One of South Australia's leading vegetable and salad growers says the industry is starting to change for the better.
Swanport Harvest says one of the factors has been the lucky breaks that have seen a national demand for iceberg lettuces reaching "exceptional" levels. Cold snaps and Tropical Cyclones in other districts have created a supply shortage, which has seen production at the company increase marginally by 15-20%.
"Victoria and Queensland had more difficult weather conditions than we did and their quality was affected," Managing Director Don Ruggiero said. "They had a lot more and bigger issues, which created a bit of a shortage on the market. We will trade a little stronger this winter than we did last winter because we have established some pretty firm markets because we were in a position where we could supply where other suppliers couldn't."
Mr Ruggiero says it took good crop management, to control the weather problems at his property in South Australia. "It's been a bit tricky, because the weather got a bit humid which is unusual for here at that time of year," Mr Ruggiero said. "So we had to manage our crops differently. When you get humidity around, you have to be careful of leaf rotting.”
Swanport Harvest primarily focuses on premium wrapped lettuce under its own brand Staycrisp, which is grown and packaged on-site at its property in Murray Bridge, east of Adelaide in South Australia.
It supplies 50% of its produce to South Australia and the Northern Territory and 50% to Victoria.
A small part of the business, or 20% of its production, is broccoli and cauliflower, but Mr Ruggiero admits he is not sure how much longer it will be sustainable to grow these vegetables.
"One minute you are making money out of it, next minute you're not," Mr Ruggiero said. "The inconsistent weather and humidity has affected the broccoli, and we couldn't really salvage some crops because it’s been too affected and didn't meet specifications."
But the second generation farmer says he has not always had the success achieved over the past year. After being in the industry for 43 years, Mr Ruggiero admits there has been times he has thought about following other growers out of the industry.
"Prior to the past 8 months, it was a nightmare being a grower," he said. "We did not make a profit for three years. We were on the verge of pulling out and saying this is too hard. One of the other main factors is that most producers in lettuce, cauliflower and broccoli were in the same position, and they got out. Some went broke. There are less growers around than five years ago. The ones who are left are getting smarter and saying I won’t grow that (product) for that price."
Mr Ruggiero is optimistic that after plenty of hard work, it has now reached a level that can become the new "normal".
"Guys like me who hung around in there and made it work, we should be able to sustain this now and get some stability, he said. “We can only hope that what we have seen, moving forward, that we see similar pattern."
For more information:
Don Ruggiero
Swanport Harvest
Phone: +61885324421
[email protected]
http://www.staycrisp.com.au
