operation includes a unique two channel Hypovision Grader which electronically scans fruit and grades it according to size and colour and sends it to the allocated table.
There are three large cold rooms, a large ripening room and a holding area where fruit is held overnight before processing next day.
There is a four bedroom home on Acton Farm and a highset four bedroom home on Topeca Farm. Platzi Farm also has a two bedroom residence and a 25m x 30m packing shed with showers and toilets.
For a much more detailed description of the many features of this amazing property with unlimited opportunity please give us a call.