Landsborough Lychees is a family-run farm operated by Gynara Gattera and her family. This year, producers are facing significant headwinds that are creating a rapidly evolving lychee landscape. By fully adopting these creative methods, the Gattera family have turned their lychee crop into specialty desserts and beverages that amaze new customers. And over at Ferntree Valley Farm, Rob Yarrow is braving an uncertain season. He was grappling with the recent death of his dad, Kelvin, who died in late 2024, as well as the dramatic 50 percent reduction in their lychee crop.
Extreme precipitation during the 2025 monsoons damaged pollination, while climate change exacerbated acidification of the soil, causing the poor harvest. Even with these challenges, both farms are great examples of resilience and ingenuity, as they pivot to meet the future of lychee farming.
Creative Solutions at Landsborough Lychees
Co-owner Gynara Gattera is proud of the variety of products her family’s farm, Landsborough Lychees, produces. She is serious about quality and on the cutting edge of innovation. She has also produced both regular ice cream and freeze-dried ice cream from their lychees.
“It’s a new product that I’ve decided to try and do, and people are loving it,” Gattera said, highlighting her dedication to meet customer demands. Thompson has cultivated a loyal following through the farm shop. They look forward to Gattera’s announcements that open the gates for business.
To shield his production of almost 3000 lychee trees from threats such as birds and flying foxes, Landsborough Lychees has built a multi-million-dollar infrastructure. In fact, they sunk $650,000 into extensive new crop-protecting netting. This investment demonstrates their deep commitment to sourcing fresh, local fruits and vegetables for their customers.
Challenges for Ferntree Valley Farm
After his father died suddenly last year, Rob Yarrow has taken on the full-time operation of both farms, with Ferntree Valley Farm as his main management focus. Yarrow is in for an uphill battle with the 2026 lychee crop. The yield has crashed by an astounding 50 percent versus prior years.
“Someone’s got to have a bad year for someone to have a good year in farming,” he remarked, reflecting on the cyclical nature of agriculture. His family farm produces lychees and many other types of fruit. That diversity allows them to be more resilient in the face of agriculture’s unpredictability.
Annette Yarrow, Rob’s mother, actively participates in the farm’s operations, conducting quality checks on the lychees. “We get so many seconds, it’s phenomenal,” she noted about the fruit that does not meet market standards but remains perfectly suitable for local sales. She expressed concerns regarding their lack of market sales: “I’ve not sent one single piece of fruit away to the markets, which is a big hit to us because that’s where the bulk of our money comes from.”
Customer Loyalty Amidst Adversity
Even with challenges facing local farmers, passionate lychee aficionados such as Leonie and Cliff Bartlett keep supporting them. The couple makes the 40-minute drive from Brisbane on the weekends. They travel to purchase Kwai Mai Pink variety lychees at $15/kilo, or seconds at $10/kilogram.
The Erdon Lee variety holds great promise because of its big size and unusual flavor profile. With the transition from October and November in northern states to February and March in the southern states, homegrown consumers continue to be positive. They look forward to more lychees more widely available at lower price points.
Lychee industry representative Derek Foley, pictured above, is optimistic that South Florida’s lychee farming could return to its glory days. “The industry’s got a great future, I believe, and hopefully there’s enough reasonably priced lychees around for every consumer to enjoy,” he stated.
