The quiet achievers

When Geoffrey Thompson Snr was approached by a group of Shepparton Orchardists 73 years ago to build, cool store and market their apples and pears through Europe, North America, New Zealand and

Asia he would not have known where his family would take the business and the region, nine years after his passing in 2012. Along with Richard Pratt’s father and many local identities, GTH Limited has been the quiet achiever in the fruit industry.

In 1993 when his son Geoff relocated to Shepparton and purchased their first orchard in the region, they have expanded and now grow, pack and market 10 percent of the apples in Australia. This makes them the largest apple grower in Australia, employing 300 permanent staff and an extra 300 people during harvest. They have trained more than 100 apprentices in the last 10 years and provided stability for 100s of local families. The company complements their own production with outside growers’ fruit, which provides an extra 50 percent of total production. Since the late 1990s the bulk of the crop has been sold to the domestic market via the three large supermarkets and between 5 and 10 percent sold to export.

This will change with the commissioning of the $60M construction at the former Ardmona Fruit Products site in Mooroopna, which coincidentally is celebrating 100 years in 2021 since its formation. This state-

of-the-art facility set to be operating in February 2022, will reduce the cost of production to become internationally competitive and will put a floor in domestic fruit pricing. It will provide transformational capacity for this region’s fruit industry.

A great company understands the importance of preserving the core values and culture of their company while their strategy and operating practices must adapt to a changing world. Geoff Thompson Jnr embodies the culture that his father developed, as the company embraces global challenges and opportunities.

This makes them the largest apple grower in Australia, employing 300 permanent staff and an extra 300 people during harvest

AT THE $60M JEFTHOMSON PLANT - MOOROOPNA... JefThomson chairman, Rob Bryant and CEO Geoffrey Thompson. Photo: Kelly Lucas.

caring for our growers since 1960

Behind every good business there is a great team

Our extensive agronomic team deliver a range of services for broadacre, horticulture, viticulture, fodder, rice and summer crop production across these regions. These include on farm advice on pest, disease and weed management, crop inspections, farm planning and recommending in-crop nutrition requirements. As well as comprehensive fee for service programs I K Caldwell also has an extensive range of services such as insect trap monitoring, orchard monitoring, farm mapping, soil moisture monitoring, nutrition advice, disease/frost warnings and a suite of analytical services. Serving the Goulburn Valley, Northern Victoria and Southern NSW