FROM a third-generation family fruit salad block to a successful dried fruit business, a husband and wife team are navigating the challenges and triumphs of growing 17 acres of fruit together.

Darrel and Charmaine Size run Niche Fruits out of their property in Renmark West. Darrel is dubbed the “muscle and brains” behind the business and “chief boss man”, while Charmaine takes on the role of product developer, social media guru, chief fruit packer, fruit dipper and marketing manager.

Darrel’s mum and grandmother bought the original 10-acre block in 1957, and in 1998 he and Charmaine took it over.

The pair grow a range of stone fruit including apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and peacharines, plus pears for sun drying and several varieties of citrus for dehydrating.

The predominate fruit is the humble apricot, which makes up roughly 2500 of more than 6400 fruit trees on the property .

“I’ve always had a passion for growing, it’s what I love,” Darrel said.

“When you grow your own stuff and make your own decisions it’s more fun.

You’re doing your decisions – and your failures. There’s only one person you can kick up the butt if it doesn’t work.

“The first 10-acre block was Mum’s and we’d always be over there working. My brother used to own our property. We’d always say, ‘You know if you ever want to sell…’ and it happened within a few years.”

In 2008, Darrel and Charmaine took over the property from Darrel's brother, and registered Niche Fruits as a business in 2013.

“July will be 10 years of the Niche Fruits side of things,” Charmaine said.

“We were talking about it and wondered where the 10 years had gone.”

For nine years the couple made a fortnightly trip to the Mount Pleasant Farmer’s Market, over two hours away, but decided to stop late last year.

“We would get to the fortnight and we’d have nothing done on the property,” Charmaine said.

“Niche Fruits has exploded and I can’t keep up with it all.

“The fruit that I would have had going out as wholesale or to the market is ours – and I can sell it.

“So it’s going straight to the end user.”

Darrel and Charmaine supply other businesses across the state, including Aussie Apricots in Mypolonga, Singing Magpie Produce in Monash, and The Green Shed at Gumeracha, and their products are available to purchase at visitor information centres. 

Fresh fruit used to be a part of the Niche Fruits business model, but when Covid-19 and fruit fly hit, the model had to change.

“Covid stopped backpackers coming in, so there was a hole in trying to get labour, then fruit fly came along,” Darrel said.

“We lost a lot of fruit and a lot of dollars, because when that came and hit us, it was right in the middle of picking. We lost thousands of dollars and it was a hard pill to swallow, but we got through it.

“Fruit fly is still an issue – you don’t want it on your property – but everything is processed here and when we send it off we know it’s already processed, dried and safe.

We had such great experience with backpackers – made lifetime friends with a lot of them too – but Covid killed that for us.

“This year we started using some teenagers (for picking). We’d rather pay them good dollars – more than the award rate – because if they can do the work an adult is doing, they should be looked after.”

The Niche Fruits harvesting process seems never-ending, with apricots, plums, peaches and peacharines picked between December and January, before moving onto pears in February and nectarines in late March.

“With a fruit salad block, you’ve always got things coming in and you feel like you’re forever working,” Darrel said.

“This time of the year, you’re doing your whole year’s worth of selling in a matter of months.

“We are predominately apricots, but we’re trying to grow more peach nectarines, and more plums. We’re doing trials on another plum that we can actually run over the cutting machine.”

Like many primary producers in the Riverland and beyond, growing produce is not without its challenges for Niche Fruits.

“Mother nature has a wicked sense of humour. Last season we had hail and it took out 85 per cent of our fruit,” Darrel said.

“Last winter we had that rain, and it’s a bit hard to believe but 300 metres of our trees were under water.

“In the middle it was just above my knee for about a fortnight. I had pumps going non-stop.

“It affected some of our fruit and killed quite a few of our young apricots. So, that’s just another challenge for this year.”

Using social media, Charmaine has helped grow and connect with the customer base, showing how their fruit is grown, cut, dried and packaged.

“This year I’d like to get Darrel’s side more, because people like the story,” she said.

I like the connection and I like showing people what we’re doing.

“What you see is what you get. Clear bags, fruit you can see – I can’t be bothered hiding behind anything, it’s too hard.

“When people choose to support us it’s a real buzz and I get chills just talking about it.

“They have chosen to support you, they have chosen to believe in what you’re doing, what you’re saying and your product, and that’s awesome.”