Josh Nelson's fruit and football careers providing positive results

He first got into the Loxton North family fruit business 'Nelson Citrus' 10 years ago and he has seen a lot of changes in that time.

"It originally started as Louis Pak, which was the neighbors next door, so my parents bought the packing shed and properties off them," he said.

"Seven years ago Mum and I became partners and we changed to Nelson Citrus and kept our same clients and wholesalers that we dealt with."

Along with running Nelson Citrus, Josh has enjoyed a 173 game football career for the Loxton North Panthers.

After being named A grade captain in 2010 and winning premierships in 2011, 2013, 2015, Josh faced significant injury setbacks.

"In 2019 I started playing some A grade football and after round three I'd had a gut-full and, with two young kids, I needed to slow down and play some B grade football," he said.

"I played three games of B grade and did my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), so I missed the rest of that season and then the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID.

"In 2021 I was happy to play some A grade and coach the B grade and played the first three games again and then the curse of round four I came out to play B grade and did my other ACL."

After playing B grade last year, Josh said he had enjoyed his return to A grade this season.

"The group's really good, it's been rejuvenated, with a couple of local guys back from Adelaide," he said.

While managing Nelson Citrus, Josh said labour had been a challenge.

"Trying to find labour has been a big challenge in the Riverland, like I'm sure it is everywhere," he said.

"Especially during COVID there when the borders were shut, it was a real issue for labour as far as contracting picking.

"There's a lot of people that are willing to work, it's just about finding that right person that you can rely on."

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Despite being challenged, Josh said there had been many enjoyable aspects of his job.

"The field work's great in the summer here, even though it's obviously hot at times," he said.

"Obviously growing the fruit yourself and seeing it put on a shelf somewhere through agents and into their stores, that's always a good thing."

The fruit grown by Nelson Citrus could be found in supermarkets across the country, Josh said.

"A lot of our fruit goes up into Alice Springs to a wholesaler there, there's another guy in the NT," he said.

"There's one guy from Harvey's Fruit and Veg in Geelong, Vic, that we deal with and then another one's Wilsons that have got a couple of stores in Ballarat, Vic.

"Then the excess stuff goes into the Adelaide market."

Josh said he had been looking to take on more responsibilities regarding the business, as his Mum has looked to take a step back.

"At the moment we're in the succession planning phase, she knows I want to be involved in the business for the long term," he said.

"Her idea is to phase out of here, she may have some involvement in some capacity, if she's not here at all, but the plan is for me to take over the whole business."

Josh said he would continue to find a balance between work, football and spending time with his wife Ellen, son Max, 8, and daughters Sadie, 6, and Ester, 3.

Despite the concern regarding the high number of fruit fly outbreaks across the Riverland, Josh said people had been made aware of what they needed to do to eradicate it.

"It's been quite active in terms of promoting what's been going on and what people need to do," he said.

"Going back 12 months ago, things were a bit hard to understand for a person who's not involved at all and might've had a fruit tree in their backyard.

"We just needed to simplify it for people to just a few basic steps from pruning your tree to picking all your fruit."

When Nelson Citrus was affected by a fruit fly outbreak in 2021, Josh said there were a number of protocols, that had to be undertaken.

"We built a two-pronged set-up on the tractor which helped you pick two bins up at the same time," he said.

"We would pick the two bins up and dip them into the tank of dimethoate to kill any fruit fly that was there.

"We weren't allowed to pack that fruit for 24 hours from dipping to running it through our packing machine, so that was tough for the first initial year, as the workload was a lot more."

The efforts of PIRSA to eradicate the fruit fly outbreaks have been significant, Josh said.

"PIRSA's done what they can at this point of time, it's just getting your timing and dates right and realising when the flies become active," he said.