Through the archives: Tacey family farm to close after 35 years

Peter Tacey and his family graced our pages this week, but this isn’t the first time they have been in The Weekly Times.

Peter Tracey first featured in The Weekly Times back in 1970 as an ambitious teenager. PICTURE: Supplied.

A lifetime spent in agriculture truly is sweet, if you ask Marg and Peter Tacey of Kialla, near Shepparton in Victoria.

But after 35 years operating Belstack Strawberry Farm, where families and their children can come and hand-pick their own berries right from the farm, it’s time for this couple to shut up shop and enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Marg said the response from customers had been overwhelming since the couple announced their retirement.

“They have so many memories of coming here with their children, and now they’re coming back with their own kids, coming out to pick the strawberries or to have a strawberry sundae,” Marg said.

“We’ve been going for about 35 years, and if we keep going for another 35 Peter will be about 106-years-old. It’s just time. We don’t have family to carry on the business, so we decided to shut the gates. Peter will continue to make his jam, but we’ll have a life, and we’ll get to be tourists for once.”

Peter and Marg Tacey, who own Belstack Strawberry Farm, are closing their strawberry farm after about 35 years in business.

This is not the first time Peter has graced the pages of The Weekly Times.

Coming from a pioneering farming family, Peter originally started in dairying, and in 1970 a teenage Peter was featured in the newspaper for his “fast milking rate that stunned experts”.

He milked an impressive 88 cows in just over an hour with a single side milk shed.

Peter Tacey graced the pages of The Weekly Times back in 1970, as a teenage dairy farmer. Source: Internal

Peter Tracey, left, in the weekly times on his strawberry farm.

But after a few years in dairying, he wanted to try something different, and stumbled into strawberry farming.

“Most of the time, we’ve enjoyed it,” Marg said.

“We’ve been through floods, high interest rates, and drought. But we’ve enjoyed it.

“This started out as a commercial farm, but we swung into tourism pretty quickly … about 70 per cent of our visitors come from Melbourne. They want to see where their food comes from. They want to bring their kids to pick the strawberries, and pat the animals. And as we’re biodynamic, they appreciate the clean food, too.”

“We’ll get to be tourists for once”: The Tacey’s are looking forward to their retirement.

While the Tacey family is exiting the agriculture industry, Marg said the future was looking bright for those forging ahead.

“It’s fantastic to see the direction the bigger producers are heading in, with all that technology,” Marg said.

“And it’s amazing the technology, which is going to make the horticulture industry very streamlines, and even more accurate.

“Australia needs to grow clean food, and be self sufficient. During these past few years of Covid, there has been supply issues at the moment, but it really shows the need to be self-reliant in agriculture. And people want to buy Australian-made.”