The recent and persistent extreme weather conditions are causing problems for Australian orange growers, and noodle juice is asking for people's support.
The fruit juice company also warns customers not to be patient after forecasting far lower orange juice stocks this winter.
Temporary packaging for noodle juice available from June
Months of extreme weather, including a long drought and heat waves, have decimated the orange cultures in Valencia that Nudie uses for 100% orange juice. Some citrus growers report that they make more money trading water than growing orange crops.
"When the harvest is low, it is not worth putting the water on the harvest because farmers make more money selling water than growing their crop, before they even buy fertilizers," says Frank Violi , Farmer at Griffith.
“In summer we had 20 days with over 40 degrees. The oranges usually fall off until January, but in the heat of December the oranges on the trees were no larger than a 5 or 10 cent coin. They only cooked on the tree and fell off. "
In order to educate the Australians about the plight of the farmers, from next month the juice buyers will use a QR code on each juice bottle that is started to connect the juice buyers to the affected farmers. This video contains footage of the farms and stories from the farmers themselves.
"We deal with producers in the Riverina, Sunraysia and Riverland areas in Victoria and NSW," said Brooke Parker, head of brand marketing at nudie.
As the amount of oranges in Valencia decreased by 40%, Nudie had to raise the price of his juice bottles to cover the rising costs and keep the growers in business.
"We are determined to keep the industry alive," said Ms. Parker.
About 21 oranges are needed to make a 2 liter bottle of nudie orange juice. However, due to the current lack of oranges, consumers are asked to be patient if they don't find noodle juice on supermarket shelves on some days.
"Australia's orange growers desperately need our support and we are committed to continuing to make noodle juice from 100% juice from Australian farmers."
