Carrot Season

Carrots are available in Australia all year round, with the best value and peak supply running from March through to August. Western Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia are the big producers, and because growing regions are spread across very different climates, there's always fresh supply coming from somewhere. You're unlikely to ever face a carrot shortage.

Carrots are in season across winter and autumn in Australia, with peak supply from February to September.

Carrots don't transplant well, so they're grown from direct-sown seed, with commercial varieties taking 10 to 16 weeks to reach harvest size. Sandy loam and free-draining soils produce the best root quality. Clay deforms roots and makes harvesting harder. The Nantes type dominates fresh-market production for its uniform cylindrical root and mild flavour, according to the DCAP/DAF Qld report. Western Australian production runs year-round from districts within 150 km of Perth. In Tasmania the main harvest runs January to August from the Devonport-Forth area. Growers sow a fresh batch roughly every four weeks to stagger supply and avoid a glut.

Carrots arrived in Australia with the First Fleet. Convicts planted 'Long Orange' carrots on Norfolk Island two weeks after landing in 1788 and harvested their first crop in October of that year, according to AUSVEG Veggie Stats. Wild carrot seed was also imported to the Sydney colony by Sir Joseph Banks between 1786 and 1798. The wild form, Queen Anne's Lace, naturalised quickly and is now a weed across most states. Western Australia emerged as the dominant commercial state through heavy investment in large-scale operations near Perth, particularly Gingin and the Perth Metro region. Other major areas are the Adelaide Plains and Mallee (SA), Devonport-Forth (TAS), the Murray Valley and Gippsland (VIC), the Fassifern and Lockyer Valley (QLD), and the Riverina (NSW).

According to Hort Innovation, Australian carrot production reached 304,038 tonnes worth $253.4 million in 2024/25, steady in a 295,000–335,000 tonne range for the past decade. Australia exported 86,414 tonnes worth $74.3 million in 2024/25, with virtually zero imports. The UAE was the largest destination in the year ending March 2024 at 28,913 tonnes, followed by Saudi Arabia (14,353 tonnes) and Malaysia (12,685 tonnes), per Hort Innovation's trade commodities data. WA drives around 82% of export earnings thanks to its geographic advantage for Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Per capita consumption has edged down from over 8 kg a decade ago to around 7.3 kg in 2023/24, and roughly 85% of retail volume is now prepacked.