Resources / Horticulture

The horticulture KPIs that carry the block.

A profitable orchard is built from small, compounding gains: a point of packout recovered, an extra tonne of Class 1, a cent shaved off cost per kilo, a millimetre of water put to better use. Tracking the right benchmarks across the season is how you find and hold those levers.

Warramunda Grove
85 ha mixed orchard38 ha pears22 ha applesGoulburn Valley2025–26 season
01 / Yield & water
Output 55 & 62 t/ha

Fruit yield

Tonnes harvested per hectare by crop — the headline number every packout and cost figure divides into.

Farm District 55 62 26 Pears Apples Stonefruit
t/ha by crop · farm vs district
Efficiency 7.8 t/ML

Water use efficiency

Fruit grown per megalitre of irrigation applied — the truest read on how well a scarce, metered input was converted.

Target 9 t/ML 7.3 8.3 7.8 Pears Apples Farm avg
t fruit/ML applied · higher better
Potential 81%

Yield-gap to potential

Actual yield as a share of the light-limited potential the canopy could have grown — the gap you can still close.

81% Achieved · 55 t/ha Gap · 13 t/ha of 68 t/ha potential
Actual ÷ light-limited potential
Crop load 190 fruit/tree

Crop load

Fruit carried per tree against the target for size and grade — the single lever that trades total yield against fruit size.

target 175 130 160 190 220 250 280
Fruit-per-tree distribution · count
Sizing 58% ≥ size 90

Premium size share

The share of fruit reaching count-90-or-larger — the size threshold that divides carton fruit from lower-value grades.

58% Size 90+ · 58% Smaller · 42%
Share at premium size grade
02 / Fruit quality & grade
Quality 78%

Class 1 packout

The Class 1 recovery spread across packed lines against the district benchmark — the line between a carton price and a juice price.

avg 78% 60 65 70 75 80 85
Class 1 % distribution · packed lines
Quality 7.0 kg

Fruit firmness

Flesh pressure by line against the minimum for storage and shipping — a direct read on maturity and shelf life.

Min firmness 6.5 7.2 6.8 7.0 7.4 Line 1 Line 2 Avg Line 3
kg pressure by line · vs storage min
Quality 12.5° Brix

Sugar content

Soluble sugar by line against the minimum eating and export spec — the driver of flavour, repeat sales and premium grade.

Min spec 11° 12.8 12.2 12.5 12.9 Line 1 Line 2 Avg Line 3
°Brix by line · higher better
Output 78% Class 1

Grade achieved

How the season's fresh-fruit tonnes fell across grades — from everything picked down to the export-grade share that earns the top price.

Picked · 3,850 t Class 1 · 3,000 t Export · 1,540 t 78% 40%
Tonnes by grade · % of harvest
03 / Soil, water & nutrition
Efficiency 220 kg/kgN

Nitrogen productivity

Kilograms of fruit grown for every kilogram of nitrogen applied — how hard an expensive, emissions-heavy input is working.

Efficient ~240 180 195 205 220 2023 2024 2025 2026
kg fruit per kg N applied · 4 yrs
Balance K mined 0.6×

Nutrient replacement

Nutrient applied against nutrient removed in fruit, by element — fruit exports heavy potassium, so K quietly runs down first.

Balance 1.0× 1.1× 1.2× 0.6× 1.0× N P K Ca
Applied ÷ removed, by nutrient
Soil 6.2 pHCa

Soil pH

Topsoil acidity measured in calcium chloride, tracked against the target — the master variable behind nutrient availability and root health.

Target pHCa 6.0 5.9 6.0 6.1 6.2 2023 2024 2025 2026
Topsoil pH(CaCl₂) · 4-year trend
Water 88%

Irrigation efficiency

The share of applied water taken up in the root zone rather than lost to runoff or deep drainage — every megalitre is metered and paid for.

88% Target 85% Root zone 88% Lost 12%
Water to root zone ÷ applied
04 / Financial
Breakeven $1.15 / kg

Cost of production

Total operating cost per kilogram of fruit produced — your breakeven, with harvest and packing labour the dominant line.

$1.15 / kg Labour $0.46 Packing $0.24 Inputs $0.18 Water $0.09 Overheads $0.18
Operating cost per kg produced
Market $2.10 / kg

Price received

The average $/kg your fruit actually earned by grade — read against cost of production, this is your margin per kilo.

Cost of production $1.15 $2.10 $1.20 $0.35 Class 1 Class 2 Process
$/kg by grade · vs $1.15 breakeven
Margin $9,800 / ha

Gross margin per hectare

Crop revenue minus the direct variable costs, per hectare — the cleanest read on how the blocks performed above overheads.

$9,800 $9,000 $8,700 $9,400 2023 2024 2025 2026
Crop revenue − variable costs ÷ ha
Resilience 62% packout

Breakeven packout

The Class 1 packout needed just to cover this season's costs at the price received — the buffer between you and a loss.

62% achieved 78% 0 100%
Breakeven vs achieved packout
Efficiency 74%

Operating expense ratio

Total operating costs as a share of gross farm income — how many cents of every dollar earned the running of the orchard consumes.

74% Costs 74% Margin 26%
Operating costs ÷ gross income
05 / Environment
Footprint 0.15 t CO₂e

Emissions intensity

Tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emitted per tonne of fruit produced — and it falls as nitrogen, fuel and refrigeration are used more efficiently.

Industry avg 0.20 0.19 0.15 2023 2024 2025 2026
t CO₂e per t fruit · 4-year trend

See these KPIs live for your own blocks.

Connect your packout reports, irrigation meters and orchard accounts — Silo keeps every benchmark on this page current, automatically.

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