YOUR INDUSTRY
Freshies Trophy winner, Jason Galloway, says he is sticking with citrus “one hundred percent”
Photo by Strike Photography
Grower burns a path to Ormond orchard Jason Galloway and his family have some of the most famous faces you have ever seen. As poster growers for Gisborne fruit marketing company First Fresh, Jason – along with wife Hannah and their two children Millie and Holly – have in recent years graced billboards in Japan and China, being seen by millions of pairs of eyes. By Kristine Walsh “It is a weird feeling to see your giant picture looming over a street on the other side of the world,” Jason says. “It’s certainly not something we thought about when we got into growing!”
“Because Jason grows a number of varieties across the citrus spectrum he is engaged with us across our team so there are lots of touch-points where we work together,” he says.
What the Galloways did think about when they bought their patch of sunny, fertile Ormond soil was that if they were going to grow citrus, they were going to grow it well.
“Possibly the best thing about the Galloways is how proactive they are, and how diligent in terms of always looking to better their performance in improving yields and quality.
That determination saw them named the Supreme Winners – along with winning category awards for Meyer lemons and Encore mandarins – at this year’s First Fresh awards event, fondly known as “the Freshies.”
“Jason does a lot of work in figuring out what works and what doesn’t. He’s always been very open to new ideas, seeking advice and acting on it in a timely manner.”
And First Fresh managing director Ian Albers says all their awards were well deserved. 24
The ORCHARDIST : APRIL 2021
And never mind the Galloways’ starring role in First Fresh’s international marketing … they work together in other areas, too.
