Who we are

The pistachio growers' association

The first pistachio trees were planted in New South Wales in 1935, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that work began at the CSIRO laboratories at Merbein, near Mildura, to adapt the crop to Australian growing conditions.

The CSIRO released the new variety, Sirora, in 1982, along with suitable pollinating males, paving the way for the establishment and redevelopment of commercial orchards – mostly in the Murray Valley region.

The region includes dry, inland irrigation areas along both sides of the Murray River from Swan Hill, in Victoria, and Kyalite, in New South Wales, to Pinnaroo and Loxton, in South Australia. The Riverina along the Murrumbidgee is developing as a pistachio growing region and there are smaller areas of pistachios in southern Western Australia. By 2023, there were about 40 growers with 1500 hectares in production, and another 20 growers with 1500 hectares of juvenile plantings.

The Pistachio Growers’ Association (PGA) was formed in 1985 to represent the growers of pistachio nuts in Australia, and to be involved in matters relevant to the industry. PGA is funded by the voluntary contributions of growers and administers the application of these funds towards research into pistachio production in Australia.

The PGA is one of the seven member organisations representing tree nut growers on the Australian Nut Industry Council, which was established in 1988. The council’s aim is to strengthen and unify the nut industry and promote the production, marketing and consumption of nuts both in Australia and overseas.​

As the industry’s peak body, the PGA’s research committee has effectively run the research program since the 1990s when the committee was formed to address, and successfully resolve, an outbreak of bacterial dieback.

pistachios