Qld strawberry farm beating pests with a giant 'bug vacuum'
New technology from the US is helping a Queensland farmer to grow perfect strawberries all year round. See how they do it.
Nothing brings Brendon Hoyle greater joy than seeing juice-stained smiles on the faces of visitors to his Queensland strawberry farms.
The art of growing the perfect strawberry, with a smooth conical shape and firm glossy skin, that delivers the right balance of sweetness and a hint of acidity on first bite, has been a passion for the 46-year-old horticulturalist who runs Ashbern Farms.
However, maintaining high-quality fruit production in spring has been a challenge due to pests targeting his organic crop. New technology from the US, in the form of a unique ‘bug vacuum’ is allowing Ashbern Farms to produce the perfect strawberries all year round.
“The bug vacuum has been a game changer, it has solved a big problem,” Brendon said.
“Quality is such a massive part of what we do, we work hard to produce the very best quality strawberries in terms of flavour and look all year round, to instil confidence in our customers.”
DIFFERENT PROPERTIES
Ashbern Farms produces 5.5 million punnets of strawberries a year from two distinct properties; a traditional summer strawberry farm on 30 hectares of rich Granite Belt country at Stanthorpe, which grows the summer crop from October-May.
And, an additional 30 hectares of winter strawberries, 4 hectares of which are certified organic, three and a half hours up the National Highway, in the shadows of the Glass House Mountains.
The Sunshine Coast hinterland farm produces an abundant crop during the winter season, but the organics can suffer through the spring due to pests and disease, which don’t respond to common organic pesticides.
“We can’t use traditional chemicals which is the normal go-to for pests and disease,” Brendon said. “Spring brings out the challenging pests; they’ll chew on the flowers and distort the shape of the fruit or taint the fruit taste. Rutherglen bug was getting so bad, in a typical season we’d have to stop picking because the quality just was not up to scratch, so it was something we needed to combat to keep the quality of the fruit high.”
Brendon and his business partner Jon Carmichael, whose family are pioneers of the Queensland strawberry industry, came across a unique hydraulic vacuum which was developed by the California Polytechnic Institute (CalPoly).
“We had seen it being used in the US, and CalPoly put the plans for it up, which we were able to adapt. We built it at Stanthorpe, and brought it up to the Sunshine Coast to trial it, and were happy with the results, so we made it even bigger, and we are using it to great effect,” Brendon said.
The bug vacuum is a hydraulic fan that operates at high speed. It sits inside a cover that hugs the 650mm wide strawberry beds. The strawberries are grown on plastic covered beds to keep weeds under control and the roots warmer in winter. The vacuum sucks up anything sitting on the plant, and kills the bugs as they are forced through a fine grate sitting on top of the fan.
“The bug vacuum has extended the life of the plants and kept production up right to the end of the season. We found we could tackle Rutherglen bug, Strawberry bug and even Queensland Fruit Fly,” said Brendon, who was awarded Australian Organic Farmer of the Year in 2022.
NEW BEGINNING
Brendon Hoyle studied agriculture in Zimbabwe, where he grew tobacco and roses, and arrived in Australia in 2004, following the chaotic and violent Land Redistribution program which forced white farmers off their land. He landed a job on a cattle station in Central Queensland, helping manage the organic beef and broadacre cropping enterprise, furthering a deep interest and passion for organically grown food. It was here that he met his wife Ashleigh, who had also fled to Australia from Zimbabwe.
In 2006, the young couple moved to the Sunshine Coast to be closer to her family.
They forged a new beginning at Strawberry Fields, a popular pick-your-own tourist farm on the coast, owned by industry pioneers Maurie and Von Carmichael.
They managed Strawberry Fields for a decade, under the leadership of Jon and his wife Bernadine when Maurie and Von retired. In 2016, Brendon and Ashleigh, and Jon and Bernadine, created Ashbern Farms.
“When Jon and Bernadine wanted a change from intensive strawberry production, we came together and the partnership has gone from strength to strength,” Brendon said.
With a shared passion for organics, Jon and Brendon sought different ways of growing things.
“Everything we do as farmers is about providing nutrition for people. It’s not just a job or a business, there’s a deeper meaning in the nutrition side of things and human health, and that comes from soil health.”
They aim to harvest 2.9 million kilograms of strawberries each year, with fruit sent to Woolworths, Harris Farm as well as the markets in Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, and Adelaide.
While the Sunshine Coast farm is not open to the public, at Stanthorpe, the gates are open to ‘pick your own’ visitors from October to May each year.
Pick Your Own trails are popular across the Granite Belt region, and has diversified income to the business. Visitors wander through the strawberry beds searching for the biggest and brightest then stop for coffee, and homemade strawberry ice cream afterwards.
“Strawberries are even better when they have been in the sun, and they taste very different when they are straight off the farm. We often see families where kids have said they don’t like strawberries, but are converted when they have tried them fresh,” Brendon said.
“We are constantly checking our soil, checking our quality, to make sure we can offer the best experience in the punnet, and it’s a great feeling when you see someone enjoy it. It’s like ‘yes, we did it!’”
WELCOME CHANGE
Ashbern Farms are currently enjoying a good season, which is very welcome after a few tough years. The strawberry industry has not been immune to recent cycles of drought and flood, and challenges finding a steady supply of workers. And of course, in September 2018, the industry faced an unprecedented crisis when a sewing needle was found in strawberry. Ashbern Farms was one of many who responded swiftly, after sales plummeted overnight. They installed a $30,000 metal detector, meticulously scanning every piece of fruit along the packing line. Hoyle says the industry has bounced back stronger, with a greater understanding of how to tackle issues when, and if, they arise.
“Food security is at the absolute forefront of what we do, but even today, some years on, it’s extraordinary to think we had to do that.”
When shortages of casual pickers arose, they joined the PALM scheme, and now have a team of Timorese workers returning each year, enabling them to pick all year round. Brendon says it has been life-changing for the business.
“We’ve been growing strawberries for twenty years; some years you are just surviving, you have challenges with weather and it can be difficult to have a long-term vision when all you are doing is surviving.
“We give our workers the best opportunity and conditions, and we aim to produce an excellent product that people enjoy, having a robust farm means that we can tackle any challenge that comes our way.”
