We are just coming into summer, but the fire risk is much higher this year as we have been in drought right across the nation. This has lead to a lot of very dry under growth
It is difficult to grasp the proximity of these things as the distances are greater than I am accustomed to. I take it Sidney is several hundred kilometers away? (to the East?)
We live about 1000 miles from sydney, Sydney is on the east coast. Neil lives on the east coast about 1000 miles north of Sydney. From the west coast to the east coast it is about 2500 mile. I have only guessed these figures.
That puts it in a better perspective. It would amount to about the same distance as the Wild fires in our own western states were from me.
I do have a question about your orange operation. Your family picks the majority of the oranges, but you hire outside pickers to do the rest. Where do you get them? Locals? Or are there professional pickers that follow the various harvests?
I use mainly locals, But some of the big growers use pro's that follow the harvests across the country. One of our problems in this country is being unable to get cheap labor, this makes it hard to compete with other countries.
We have a similar harvesting situation here, with pickers that follow the harvest from south to north. Usually, the entire family will pick, and the farmers provide some basic housing for them.
About 20 minutes from here they grow a lot of Asparagus and strawberries. Both of these typically have hired pickers. Alot of the tree fruit growers can machine pick.
This may not be exact but i think you will find Kia was found as a push bike company during the 40s, since then have expanded into automotive. I also believe they are much older than Hyundia, however during the 90s after they expanded onto the global market they ran into financial trouble and hyundia took over a proportion of the company.
Just another point of interest, Daedong make the gears cogs for Kia and i think Hyundia [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]