Family orchard goes organic

A FAMILY orchard is going organic under the care of the next generation, writes GAIL THOMAS

Growing multiple varieties has long been a strategy used by orchardists to spread risk - and having off-farm skills as well is an added advantage in these seasons of change.

When Katie Finlay and her husband, Hugh, came home to run the family orchard at Harcourt, in central Victoria, they were prepared to trade their urban and international careers for life on the land.

Katie ran her own secretarial business in Melbourne, while Hugh was an author and editor of Lonely Planet travel guidebooks for 16 years.

Katie, now a fourth-generation orchardist, said she never lost her connection with the farm, which she returned to 11 years ago, at the age of 34.

However a run of dry seasons, low water allocations, a bird plague and a bad frost left the couple in need of extra income.

"Hugh called on his previous skills to get editing work with an international development bank, and has retained the job ever since," Katie said.

"The combination of the flexibility of working from home and the extra security of off-farm income has proved invaluable."

Katie and Hugh now own the farm and Katie works on it full-time.

It covers 22ha, 10ha of which is orchard, and nestles in the foothills of Mt Alexander.

"In my grandfather's day orchards were called gardens, hence our name, Mt Alexander Fruit Gardens," Katie said.

Katie's father, Merv, has retired from active duty in the orchard, but still grows nursery stock for replanting.

"Dad has grown thousands of apple, peach, nectarine, plum, apricot and cherry trees for replanting, saving us thousands of dollars," Katie said.

"He has also allowed us to change the farm's direction by going organic."

The Finlays are in their final year of organic conversion and expect full certification after their next audit.

They don't use chemical sprays or artificial fertiliser and rely solely on compost and compost tea.

Katie said it was taking time to develop a healthy soil and production had dipped, due in part to lower-than-average rainfall, but she expected yields to eventually return to pre-conversion levels.

The orchard includes almost 80 varieties of fruit, including cherries (16 varieties), peaches (13), plums (12), apples (11), pears (nine), apricots (nine) and nectarines (seven).

"Having small amounts of a lot of different varieties is part of our risk management strategy, as problems often only affect one type of fruit," Katie said.

"The property is also planted to maximise the spread of harvest for each type of fruit, so we have the earliest and the latest cherry varieties that grow well in our climate, with a range of varieties in between.

"Our harvest is spread over a long period, almost six months, so we can keep our markets consistently supplied, but rarely have a glut of fruit that is difficult to sell.

"Most pests we used to spray for have either disappeared or are no longer a problem since we started growing organically.

"We have had no codling moth, even though we are using only pheromone ties for control."

Katie said the pears were growing well, despite nibbling from kangaroos.

She said the peach season began before Christmas with the heritage white peach anzac. The last clingstone, taylor queen, was picked at the end of March.

"The hot, dry weather of recent years has been extremely favourable for the peaches and nectarines, but this year's wet spring resulted in a particularly nasty case of curly leaf," Katie said.

"The trees are now growing out of it and should recover well."

Katie said more peaches and nectarines would be planted next year.

The only major pest in recent years had been peach aphid, controlled using a melia (white cedar) spray.

A new block of apricots has been planted on a V-trellis, with vertically trained branches rather than the traditional vase shape.

This made the most of natural vigour, with the fruit ripening early and able to be picked from the ground.

Katie said most plum varieties produced good yields in sometimes difficult circumstances.

"Apart from a slight borer presence a couple of years ago, they suffer no pest or disease problems," she said.

Apple trees planted as a central spindle have been slow to grow due to replant disease, caused when new apples are planted in an old orchard without the soil first being fumigated.

"We were unable to fumigate due to our organic status," Katie said.

She said the biological approach was to restore the natural microbe balance in the soil so that the bad nematodes were controlled by the the good nematodes and other soil organisms.

"We have been using the biological soil program for the past few years and our apple trees have shown good growth and vigour this spring," Katie said.

"Next winter, we will be planting more apricots, peaches and nectarines, as we can grow fruit here later than many growing regions in Victoria and fill a market niche.

"We are also planning to plant more plums, as we can successfully grow late varieties that have few competitors in the market.

"We are confident that there is still a healthy, growing market for high-quality organic produce."

Katie said the orchard was approaching its limits.

"Organic production is quite intensive and doesn't lend itself to large-scale operations," she said.

"We prefer to keep our business to a manageable size, so we can maintain our personal involvement and don't have to manage a large workforce."

The Finlays use the Willing Workers on Organic Farms program, by which travellers work in exchange for food and board.

"We also employ a couple of casual workers at busy times and our children and their friends help with cherry picking," Katie said.

"Our harvest goes for six months, from November until April, and we open the farm for the cherry season from mid-November until the end of December each Friday."

The Finlays sell at the wholesale Melbourne market, the weekly market at Wesley Hill, near Castlemaine, and farmers' markets.

"We offer mail-order for the whole season through the online shop on our website," Katie said.

She said despite the lower production volumes, they had continued to reduce costs and improve marketing.

Last season, the gross return was $5.40/kg, a 36 per cent increase on the previous year.

"We believe we have been able to increase our productivity by not having to cope with the massive price increases being experienced by conventional growers for chemicals and fertilisers," Katie said.