Taste ‘n See: Neighbourhood love farms some of Australia’s best strawberries

NEIGHBOURHOOD love has emerged as a crucial piece of the puzzle that comes with farming some of Australia’s best strawberries.

Top shelf: Farming is a family affair at Taste ‘N See with founder Merv Schiffke still very hands on and assisted by (standing) Kylie, David and Braydon Fairweather, Tahlia and Jane Stothart, Tara Mcglinn, Mitchell Denman, Kade Harris, Letitia Spriggs and Marilyn Schiffke, and (kneeling) Laura Wells and Dudley Spriggs, and Tracey Denman and Jesse Mcglinn.

2017 HORTICULTURE FARMER OF THE YEAR WINNER
TASTE ‘N SEE

Schiffke and Stothart families

BELLMERE, QLD

Merv Schiffke.

NEIGHBOURHOOD love has emerged as a crucial piece of the puzzle that comes with farming some of Australia’s best strawberries.

Family-run business Taste ‘N See grows 2.5 million strawberry plants, producing 1680 tonnes of fruit a year, at Bellmere, near Caboolture in southeast Queensland.

Its origins date back to 1990, when friends the Schiffke and Stothart families bought adjacent properties, combining their production to grow strawberries initially for the wholesale market.

In 2003 both families agreed to sell their strawberries to Coles, shortly after launching the Taste ‘N See brand.

The brand now has 38 hectares under crop (19 hectares in each family), growing fruit that is all marketed first-grade and sold to Coles stores along Australia’s east coast in 350g punnets. They achieve top-grade status — and premium prices — through careful growing and packing methods initiated on farm.

“We’re now into the second generation of farming and we’re just like one family. We always do everything together, meeting with the fertiliser company, talking about inputs, making future decisions,” said Laura Wells, Taste ‘N See growing manager and daughter of business co-founders Merv and Marilyn Schiffke.

The business is firmly focused on the future and, as such, the families last year began the biggest-ever transition on the farm. They trialled 5.5 hectares of hydroponically-grown strawberries on outdoor tables, which allow for a significant increase in production (64,000 plants a hectare compared to 38,000 in field conditions).

This year about 60 per cent of the farm will move to tabletop hydroponics, making Taste ‘N See one of the early adopters of this production method.

Other farm systems will also change in the transformation, which is costing about $160,000 a hectare. Irrigation will move from overhead and T tape, to an entirely computerised injection dripper-feed system. Harvesting will switch from “backbreaking” ground work, to bench-level manual labour. Chemical use will be reduced, while threats from pests — will be eliminated.

This vision, and aim to produce the best-quality fruit it can, makes Taste ‘N See ideal winners of The Weekly Times Coles 2017 Horticulture Farmer of the Year.