The earliest records of the D’Agen being imported into Australia date back to 1866, but returned World War One soldiers started the majority of Australia’s plantings in the 1920s. The plantings were concentrated in the southern NSW regions.  

As the industry stands today, the heart of the Australian prune industry is in the temperate areas of Young and Griffith in NSW. These locations offer ideal conditions for picturesque orchards. There are also orchards located in Cobram and Robinvale, Victoria.

Currently about 70 farming families produce up to 3000 tonnes of premium quality Australian prunes every year.
Prune production is one of the very few Australian horticultural sectors that continues to grow, with farmers planting new trees every year.

A prune tree takes four-to-six-years to bear harvestable fruit. Even then, a tree needs eight to 12 years before it reaches a full production capacity. At that point, an orchard will turn out about 30 years of maintained prune production.