Queensland grape grower offers winter twist on tradition

How a Queensland farmer attempted the ‘impossible’ and met the demand for locally grown winter grapes.

Michael Shakes grows table grapes on his farm in north Queensland to cater for out-of-season demand.

QUEENSLAND’S  tropics  are  best known for growing mangoes and bananas.

Not grapes, which are best suited to the growing conditions of the Riverina and Sunraysia regions in the south of the country.

But when owner of Atherton IGA Michael Shakes was asked by customers why he was selling imported American grapes in winter, the 59-year-old had a radical idea.

“Customers were asking me why they have to eat grapes imported from the US.

“They still wanted the fruit, but didn’t want the imports,” said Michael, who has been in retail in the Atherton Tablelands for 30 years.

“I had a block of land and so decided to plant grapes.”

After planting the first vines two years ago, Fairview Orchards is now one of two growers he knows of in the area, harvesting fruit outside the traditional season between July and September from the 65ha property that has a total 40ha under vine.

Michael has a share in a wholesale shop at the Brisbane wholesale markets called Fresh Selections, through which he sells the grapes, also selling in wholesale markets along the eastern seaboard and with hopes to sell to Woolworths, Coles and Aldi nationally this coming season.

While Michael buys summer grapes for about $20-$30/box, his winter grapes can fetch a premium between $60-$90/box.

However, he added, as sweet as that figure sounds, it does not reflect the pain of establishing a new crop in far north Queensland.

“It’s bloody hard to grow grapes in the tropics.

“When I first had the idea I told some farmers and they said I was a fool.

“I just said I’ll be right, because you’ve got to be positive.

“Just establishing has cost me twice as much as I thought it would.”

SETTING UP

MICHAEL visited Carnarvon, north of Perth, to investigate varieties produced by two breeders: Grappa and Sheehan, in total growing six varieties of green, red and black.

He hired a farm manager with Western Australian grape growing expertise and — based on Carnarvon grower production — opted for a V trellis system in an attempt to get greater canopy cover to avoid sunburn.

“It’s too early to say whether it’s a system that’s successful but we have had losses to sunburn.”

To minimise that loss, Michael has erected retractable plastic covering across vines but also will focus on red and black varieties in coming years, which are less susceptible to sunburn.

He said another obstacle was the vigorous growth of vines.

“They never stop growing. They run like a racehorse, so we have to prune twice a year.”

After the end of harvest, they prune and then again in March.

Fairview Orchards could have two harvests, but Michael said this was not a great business decision because he couldn’t compete with summer fruit prices, and yield was reduced from annual harvesting.

Michael is working with a specialist to avoid a summer crop.

“Our aim is for these varieties not to yield more than 35t/ha, which is about two boxes per vine.

“We’re not up to that yet.

“This year it was about half a box/vine and it’s too early to say what the average yield this season will be, but we don’t want the yield too high, otherwise it will impact fruit quality.”

STRETCHING OUT

MICHAEL is also experimenting with different rates of seaweed fertiliser and gibberellic acid which helps to stretch bunch length. “Our aim is to get 65 berries per bunch with each berry about 12g and 40 bunches to the vine.

“Because the berry is very heavy we need to stretch the bunch to give greater room for the berries, which helps eliminate shatter.”

One of the greatest hurdles to growing grapes in the tropics has been the constant threat of downy mildew, with an average annual rainfall over 1m, for which they rely on a preventive spray program.

The flip side of that is that the farm is never short of water, with drip irrigation throughout the vines, and Dimbulah hardly ever experiences frost.

Fruit is packed in bags in the paddock and then taken to their new $1 million packing shed where it is blast cooled to 4C.

“I thought supermarkets were expensive, but then I started a vineyard.”

Michael grew up in New Zealand, where he studied a two-year diploma in horticulture and in his 20s worked in a variety of orchards and even had a short stint on a beef farm in the UK.

He bought his first store in Dimbulah and then the Atherton supermarket in 1990, starting with 35 staff and now with 200.

“I look back now at the idea of growing grapes and say ‘what was I thinking?’.

“I know the market is there, so that’s a tick. Land and water, tick. Varieties at this stage look promising. Tick.

“Does anyone know how to grow them here and then get a consistent product? That’s a question mark.

“There are early signs it’s promising, but it’s too early to be definitive.”

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