MEET THE MAKER STONE FRUIT GROWERS of this past winter,” says Nicole, going on to share that it’s good to diversify the locations in case of other weather events. “Now we’re so heavily invested in the business, financially and emotionally, we couldn’t imagine not doing what we’re doing. We’ve definitely weathered through some tough storms, but have strengthened not only the business but also our relationship,” Nicole says.
Cherries are a fleshy stone fruit from plants of the genus Prunus.
OBSERVING THE CROPS Calling Gaethan a “fruit-growing nerd”, Nicole proudly shares that her husband has travelled the globe to study the most effective growing techniques. “He loves the science behind fruit production and is always researching and looking at ways to improve our growing techniques with technology,” she says. The Cutris’ use of advanced technology methods ensures their crops produce highquality stone fruit each year. “We monitor irrigation using soil moisture probes located at different depths, such as 10–80 centimetres, every five minutes, as well as aerial imagery (heat maps and NDVI) and direct plant sensors (dentrometers). These systems ensure that we use the minimum amount of water necessary to sustain the crops,” Gaethan explains.
Photography: Getty Images
GROWING ORGANIC Further south, nestled in the foothills of Mount Alexander in Victoria’s Harcourt, Katie Finlay speaks of her husband, Hugh, with the same fondness, calling him a “self-confessed soil and microbe nerd”. The couple own Mt Alexander Fruit Gardens, a small-scale business that’s been in the family since 1971. The property is one of Harcourt’s longest-running orchards, having been planted in 1888 with Katie’s grandfather working on the farm when he was young. In 1998, the couple took over the farm from Katie’s father, Merv. “Dad decided to sell and I suddenly realised I couldn’t stand for the farm not to be in the family, so I found my ‘inner farmer’ and we returned home,” Katie says. For the first year or two, the couple did an informal apprenticeship with Merv before exploring different growing methods, such as diversifying crops and going organic. On their farm, they have 6500 fruit trees: cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples and pears. Katie shares that they have a policy to “grow as much diversity as possible, so we’ve got about 140 different varieties within those fruit types”. The diversity of the crops is what sets them apart from other fruit growers. “Because we sell at farmers’ markets (also wholesale and online), it works really well for us to have a really good range of different fruit each week during our harvest period. We harvest for a really long time, which is one of the ways we’re different from other commercial orchards, who generally have much fewer varieties and much bigger quantities,” Katie says. In 2008, Mt Alexander Fruit Gardens was certified organic. “Going organic made us realise we are much more soil farmers than we are fruit farmers.” Katie explains that in an organic system, if you don’t have the soil working and healthy, then nothing else works.
“Our trees’ nutrition comes from the soil, so the soil has to be healthy, full of active soil microbes, organic matter and worms. We have granitic sandy soil at the surface of all our crops, which gives fruit great flavour, colour and texture,” Katie says.
We’ve now got organic solutions for every pest or disease that has been a problem for us in the past. PESTS AND DISEASES As the Finlays have found out first-hand, growing organic doesn’t come without challenges. “Getting wiped out by fungal disease is one of our biggest challenges,” says Katie. “We don’t have access to fungicides that are often used in commercial orchards but each time we’ve had a wipeout, we’ve learned more about the health of our soil and how to build it up quickly. “When we first went organic and stopped using pesticides and spraying for woolly aphids, we noticed that within a year, all the woolly aphids had disappeared. Woolly aphids are one of the worst pests you can get as a farmer and we realised we were killing all the woolly aphids’ predators. “We don’t have a problem with those pests any more,” Katie shares, adding that has happened for quite a few other pests. “We were creating the problems by using the spray. Now we have an organic solution for every pest or disease that has been a problem for us in the past.”
FUTURE PLANS The Finlays own 24ha but only grow stone fruit on about 5ha of their farm. After receiving government funding, they’re in the process of setting up a new farming model. “We decided we wanted to bring other young farmers onto our farm to run farming enterprises alongside our orchard. Soon, we will be setting up an organic farming alliance that’s going to have us a micro-garden, a micro-dairy and a vermouth producer, and then maybe poultry, bees and a cafe down the track,” Katie says. “For Hugh and me, it’s simultaneously our growth plan but also our succession plan. We want to find a new way to create pathways for young farmers who don’t have access to land and at the same time find a way for us to gracefully step back from being farmers, yet still be here to mentor. We’re not ready to do that yet, but we want to set something up for when that time comes.” Kate Duncan is deputy editor of EatWell magazine.
A juicy peach is one of summer's simple pleasures.
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