How do you become a farmer? Some people are born into the industry and take over from their parents or family members, while some people start working on farms in their teens and progress to management or ownership. For Dominic Shrubb, a construction site manager in the UK, it was a bit different.
The journey started in 2019 when Dominic and his partner Mery who is Peruvian, inherited 20 hectares of land from Mery’s father in region of Cusco, Southern Peru. They saw an opportunity to cultivate something, but were uncertain about a suitable crop.
"After conducting soil and water testing, they identified the potential for Hass avocado production due to the tropical climate in the area and the high demand for Hass worldwide. This led to the establishment of their company, Just Ripe Ltd."
However, sourcing avocado trees posed a challenge as they aimed for independence without signing contracts with larger companies. Eventually, the couple connected with a local grower in Limatambo, who played a pivotal role in installing the irrigation system.
Dominic said the support from the local community has been amazing. The team successfully cleared and prepared the entire land and completed the first phase of planting in 2019. Then COVID hit!
“It was very frustrating we’d invested a lot of money and time in the project, but due to travel restrictions and the inability to be on-site, we faced challenges in overseeing the developments for a couple of years. The remote management from the UK required placing a substantial amount of trust in others and it was a collaborative effort and reliance on trustworthy individuals, such as Josue Silva, who played a crucial role in the project's progress. When we finally got back out in 2021 it was amazing to see what had been achieved. It is a large project for the area and the only one growing the Hass variety as the local farmers grow the traditional varieties for the local market.”
At the moment only five hectares have been planted with plans to expand gradually and Dominic is hoping to get between 8-10 tonnes per hectare this season and to increase yield as the trees mature.
“We planted the trees in 2019 and have been very lucky with the weather and we have seen exceptional growth. We are going into this slowly and intend to plant an additional hectare each year in the beginning and if this successful, we will up this to +3 per year. We would love to have the whole 20 hectares in production, but will have asses it each year.
"Currently, due to limited production volumes from the first harvest were exported to the US through a third party. However, our long-term goal is to independently export worldwide."
Dominic who still works as a construction site manager, while his partner, now fiancée, manages the day to day operations of the avocado farm, said that ten years ago he would never have dreamed that he would be growing avocados in Peru a few years down the line.
For more information:
Dominic Shrubb
Just Ripe
[email protected]