Tassie orchardist finds a silver lining in 2020

It’s been a strange year for the farmers of Australia.

Brought to you by Woolworths

It’s been a strange year for the farmers of Australia. Lockdown, disruption to freight logistics, and communication hurdles have presented challenges to many but Ian and Andrew Smith, the father and son team who supply to Woolworths’ Macro range from their farm R&R Orchards in the Huon Valley, have been surprised they’ve also counted a few wins.

“2020 has been challenging for everyone and we’re no different,” says Andrew. “But Tasmania has probably been the best place in the world to deal with this.” His family orchard in the Huon Valley has been operating since 1888, under the careful watch of four generations of Smiths. Like the rest of Australia, Andrew and Ian prepared for the worst in March, when Tasmania declared a state of emergency.

Surprisingly, after a short lockdown and a period of adjustment, it’s been business as usual at the orchard for the last three months. Better than business as usual actually - business is thriving. “Organic apple sales have been strong through the whole time and organic and packaged food has seen significant growth,” says Andrew. With Australian borders closed, supporting local producers has taken on a new meaning this year.

This isn’t the first difficult year for the family-run orchard. The Smith family, and the apple industry broadly, have known their fair share of troubles. The R&R orchard converted to organic processes in the late 1990s in response to a decline in the industry. “In the 1960s, Tasmania was the largest apple grower in the southern hemisphere,” Andrew says.

“But changes in trade relations and emerging economies saw the slow demise of the industry from 1972 through to the early 1990s. I came into the business as a 16-year-old in 1986 and was sick of feeling like a threatened species.”

Andrew convinced his father to take the business organic in the 1990s. This decision meant big changes to the way they managed their crops and reacted to the environment. Organic orchards don’t use herbicides, tend weeds mechanically instead of using chemicals, and don’t post-treat their crops.

When they need to use protectants, to remove black mould or control codling moths for instance, they use gentle products that are compatible with the soil and water systems in their region.

Organic orchards undertake more certification than your average orchard and reacting to the environment is a precise art form, developed over generations, and the market in Australia is growing every year.

“In the 1990s we couldn’t sell everything as organic, the market was in its infancy in Australia,” says Andrew.  But now, “The future of farming in Australia has never looked better, Aussies are becoming more parochial in their buying habits.”

Woolworths Fruit Manager, Warwick Hope says, "The partnerships we have with family-owned growers like the Smiths are particularly important to us and we're pleased to help them build on their long heritage to continue innovating and expanding.

"We're continuing to see growing demand from customers for organic fruit and veg, increasing at about 20 per cent each year. R&R Smith is helping us feed customers' appetite for organic apples and we're excited to be working with them to develop their new variety of apple.”

Organic apple sales have been strong through the whole time. Source: iStock

EVERYONE NEEDS A HELPING HAND

Growing support from the community is a comfort for farmers like Andrew who face challenges beyond the logistics posed by lockdown. “New Zealand and America can freight product to Sydney cheaper than we can,” says Andrew.

And for the agricultural industry, hurdles at every stage of the food chain will continue to be exacerbated by climate change. Many farmers have already had to reassess production chains and shore up access to resources. 

However, backers like Woolworths are offering funding grants to develop solutions to tricky problems. Andrew and the R&R Orchards team was one of the inaugural recipients of Woolworth’s research and development grant in 2018.

“The money we received has gone towards purchasing the commercial license for a new apple variety,” says Andrew. "The apple was selected from a Belgium apple breeding program; we wanted an apple that could be produced with fewer inputs, with excellent storability that could be marketed late in the year and not break down in the fruit bowl or the fridge.”

Location also brings certain advantages. “Today in a changing climate, I find myself on the Huon River with a generation of water security…this offsets some of the disadvantages we face in terms of cost of production and gives me enormous confidence,” says Andrew.

Keep an eye out for Andrew’s new apple variety, which will hit shelves in 2023.

R&R supplies organic apples for Woolworths' own Macro organic range, sold only at Woolworths. Woolworths sources 100% of its apples from Australian growers. To meet more growers, head here.