Baldwin family puts focus on new ideas for Bairnsdale apple orchard
A new generation harvests fresh objectives and innovation at Picnic Point apple orchard, writes Sarah Hudson.
IN the Baldwin family of Bairnsdale in Victoria’s East Gippsland region, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
While succession planning for some farming families can be fraught, the handover of management of the family’s 32ha apple orchard from the older to the younger generation has been one of new opportunities.
Reg – who comes from a long line of apple growers in Tasmania – and his wife Mary started Picnic Point Farm in 1985.
While the couple still work on the farm, in recent years they have handed management to sons David and John, who oversee growing, with John’s wife Kirstabelle responsible for marketing, and daughter Sally, in charge of retail, returning to the farm in 2013.
The handover has seen new opportunities from value-adding to new plantings of smaller trees on trellis systems, as well as massive investments in water infrastructure, netting and cool rooms.
BALDWIN FAMILY
BAIRNSDALE
RUN Picnic Point apple orchard on 32ha
GROW four main varieties — gala, pink lady, fuji and Granny Smith’
PRODUCE about 250 tonnes of apples
HAVE shifted to more value adding in recent years
Picnic Point Farm has 10ha under apple orchard, or about 20,000 trees, growing four main varieties – gala, pink lady, fuji and Granny Smith – yielding an annual average 250 tonnes.
About half of that is sold wholesale through Priest Bros Orchards in Pakenham, to be packed for the wholesale market.
The other half is sold from the farm, including direct to fruit shops through East Gippsland, as well as their farm gate and farmers markets.
Five years ago the Baldwins began value-adding seconds fruit, making juice through Summer Snow Juice in Officer.
They sell juice in two litres, sparkling in 750ml and 330ml.
Working with Mount Markey Winery in Cassilis, they produce apple cider vinegar for retail in 375ml and bulk five litres with garlic for stock feed.
About three years ago, the Baldwins teamed with Totally Pure Fruits on the Mornington Peninsula to freeze dry apples, sold in 20g packets.
PICK OF THEM
IN addition to the apples, Picnic Point Farm grows small quantities of berries, cherries, plums, asparagus and rhubarb, sold through their farm shop and farmers’ markets.
They also grow an annual 16ha of lucerne, sold as silage, and fed to their small herd of 40 black Angus trade cattle.
Sally said since she returned to the farm in 2012, after studying engineering and science, changes to the farm have been made gradually.
“We all sit around the table, including mum and dad, to have meetings and decide on what needs to be done on the farm,” the 33-year-old said.
She said one of the biggest investments has been in water infrastructure.
While the orchard has long been irrigated with on-ground drip and sprinkler watering systems, four years ago the family first trialled overhead evaporative cooling misters to stop heat stress and sunburn of fruit.
“During extreme heat we can lose a fair portion of fruit from sunburn. Last summer alone it was 20 per cent,” Sally said.
“The evaporative cooling works by putting moisture in the air, which cools the air temperature around the whole tree.”
She said overhead sprinkler systems should be rolled out across the orchard by this summer.
The orchard has a water entitlement from the Mitchell River of 70ML and Sally said for both ground and overhead irrigation, the key was to ensure access to freshwater.
“The river gets salty every year around Christmas and with the drought last year it was salty by October.”
So in 2019 the family built an 11-megalitre lined dam, which they will fill from the river in early spring to ensure salt-free access to salt-free irrigation water.
While East Gippsland has had good rain in March and April, winter so far has been below average rainfall.
The younger generation of Baldwins have also rolled out new dwarf varieties of apples, grown on trellis, replacing older, larger trees as they lose production value.
NEW SHOOTS
THE orchard still maintains about a third of trees up to 20 years old, with new plantings designed for easier harvest, maintenance and access for machines.
New plantings are spaced 1m between trees and between rows of 3.5m, with trellis trees growing 4-5m.
The Baldwins opt for public varieties of apples, rather than newer trademark varieties, because, they are easier to access and there is a demand for pink lady and fuji.
Under Reg and Mary’s management, trees were draped in temporary bird netting, but the younger generation have over the past eight years rolled out permanent netting, at a cost of about $20,000/ha for materials alone, for birds, bats and protect against hail.
Sally added netting was easier to install on trellised system with smaller trees.
Management of trees is conventional, with the farm run with the help of four full-time staff, in addition to contract pickers, with harvest running late February to late May.
While wholesale apples are trucked to Pakenham during harvest roughly once a week, the Baldwins manually pack fruit for local retail markets.
Three years ago they invested in a long-term storage cool room, capable of holding up to 200 tonnes of apples.
“This now allows us to sell retail through the whole year,” Sally said.
Even though the farm is on the outskirts of Bairnsdale, the family were lucky to have no damage from the summer bushfires, with the smoke lingering weeks before harvest.
And while COVID-19 saw the farm gate shop close for April, they have since been business as usual.
With both David and John having young children, Sally said there may be another generation of Baldwin apple growers.
“John’s 22-month-old loves to get on the tractor.”
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