Organic Produce Set to hit Australian Markets

There are numerous farms in Australia that are starting to grow organic produce. Even though this was not a popular practice before, these organic products have penetrated the fresh markets in recent years. One of these farms is located in South Australia. Elridge Fresh Organics is growing this special produce since 1997. These organic vegetables are available all around the year and they have also started to export to Singapore. Moreover, the owners are also scouring for different export markets. They have transformed from being a local supplier to a nationwide supplier.

Some of the vegetables that are grown on this farm are cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, capsicums, potatoes and onions. These organic vegetables are grown under a protective cover. At the present moment, 95 per cent of the produce is being sent to the fresh markets. However, in this present season, the temperatures are a lot lower so the organic crop yield has also gone down a get per cent. Furthermore, even though all of the crops are grown all year long, the organic onions and potatoes have a growing gap of two months.

According to Shane one of the biggest challenges of growing organic is the weeds and pests, “We combat this by using beneficial insects, it’s also very important to have a balanced soil and work with nature, not against it.” This farm sells under their own brand and they are also planning to start their own website. This season the temperatures have lower than normal which puts the organic crops a bit behind. We try to have a year-round production on all of our organic crops, only potatoes and onions have a gap of two months but we can store onions to keep the supply going longer.