Meet the grower Kalfresh Organics

What are some of the organic produce lines you provide us with?

Kalfresh Organics supplies highly nutritious Certified Organic fruit & veg to stores. From green beans, mini capsicums, sweet corn, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, green cabbage & pumpkin – here’s a little of what goes into organic farming practices.

Tell us a bit about Kalfresh?

Kalfresh home base is in Kalbar in the beautiful Scenic Rim, close to Brisbane. We grow crops in four geographically-diverse regions, including the Lockyer Valley, Southern Downs & Bowen. We also work with a handful of family farms to plan year-round supply. In the Scenic Rim we work with organic farmer Ed Windley (an agronomist) & in North Queensland we are joint venture partners with the Jurgens family, led by Jamie & Melita Jurgens. Ed’s family has been farming as far back as the early 1940s. The Jurgens are 5th generation farmers who have been farming in the Bowen region since 1915.

Spring abundance

In spring, much of our organic production is happening in Bowen & Ayr. The Jurgens supply organic green beans, sweet corn, baby capsicums, pumpkin & mini melons. Whilst Ed on the Scenic Rim produces organic carrots & brassicas – broccoli, cauliflower, green & red cabbage.

What are some of the challenges you face?

Growing vegetables comes with many challenges – doing so organically steps the difficulty level up. Excellent soil, ground prep & investing time & energy into nurturing soil health is time consuming & important. The biggest challenges are the control of pests & weeds. Every season we make new learnings, adapt & change. Currently we are trialling in-field robots to help with planting & weed control.

Are there particular soil health methods you partake in or nutrients you are conscious of when farming?

We work with nature to grow nutritious, tasty vegetables. We actually use a range of beneficial insects to control pest insects (AKA good bugs that eat bad bugs). They are released by hand & by drone to protect the crop. One of the natural predators of mealybug & soft scale insects is Cryptolaemus, a native Australian ladybird beetle, she is one of our favourites.

Another hard worker on our farms are the bees! Did you know a bee must visit 27 times to pollinate our seedless melon variety, in contrast to seeded watermelons that only need two visits. Our beekeeper manages a network of hives that are moved every 28 days in the cool of the morning. Placing them in the right place for when the bees are ready to feed, both for their health & the productivity of crops.

A strategic crop rotation system is in place, allowing the soil to regenerate & rest. Cover cropping, mulching & composting are used to reduce seasonal pests & improve soil microbiology.

A legume like mung beans can help nitrify the soil for the next vegetable crop & sorghum has a similar root system to sweet corn, so it helps keep the soil's microbes active during the off-season.

Any inside recipe tips?

We love cooking our sweet corn on the BBQ – either in the husk, or dehusked. The mini capsicums we love whole & lightly charred on the barbeque/ hot plate. They’re also fantastic on pizzas & with antipasto platters. Thank you for supporting local