FIELD OF BLUE
Inside a pioneering family’s bold blueberry operation
RIDLEY Bell introduced blueberries to Australia, and started his own blueberry operation in 1978.
Working at a research institute, he brought in some exotic fruit plants including blueberries from North America.
He took them to some local markets and people were very interested, and it grew from there. Now his son Andrew Bell is the managing director at Mountain Blue, a blueberry growing and processing operation, which remains 100 per cent family owned and operated.
Mr Bell’s three siblings Natalie Bell, Terry Upton and Georgina Upton are also involved in the business.
“We have three farms in New South Wales and we have one farm in Atherton in NQ,” Andrew Bell said.
“We supplement that product with third party growers around Australia.
“On our main farm in Tabulam in New South Wales we have 333,000 plants.”
Mr Bell said they produce approximately 1500 tonnes of blueberries every year.
Mountain Blue is also branching out into raspberries which he hopes will be available by early 2019.
“On the whole across our network it’s been a good season,” Mr Bell said.
“But where our Tabulam farm is we’ve had a really cold winter and a lot of frost which has slowed the season down.”
Mountain Blue has frost fans installed in the orchard which helps the plants cope with the cold conditions.
“Where we are at Tabulam is fairly cold. So basically what they do is as the cold air settles, they blow all that cold air and stop the frost from settling,” Mr Bell said.
“They only work down to about -4 degrees and then they still have an impact but they start to struggle a bit beyond that.”
Mr Bell said his blueberry operation hasn’t been too affected by the drought.
“We take water security pretty seriously, we have a lot of storage,” he said.
“Blueberries actually like the dry conditions.
“If it’s too wet the berries swell and split and you can have mould issues.”
From August to November is peak season for blueberries in Australia, but Mountain Blue is expanding to try and provide blueberries all year round.
By growing blueberries in different climates in different areas of Australia, Mountain Blue is trying to create a 12 month a year blueberry season.
“We don’t quite harvest all year round but we’re very close to having 12 month production,” Mr Bell said.
“The gap right now is in Victoria and Tasmania to fill that January to late March window.
“We’re putting plants in now to fill that gap and we have a partner in New Zealand that grow our genetics.
“So by 2019 we’ll be very close to 12 months supply.”
The blueberries are all hand picked. Last year Mountain Blue hired 1100 people to pick and pack their blueberries.
“At the moment we harvest all by hand. So it’s a very labour intensive process,” Mr Bell said.
“We’re working on varieties and technology to be able to transition to machine harvesting.
“We’re looking at varieties that shake off the bush easily, that all ripen at once in a group, that don’t bruise easily.”
Mr Bell said it can be a slow
❝ ... We harvest all by hand. So it’s a very labour intensive process. — Andrew Bell
process.
“Especially managing that many people,” he said.
“Finding accommodation for everyone in a small town like Tabulam can be challenging.”
Mountain Blue has been helping to fund projects with World Vision.
“We donate 5c from each of the Eureka punnets we sell and donate it to the Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration Program, which World Vision has introduced to rural communities across Africa and Asia,” Mr Bell said.
“My parents have also been involved with building a few hospitals in Uganda.”
The family is also involved in projects in their local community.
“The Winsome Hotel which is a shelter for homeless men in Lismore. It was an old pub that was turned into a shelter,” Mr Bell said.
“My step mum is the president of the committee and her and Dad spend a lot of time down there. And we help support them financially.
“Giving back to the community is really important to our family.”