Citrus farmers in Sunraysia are thinking outside the box by using international production trends to increase their markets and fast-track production by a year.

With new growing techniques such as 'tree branch bending' being implemented, it has allowed larger production methods to meet supplier demands for mandarins.

Citrus grower Toby Hederics manages a farm at Belah Heights near Mildura, and recently went on a research study in Spain to learn new techniques to bring back to the region.

He said tree branch bending was one of the better ways international markets had increased production methods, something he remained confident could be effective in Australian industries.

The branches are bent to a 90 degree angle with puppet-like strings held down by pegs. ( ABC Rural: Damien Peck )

The method includes pulling back four limbs of the tree in its early stages, tying them to the ground with a peg, and allowing the tree to produce more fruit than standard vertical growth.

"We've picked probably three or four branches on each tree that'll shoot up nice and tall," Mr Hederics said.

"We choose them to bend them down 90 degrees and point them back to the ground to promote horizontal growth and produce new vertical growth as well for next season."

He said bending the branches made the tree stronger, but there were more benefits such as duplicating the output for the trees that are only a few years old with more fruiting timber and a bushier tree.

"It's not damaging the tree, it doesn't harm the tree in any way, it's just a different way of pruning and manipulating the tree," he said.

"Those three or four branches that we've bent down will now shoot new branches up again and we'll bend them down again."

Citrus tree branches are being bent down to manipulate the growth of mandarins and create more produce. ( ABC Rural: Damien Peck )

Making the most of the land

Mr Hederics said the farm had looked at ways to make the most of the space they had to maximise its potential and its profits to improve output for the market demand.

"It all comes down to acreage and tonnage," he said.

"Your crop and what you can produce really is the end of the game [with] trying to bring the fruit in.

"Instead of having the tree three or four years old before it produces fruit we want to make it two years."

Spanish farmers lead the way for learning

Although the tree-branch bending technique Mr Hederics learned overseas was something he could apply locally, there were other methods that he saw may not be as beneficial.

"They've also got another technique where they'll crack the branch as well, but we haven't used that yet, we don't see the advantages in that just yet," Mr Hederics said.

"We were quite lucky that they had been doing this branch bending for a few years and we were able to see the results that they've got.

Toby Hederics has been citrus farming at Belah Heights for the past 18 months after growing up on the farm. ( ABC Rural: Damien Peck )

"They've [Spanish farmers] been growing citrus for years now and they're one of the main growers of citrus in the world.

"They know a lot of stuff and their knowledge and experience really is just so valuable to us … we can really learn a lot from them."

While Mr Hederics conceded there was a need to match American and Spanish markets at a reduced cost, the growing conditions in Spain were similar even if soil types differed in hardness.

Farmers at Belah Heights are confident the new techniques will duplicate fruit production levels. ( ABC Rural: Damien Peck )

"In Spain they've got a bit more rockier soil and what we call top soil, which is the ideal soil you want to grow in, can vary here on our farm from two feet of top soil to eight feet of top soil [0.5–2.5 metres]," he said.

Mr Hederics said he was optimistic that if the results of the crops becoming heavier in a year's time, he could see an expansion of the business and markets for mandarins.

"If this turns out it works, we'll implement it across the whole farm," he said.

"For us it is a trial … we know it already works and we're not the first ones doing it; it's more of a honed-in technique."