Jay Berries is one of the first in Australia to grow the Chinese bayberry
There’s excitement aplenty at Wandin East as these groundbreaking berry farmers watch the development of an Australian first, the Chinese bayberry.
IT WAS a secret difficult to keep.
But now the secret is out, John and Jola Stewart are ready to shout it from the rooftops.
The couple runs Jay Berries, on 13 hectares at Wandin East, farming mainly strawberries, but also blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.
In an industry first, they are set to introduce a new berry, never before grown or marketed in Australia, and for which they - and a small handful of growers - have the exclusive rights.
“Most people have never heard of the Chinese bayberry,” John says. “It’s slightly citrusy, a unique flavour between a raspberry and blackberry, with a pip like a cherry. For several years we kept it secret. It had to be until we got the license. But now we’re nearly at the commercial stage we can talk about it and it’s quite thrilling. It’s one of only a few unique new fruits introduced into Australia as yet undiscovered by Australians.”
Jay Berries is one of a handful of growers trialling the Chinese berry across Australia, to test different growing climates, including members of John and Jola’s local growers co-op YV Fresh.
So buoyed by the predicted success of the bayberry are the couple that they envisage within five years they will be pulling out their conventional berry crops to be replaced with the import.
For now, though, John and Jola - together with their daughter, Justine, and son Jamie Jaworski (so many Js made Jay Berries the obvious choice of business name) - farm traditional crops.
About 80 per cent of the 13 hectares is dedicated to commercial strawberries, producing 80 tonnes to the hectare. The strawberries are harvested between October to late May and are sold to the Sydney wholesale markets and to YV Fresh.
In order to diversify the farm’s income, about five years ago the couple introduced pick-your-own berries in a separate section of the farm to the commercial crop, offering about one hectare each of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries (in an undercover polyhouse) to the public.
In addition they have polyhouses of heirloom tomatoes (1.5 tonne a year) and mini cucumbers (one tonne each year) sold to customers for gherkin pickling.
“Because Jola is of Polish descent, her parents would always grow these vegies in the backyard and so we just expanded the idea to make it semi-commercial,” John says.
For the commercial strawberries, the couple grows two varieties - Albion and San Andreas. Each year they rotate strawberry crops to rested ground, which has had a green manure crop, generally rye corn which is a non-host of one of strawberry’s greatest threats - charcoal rot. The green manure crop is hoed in around December to build up the organic content of the soil.
Mounded beds are prepared and a dressing of fertiliser applied, such as chicken manure. They cover the mound in a plastic layer, install drip irrigation and then the soil is fumigated with fungicides. They wait a month for residual fungicides to be released before planting.
Each year the Stewarts buy 100,000 strawberry runners (baby plants that shoot off from the main plant) from Toolangi Certified Strawberry Runners Co-operative and plant them between March and April.
To stop mound erosion, grass is grown in the furrows - although labour intensive they say the benefits are worth it.
Because strawberries are susceptible to disease - especially soft rot - they are sprayed through the season.
Instead of also spraying insecticide, the couple uses an integrated pest management system - biological controls of beneficial insects which are natural predators of the likes of two-spotted mite.
Once picked, strawberries are transported to the on-farm packing shed, pre-cooled to 8C “to remove field heat” and increase shelf life, packaged, cooled again to 2-4C and transported.
John and Jola’s you-pick berries are farmed differently to the commercial crop - largely to organic principles.
They say the risk of disease or pests crossing over from the you-pick crop to the conventional crop is worth it.
“Yes, the risk is increased, but it’s just something you cope with and put up with any losses. It’s worth it to diversify the business,” says John, who only employs seasonal casuals for picking and packing.
“What we lose in any crop we make up for in labour costs through you-pick.”
The couple started you-pick berries five years ago because they were tired of the annual price crash for strawberries that happens with the peak glut in November. “So we looked for ways to survive.”
They charge an entry fee of $3 for adults and children are free and then $6 a kilogram for strawberries, or $12 a kilogram for the other berries.
Unlike the other berries, strawberries have an eight-month harvest season, which provides a consistent income.
Blueberries are a perennial crop that can live for up to 50 years and are harvested in December.
John says they decided to plant the raspberries in a 1000sq m polyhouse not just because the crop is rain-sensitive, but also to offer you-pick customers an alternative crop on bad weather days.
Raspberries are also a perennial, living for about five years. Jay Berries has different varieties which allows a first harvest in late November to December and then a second autumn crop in April and May. Blackberries are a perennial, living up to 10 years and are harvested in December to February.
John and Jola use their berries to make cordials - produced off-site by the Old Tyabb Cordial Company, as well as Jola’s homemade jams, all sold in the farm shed-shop.
As for the bayberries, about six years ago the Stewarts - via fellow grower Henry Kita - were introduced to researchers working on experimental crops of bayberries.
The Stewarts planted some of the berries on their farm and three years later they blossomed and bore fruit - much to the astonishment of the researcher who doubted the ability of the crop to grow in cool climates.
At that point John approached YV Fresh “because you are stronger when you are united”, to negotiate the exclusive Australian license to the bayberry, which they secured in 2012.
Since then John has been one of seven trial sites across Australia, with 100 plants. He says after refining propagation, grafting and tissue culture techniques, full commercialisation will most likely begin in the next one to two years.
“I think within five years I’ll be farming mostly bayberries. The largest market will be export to China, but also in Australia as well,” he says.
John has high hopes not just for the bayberry but for other overseas crops not yet introduced into Australia. “This is where we see the future,” he says. “Labour, chemicals, packaging - costs are increasing continually. So we have to look for new crops and new developments where we can see greater demand.”
John says gone are the days when farming was an easy-going lifestyle career.
“To survive on a farm you have to look at every possible income stream. It’s not that opening line to John Denver’s song Thank God I’m a Country Boy - ‘Well life on the farm is kinda laid back’.”
FARM FACTS - Jay Berries
John and Jola Stewart run Jay Berries on 13 hectares at Wandin East, farming mainly strawberries, which produce 80 tonnes to the hectare and are sold to wholesale markets in Sydney and locally.
They also run a you-pick business, with smaller areas of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.
In addition they have polyhouses of heirloom tomatoes and mini cucumbers sold to customers for gherkin pickling.
Jay Berries is one of a handful of growers trialling the Chinese bayberry around Australia, to test different growing climates, including members of John and Jola’s local growers co-op YV Fresh.
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