Far North Queensland pineapple season has begun as production in Queensland’s south-east winds down for summer, debuting a bright new "hello sunshine" label in its first major branding update in five years.
The Mareeba operation harvested its first pineapples of the 2026–2027 season this week, returning the tropical fruit – now sporting the vibrant new look – to national supermarket shelves after a south-east Queensland industry shortage during winter.
General manager tropicals Stephen Scurr said the Mareeba harvest was about two weeks behind schedule after cloudy September weather slowed ripening. The volume of fruit picked would progressively increase as the weather warmed up, he said.
He expected the northern operation at Paddy’s Green, at the northern end of the Atherton Tablelands, to produce about 200,000 trays of premium pines between October and March. Picked and packed on site, the fruit is transported to Piñata Farms’ Wamuran packhouse for distribution to leading supermarkets around Australia.
Mr Scurr said the mid-2026 shortage was due to a mass natural flowering triggered by consistent rain for the first six months of 2025. It was a repeat of a similar natural flowering event in 2023 that led to an eight-month national shortage.
Piñata Farms has grown pineapples in the Mareeba district since 1998, helping supply leading supermarkets nationwide year-round. Its Wamuran farms produce pineapples from February to October.
Bringing sunshine to the fresh produce aisle
Piñata Farms’ bright new "hello sunshine" pineapple labels have now rolled off the line and into the marketplace.
Sales and marketing manager Rebecca Scurr who led the brand redevelopment, said the new “hello sunshine” look captured the fresh, fun spirit of Piñata Farms pineapples while giving the brand a distinctive presence on supermarket shelves.
“We wanted our pineapple labels to make shoppers smile and reflect the freshness, flavour and sunshine associated with Australian-grown pineapples,” she said.
“We’ve updated the brand for today’s consumers while retaining the quality and familiarity people know and trust. The new look celebrates what goes into growing every single Piñata pineapple.”
Harvest at the Big Pineapple
Piñata Farms has also harvested a small volume of pineapples at Sunshine Coast tourist spot, the Big Pineapple in recent weeks as part of a collaboration with the iconic tourist destination to reintroduce live pineapple growing as part of a significant redevelopment.
Under the ongoing planting, pineapples are grown progressively so visitors can see the fruit at distinct stages of their two-year growth cycle from freshly planted tops to flowering plants and harvest-ready fruit.