US craves Aussie herbs
Six farmers in the Biloela region have turned from cotton farming to herbs.
Herbs grower Paul Stringer says their business has continued to grow since they changed farming practices 13 years ago.
“There’s six growers in a local company, marketing company I guess you could call it and all that product that goes through that company ends up in the tube,” he says.
He says most of the herbs that are seen in tubes in the supermarkets come from Biloela.
“Coriander and basil are our biggest sellers but we also grow all the other leafy herbs like parsley, chives, spring onion, lemon grass, oregano and marjoram,” says Paul.
“We’ve got summer and winter herbs and we try and grow them at the times when we get the best essential oils.
“Our busiest time of the year is the last three months where we still have coriander and we run into our basil season.
“Probably three months of the year is very busy but the rest of the year we do have herbs spread through there as well.
“So the product once it’s gone from here is processed, some of it’s frozen so they can take it at the optimum time and give that product all year round.”
He says having an agreement with a local company is a benefit for the six growers in the region.
“WE’ve got contracts, we know how much we’ve got to supply, we know what the price is before we plant and we distribute evenly among those six growers and that basically spreads the risk from our point of view.
“So if one grower has a problem then the other five make sure we fill the contract.”
Paul says the decision to leave traditional cropping and move to herbs was an environmental one.
“Well this area has predominantly been lucerne and cotton growing areas and some grain growing but this is a good return for water as far as irrigation water goes,” he says.
“That’s how the six growers got into it basically in the start when water supply was looking a bit sketchy so we were looking at alternatives and this one came up.”
He says the herb industry is growing.
“We’re experiencing good growth at the moment, we’re looking at about 20 percent a year so it’s ticking along quite well.
“They’re getting a big consumer growth in America at the moment, this product gets exported to 12 different countries and America is looking quite good at the moment.
“At this stage we’ve got no problem with keeping up with supply.”
He says they’ve grown organic produce for the last five years.
“It might sound a bit odd but they tend to look after themselves as far as pests go,” he says.
“We basically looks after its soil and it looks after our plant.
“The whole concept of organics basically is to make sure you’ve got your soils right and if you’ve got a well balanced soil, you don’t get disease problems in plants.”
He says they were lucky to get into the industry when they did.
“I think the climate in central Queensland really suits this type of crop but the market is probably the restricting factor,” says Paul.
“We’re lucky enough to be with this processing company that takes big amounts but I’m just not sure that opportunity is going to come around again anytime soon.”
He says this year they’ll produce about 300 tonnes of coriander and the same for basil.
He says the outlook for the herb industry is positive.
“I can’t see any major changes in the short term,” he says.
“We’re happy to keep going if everything keeps going at the other end.”
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