Goldenfield Growers of Wallacia, New South Wales took out the Produce Grower of the Year title at the recent Sydney Markets 2016 Fresh Awards.
The family business run by Kim Nguon Ung and Sokhom Tok Ung, together with daughter Leakkhena (Laks) Ma, son Kim Bory Ung and other siblings, were thrilled with the award.
Laks Ma said the company had never participated in anything before.
“We were nominated by some customers who love our produce and customer service,” Ms Ma said.
“We get a lot of feedback from people who love our tomatoes and comment they are so fresh and sweet so it is wonderful to receive the recognition with people responding.
“We are very honoured and thrilled to win and we thank our customers, greengrocers, wholesalers, providores and anyone who enjoys eating our tomatoes for supporting us.”
The family began working in agriculture in 1987 after they migrated to Australia from Cambodia.
The farm is around 12 hectares and they also have other family growing for them.
“We employ mostly family. We all help with farming and retailing our vegetables to greengrocers, agents, providores, restaurants, cafes and businesses that provide fresh veggie boxes,” Ms Ma said.
“My brother Kim and I are the crazy ones; we go to the market, pack the orders and do the customer service and wake up at 4am.
“Especially in summer he sometimes finishes loading the truck at 10.30pm and wakes up at midnight to go to the market – I don’t drive the truck so I get an extra half hour.”
My brother Kim and I are the crazy ones; we go to the market, pack the orders and do the customer service and wake up bad at 4am.
- Laks Ma
Their main crops are tomatoes including cherry, grape and heirloom tomatoes, grape and cherry truss tomatoes, together with rainbow and medley tomato mixes in punnets, yellow and black grape tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, broad beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas and zucchini.
“Some are field-grown but it’s a mixture and our business model is shifting to more hothouse than field-grown as the crops are more protected with a healthy environment and need let less spray, ecetera,” Ms Ma said.
“All our tomatoes are labelled and are mainly sold into Sydney market though some of the agents may shift some interstate.
“Previously we sold from the farm but it was a trouble to handle them with people stopping by at all times.”
The business has implemented its own environmentally friendly practices, such as increasing grey water tank usage to capture rainwater and reduce the reliance on dam water.
“A few years ago we had a really bad drought but it’s a great relief now the rains have come in the last few years and we have plenty of water in our dams,” she said.
