Berry season has just peaked for Western Australian growers, and the prices, volume and quality have all lived up to expectations, despite some overlap with fruit coming from Eastern states. “We pick from the end of May through to December, so very early fruit, and peak season is August and September,” says Marek Fisher, Manager of Regan’s Ford Estate, and son of the property founder, Derek. “Overall volumes are well up on last year, but that’s to be expected.”
The Gin Gin based blueberry grower has more than made up for crop losses experienced when cyclonic weather came through the area last year. “We’ve got 30,000 plants in the ground, half of those are probably one year old. We’ll probably do 45 tonnes of fruit this year, compared to 25 tonnes when we had to stop last year,” says Mr Fisher. “By the end of the year we’ll have planted another 40,000 plants. That will mean production will more than double to around 100 tonnes of fruit predominantly for the domestic market.”
Protecting the crops, guaranteeing a good eating quality and minimal impact from weather and pests don’t leave a lot of second rate berries for frozen, and require investment, Mr Fisher says. “We aren’t growing big open farms with automated machine processes. You’d need to be growing on 1,000 hectares unprotected with about 10% second grade to do good volume of frozen berries, and we use birdnets and hothouses. That costs money.”
The breeding requirements the Fishers are focused on are about timing of when the plants fruit, and when they flower, to extend the WA season out further, Mr Fisher says. Regan’s Ford Estate blueberries are sold on the retail market as Sugarland Blues, and Smart Berries, in Coles supermarkets.
Labour costs, competition keep WA blueberries expensive.
Labour costs, and accommodating seasonal workers on the farm more than an hour outside of the nearest big city have been the biggest challenges this season according to Mr Fisher. “When it costs $1.10 to produce a punnet, compared to 30 or 40 cents in cheaper producing countries such as Chile, or Mexico we compete against a lot of fruit that’s dumped on the east coast of Australia.” Because of cheaper production costs elsewhere, Mr Fisher says the farm will continue to supply around 95% fresh blueberries, because it isn’t feasible to produce frozen berries for as little as $7 per kilo. “Our frozen berries are sold to breweries and bakeries, so it’s not a lot.”
The farm is this year employing 35 workers directly, and 10 via contractors, to work out what will best suit the business needs. “Workers are generally always happier when they’re employed direct,” says Mr fisher, “We have 25-30 beds on site, rented out on a daily basis and that keeps the workers happier too.”
Regan’s Ford originally started an olive grove, but the blueberry business turned out to be more profitable, and so the Fishers diversified five years ago into blueberries. “The returns in the olive grove weren’t what we expected them to be around 8-9 years ago, so we diversified into blueberries. It’s a more intensive crop, with high setup costs, but it’s still profitable.”
For more information e-mail Marek Fisher marek.bf@gmail.com