A TRADITIONAL family orchard on the south western outskirts of Sydney is revamping its business to secure the future through engaging consumers.
Mark and Lynelle Silm have diversified from apple and stone fruit growing into value-added apple juice and are now building direct sales through pick-your-own fruit and farmers markets.
A growing social media presence is helping to build a loyal customer base as they seek to reposition from being price getters to price setters.
Their cropping mix has also been broadened with persimmons which are producing good returns with growth potential.
The outer urban sprawl has moved ever closer since Estonian immigrant Hugo Silm settled the 45 hectare family property near the country hamlet of Thirlmere in 1937.
“My grandfather started out with chooks and then planted a few apple trees,” Mark said.
Cedar Creek Orchard was well established during the 1950s and Mark joined the family partnership with his parents Roland and Laurel in 1980.
Son Damien is taking the business into a fourth generation with his focus on building apple juice production.
“Dad built our first juice press when I was four years old to salvage something from a hail damaged apple crop.
“It only operated on an opportunistic basis until we decided to make it a regular part of the business in the early 1980s,” Mark said.
There had been fundamental changes in the economics of apple growing with steadily rising costs and the advent of storage technology which flattened the market.
“You used to be able to make money growing apples, with good premiums if you could produce early fruit.”
Apple trees started making way for stone fruits in the 1980s and the current enterprise has about 17,000 peaches, plums and nectarines and 7000 non-astringent persimmons.
“We are down to about 4000 apple trees now and the only reason we grow any is for the pick-your-own business. It’s good to have a variety of fruits for visitors coming to the orchard,” Mark said.
As apple juice production has expanded, the family started buying in second grade fruit which now comes from all major NSW growing areas and also from Victoria.
“I think our juicing plant has been good for the industry. We buy in apples year round. Growers can get a return for unsaleable fruit and a better quality product goes on the fresh market,” he said.
The on-farm juice factory now turns out about 12,000L of premium blended juice a week packaged in 2L and small ready-to-drink plastic bottles.
“It’s a quality boutique product which we’ve sold heavily into the local Sydney market and Canberra. But our reach is spreading with customers now in Melbourne and Brisbane.”
“It’s a fresh product with no additives. Pasteurising gives us a six months shelf life without the need for refrigeration.”
Juice sales are benefiting from direct consumer engagement at farmers markets and visitors to the orchard.
“I think there is plenty of upside in the juice business. We’ve just linked up with an internet-based freight company which delivers our product direct to the customer’s door.”
Mark said the family started planting persimmons with a view to tapping Asian export markets, but have found strong domestic demand within the big multi-cultural cities.
“Our customers are coming to us and there is good potential to expand production,” he said.
“All the persimmons are grown under the protection of netting with the biggest drawback being the short harvest.
“We only have fruit available from the middle of April until about the end of May. We’d love to get a longer season with some different varieties, but the industry has been too small to support breeding research,” Mark said.
Crop variety and season length is becoming important as the family move to ramp up their pick-your-own sales.
“We can offer white and yellow peaches, plums and nectarines, a variety of apples and persimmons.
“I’d love to have some cherries, but they just wouldn’t grow here. Apricots could be a possibility.”
“It’s really shaping our production focus as we commit to pick-your-own, with fruit available in the orchard from November through to the end of May.
“If the business goes the way we think it will we have to think differently to a traditional commercial producer. Instead of planting a block of 1000 trees we’d look at 200 trees each of five different varieties.”
Mark said the different businesses were complimentary.
“It’s all about interacting with our customers from being active on social media to attending farmers markets and having a growing number of visitors to the orchard.
“It’s all benefiting our juice and fresh fruit sales. We have a huge market right on our doorstep and people increasingly want to know where their food comes from and to talk to the producers.
“I think there is a good future with the direction we are taking our business,” Mark said.
