Garlic growing and police corruption work don’t often go hand in hand, but they have more in common than might be expected for whistleblower turned farmer Simon Illingworth. Attention to detail, patience and the capacity to handle different situations are the biggest ‘transferable skills’ that he believes have helped him build a garlic farming and calf rearing business following a career in police corruption documented by ABC’s Australian Story.
Realising that he needed to leave the police force and forge a new career, Mr Illingworth saw wild garlic growing along the Victorian coastline and decided to do a test crop, before setting up a farming operation in 2009.
Just a few years later yields are between two and four tonne, and Mr Illingworth is looking into exporting, but says it is difficult to overcome the barriers against transferring garlic from one country to another. “Different rules apply to different countries unfortunately,” he says.
Mr Illingworth’s strong ethics have served him and his wife Sarah, who he met in the police force, well, as he has brought the principles into his business practices. That includes educating the public and future farmers on how to do it sustainably and ethically, and supplying bulbs for home growers along with instructions to help set up a family sustenance farm. “Our website is a good platform to remove the 'middle man' that is a common difficulty in many farming enterprises and reduces profits exponentially,” he adds. “We want home growers to be sure they get a good crop of garlic in their first year without having to work too hard getting the cloves to produce good quality bulbs. Small bulbs with small cloves can take a long time to produce anything decent.”
For more information
To learn more about Simon Illngworth’s story, you can view the ABC Story special, or visit the website www.garlicworld.com.au