Coffee ripe for the picking
Coffee grower Jason Jaques is full of beans. The farmer is two weeks into his harvest after an earlier ripening this year. “The coffee is looking sensational,” he said.
COFFEE grower Jason Jaques is full of beans.
The Mareeba farmer is two weeks into his harvest after an earlier ripening this year.
“The coffee is looking sensational,” Mr Jaques said.
“All the farms had a bit of early ripening, which we picked a little early and now we are in a full swing harvest.”
Jaques Coffee Plantation has about 85,000 Arabica coffee trees on 34ha.
The Tablelands’ coffee industry shifted about 95 tonnes of crop last year with Mr Jaques’ plantation accounting for more than half of that.
“The Tablelands is the perfect area,” he said. “The climate is suited to mechanically harvesting coffee, whereas coastal areas are too salty.
“You need the altitude above sea level. Even further south of the Atherton area coffee won’t grow. It is too high, too cold and too frosty.”
Harvested beans are processed and dried before being packaged and trucked away.
The Jaques family, including brother Robert, offer farm tours at their tourist cafe and restaurant on Leotta Rd.
Mareeba District Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association president Joe Moro said coffee crops drew tourists to the region.
“It is not just an agricultural side, it has strong link to the tourism market as well,” Mr Moro said.
Mr Jaques, 37, said coffee tourism was very important for the business.
“Tourism basically allows us to sell whole crop valueadded,” he said.
The Jaques family started farming on the Tablelands in 1979. They expanded about five years ago and Mr Jaques reckons it has been perfect timing as the demand rises.
“The change has been phenomenal,” he said.
“The whole farm is producing now … the demand for coffee is high.”