Beetroot Season

Beetroot is available year-round across most of Australia, with peak supply running from late autumn through winter, roughly May to August, when the cool-season crop comes in from Queensland's Lockyer Valley and growing regions in WA and NSW. Whether you like tinned beetroot or not, the fresh stuff is consistently on shelves and in good shape for most of the year.

Beetroot is primarily a winter crop in Australia, with peak supply from April to September.

Beetroot (Beta vulgaris) is a cool-season root crop direct-sown from seed, needing thinning to 6–8 cm apart to give each root room. According to Sustainable Gardening Australia, it takes 8–10 weeks from sowing to harvest. Commercial growers aim to pull roots before they exceed 60–70 mm in diameter. Queensland's warm climate allows near-year-round growing. Temperate NSW and VIC concentrate plantings between July and March. Well-drained, friable soil is essential. Heavy clay causes misshapen roots. The main disease risk is soil-borne Pythium and Rhizoctonia species, particularly where continuous cropping has shortened rotation windows, as AUSVEG/HAL project VG00084 documents.

As Wikipedia notes, beetroot was cultivated in the ancient Middle East primarily for its leaves, with the root becoming a food source by the Roman era. It arrived in Australia with European settlers. From World War II, the processing industry centred on Queensland's Lockyer and Fassifern Valleys, with Golden Circle's cooperative giving local growers a direct route to the canned market. At peak, around 90% of Australia's beetroot was grown in the Lockyer Valley, according to ABC Perth Drive. The collapse of the processing sector from 2011 pushed production down sharply from 43,268 tonnes in 2008/09 to 14,103 tonnes in 2013/14, before the fresh market rebuilt volumes over the following decade, as AUSVEG Veggie Stats documents.

Fresh beetroot production has grown steadily. Output reached 16,167 tonnes in 2022/23 and climbed to 19,090 tonnes worth $14.9 million in 2024/25, as ABC Rural and Hort Innovation report. Queensland accounts for approximately 85% of national production, with WA at 7.3% and NSW at 6.3%. The processed side has a more troubled history. Kraft Heinz bought the Golden Circle cooperative and closed its Brisbane cannery in 2011, shifting production to New Zealand's Hawkes Bay. When Cyclone Gabrielle devastated that region in early 2023, supermarket shelves ran bare of tinned beetroot for more than six months, as ABC Perth Drive covered. The fresh market was unaffected. Sydney-based Three Threes (founded 1919) and Edgell (Simplot) are the remaining domestic processors, with Three Threes sourcing exclusively from Australian growers.