Noosa Black Coffee owner responds to social media backlash over call for volunteers

A Noosa region coffee grower who has lost half his harvest due to the weather has also faced social media backlash over a call for volunteers to help.

A Noosa region coffee grower who has already lost half of this year’s harvest has put out an urgent call to the community to help him hand-pick plants.

Peter Hinner also responded to Facebook comments calling on him to pay for workers instead.

Mr Hinner and wife Traecy own Noosa Black Coffee in Kin Kin.

They started the plantation in the early 2000s and have about 6000 trees.

Their usual harvest season is from mid-August to October, but the long summer and mild autumn has caused the coffee cherries to prematurely ripen this year.

Peter and Traecy Hinner at their coffee plantation in Kin Kin.

The unseasonal rain has also caused the plants to become extremely leafy and shade the gaps in the rows between the trees.

This means the ground remains too soggy to drive a harvester over.

The unseasonal rain has caused extremely leafy trees, which are shading the soggy ground.

The farmer said the coffee cherries were already falling off the trees, and once they hit the ground they were no good.

“We’ve already probably lost half of what is on the trees,” Mr Hinner said.

The grower said they must save some of the cherries to maintain their presence in supermarkets in the Noosa region and in some Brisbane stores next year.

The call was put out on social media for volunteers to hand-pick the coffee cherries on July 17, 2022, and it caused some backlash with some commenters saying the growers should instead pay workers.

Peter and Traecy Hinner’s coffee plantation at Kin Kin.

Mr Hinner said the only reason commercial coffee plantations existed in Australia was because of mechanical harvesting.

“If we had to hand-pick every year, we’d go broke instantly,” he said.

He said growers had not escaped inflationary stings either, with the price of fertiliser alone increasing 150%.

“It’s tough, we don’t normally ask for help or volunteer stuff, but we need serious help,” Mr Hinner said.

The grower is looking for up to 25 volunteers.

Mr Hinner said the volunteers would drink as much plunger coffee as they liked and lunch was on offer too.

“We were hoping for people in the community, from the direct area,” he said.

“It’s been shared a lot on Facebook and we’ve had larger groups from outside the area expressing their interest.”

To volunteer on July 17, phone [phone] or email [e-mail].

Originally published as Noosa Black Coffee owner responds to social media backlash over call for volunteers