Farmers’ new future
Replacing wheat with jojoba
THIS week in Rural Weekly we talk to Judy and Kim FeltonTaylor who traded their wheat crop for a jojoba plantation.
The couple decided to take on a new venture when they started their jojoba plantation in 1995.
After they stopped growing wheat they were looking for something they could grow using the assets and resources they already had.
Their jojoba plantation takes up 15ha, with 15,000 trees on their property 50km northeast of Goondiwindi.
“We tried to plant 1000 plants in spring and 1000 plants in late summer every year,” Mr Felton-Taylor said.
“That’s how we started off. About 2000 per year. We went into a fairly steep learning curve.
“You plant approximately 90 per cent females and 10 per cent males. You don’t grow it from seed but for a cutting. If you grow it from seed you get 50/50 males and females.
“But we grow it from cuttings to get 90 per cent females and 10 per cent males because only the female plants provide seed.”
Jojoba plants flower in August/September and provide seed from January until March.
“The seed is about the size of a peanut,” Mr Felton-Taylor said.
“The seed is 50 per cent oil product. They are self-shedding, they fall off the ground.
“We converted a small wheat harvester to pick the seed up off the ground.
“The average yield is approximately half a tonne per hectare of seed.”
Jojoba is a desert plant, which appealed to the couple.
“That’s one of the reasons we chose it. We can grow it without irrigation,” Mrs Felton-Taylor said.
“Most jojoba is grown in dryer climates with irrigation. There are very few who grow it without irrigation.” Pick up Rural Weekly in tomorrow’s The Chronicle.