Historic Melbourne celery farmer to relocate as city creeps in
Schreurs & Sons grows 20,000 tonnes of celery a year as well as leeks, spinach, rocket and snow pea tendrils across six farms in and around Clyde in the city's south-east.
But the third generation producers are being forced to move further out where there is more space. "We're in the process of moving mainly because of the urban sprawl," co-owner Adam Schreurs said.
"Not long ago I walked out in the paddock and you look up and there's people looking at you out of their window and only 18 months ago they were all paddocks.
"It's just too busy and it's not an environment to farm in anymore."
In an unusual situation, it is the grower's own family selling off their main farm for housing.
While Adam and his two cousins own the vegetable business, the older generations own the land and want to take advantage of the higher land values since the area was re-zoned for urban use.
The new 358-hectare farm is at Middle Tarwin, 160 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.
After a successful trial last year, it is now full steam ahead converting the former dairy and cattle properties into a food bowl. With only a couple of vegetable producers in the region, Adam said the soil, climate and access to water convinced them it was the right move.
"I think there's plenty of land in Australia ... plenty of good land," he said.
"We've managed to find an area with a lot of water and a lot of water catchment area. But I think there's still plenty of areas left and with technology and piping these days we can move anywhere."
To read further and see pictures of the historic farm visit abc.net.au.
