James - Nannup Fresh Fruit
James from Nannup Fresh Fruit stands in a row of apples.
Who are you?
I'm James from Nannup in Western Australia, a 6th generation Orchardist and Beef farmer. Our property I believe is on the split between Bibbulmun and Wadandi Country.
how did you get into farming?
I've always loved being on the farm since I was a kid, it always seemed to be a natural progression for me to return home to the farm and continue the operation, which now consists of 20 HA of Stonefruit and Pomefruit orchard, as well as running 220 beef cattle.
Favourite job on the farm?
To pick a favourite job for me is very hard luckily, but a few I enjoy are: making hay and silage, picking fruit with the crews, spreadsheeting ideas on Excel and working to improve our fruit growing techniques. This is by no means my entire list of jobs I enjoy, I'm just lucky there's only a few I don't.
Biggest learning curve or milestone so far?
Certainly the biggest learning curve for me so far has been staff management. It is a key part to our business, without our great team it doesn't work. So it is certainly a skill I am trying to refine and improve upon all of the time.
How would you describe what you do vs industrial farming?
The industrial farming question always irks me slightly, as what is the definition of industrial farming? Our operation now has high production, highly intensive 2D Apple growing systems, as well as a beef operation that is constantly feed budgeted, rationed and weighed to ensure optimum growth rates. If you are going to be profitable as a business going forward in our industries, I think we need to embrace some good learnings and systems from industrial agriculture and bring back to our own businesses. So I think what our operation is now is heading towards industrial farming, but to remain in the industry that's what we must do.
What has changed in your farming practice since the pandemic?
We have significantly changed our marketing system for our fruit since COVID, as pre COVID we relied on selling half of our fruit crop through door to door fruit boxes and small scale supply to local retailers, with the remainder being sold through the Perth markets. As we struggled for staff in the seasons of 2020, 2021 and 2022, we have switched to totally bulk selling through the Perth markets, which has actually improved our picking and packing efficiency within the fruit operations, so it was actually a good decision looking back at it now.
A tool you couldn't live without?
The one tool I couldn't live without is definitely my motorbike, I have to travel backwards and forwards around the farm a lot so having the motorbike makes life very easy.
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