Vol. 19 No. 16
FREE PUBLICATION
Australian Editorial Award 2016
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
WHAT A PRIZE! A 2016 Ford Mustang represents the biggest prize ever offered by The Weekly Advertiser and radio stations MIXX FM and 3WM. Wimmera shoppers will have a chance to win the red sports car from October 31 in a package valued at more than $50,000. All shoppers need to do is fill in entry details at participating businesses. There will be 13 finalists established during a six-week promotion and all will randomly select keys during an outside broadcast at Norton Motor Group in Horsham on December 16. Only one of the keys will open a lock to the car, and the finalist who successfully opens the lock will win. Entry forms will be in shops from October 31. ACE Radio personalities Kaycee Bould and Nims Azoor and The Weekly Advertiser’s Mark Sulic are pictured with the Ford Mustang a lucky shopper will win. Picture: BONNIE SEVERIN
Wildflower boom A 2016 3WM MIXX FM
Wimmera Business Awards PAGES 23-26
IN THIS ISSUE
BY DEAN LAWSON
ward-winning Laharum cut-flower business Australian Wildflowers will increase its workforce from 35 to more than 100 in the next two years as it continues a strong push into the international export market.
The firm, fresh from winning Wimmera Business of the Year accolades, has a 35 percent annual growth target and a $1.3-million infrastructure development program underway at Laharum, reflecting its rapid expansion. Business owner and managing director Jo Gardner revealed the business, which started with a staff of four three years ago, had gone from having a sales turnover of $81,000 in
its first year of operation to $4.7-million last year. “We have pretty much flown under the radar,” she said. “At the moment we’re selling into overseas markets such as the United States, Holland, China, Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia. “We’re also providing 12,000 native posies a week for Woolworths and Coles supermarkets. “Every day I get surprised by what our business is doing for this region. “In three years we will have 100 people employed at our Laharum site. “Seventy percent of production will be export production and our focus will be on China. “I will be spending a week every six weeks in China for the next 12
months to develop that relationship.” Ms Gardner, who previously ran a herb business and dabbled in various regional leadership roles, and Julian Stoller, who for more than 40 years has been a retailer, wholesaler and grower of native cut flowers, own the business. “I was farming and had babies when Julian, who was a neighbour, came and knocked on the door and asked if I knew anything about bunching thryp, and it went from there,” she said. The business develops, grows, cuts, prepares, packs and sells ‘Gondwanaland’ flowers, which includes Australian and South African species. It taps into a total of about 607 hectares at farms at Mt Zero, 222, Mt Talbot, 182, and Lucindale, more
than 40, and has freehold lease agreements with 13 other farms ranging from 3.2 to 20 hectares. “At the moment 33 percent of sales are export sales and we also continue to see opportunities in the domestic market,” Ms Gardner said. “In the next two years there will be a 70-30 shift the other way. “It’s only going to get bigger. The hard thing initially was understanding the scale. “Last year we sat down and planned what it would all look like. “We said ‘right, that’s what we’re going to do and this is what we’ll need’. “It meant more staff and greater infrastructure planning.” Continued page 3
• Back-to-back Horsham Tidy Towns win • Cricket previews and reviews • Hornets action
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