News Early days, new adventures

Early days, new adventures

When Fairview Orchards director Michael Shakes says it’s “early days” for his far north Queensland farm, he means it.

Not only did he complete his first ever harvest this year, one year after planting vines of Arra 15, but – courtesy of the far north Queensland climate – they’ve seen one of Australia’s earliest picks.

In August, Mike and his team harvested their first lot of grapes from 39,000 vines of Arra 15 (ARRA Sweeties™).

It was a bold move that led to the supermarket owner-turned-table grape grower purchasing 160 acres at Dimbulah, 45 minutes southwest of Mareeba, and 1.5 hours from Cairns.

“We acquired a block of land – went and bought 160 acres – and thought, ‘what are we going to do with this?’” Mike said. “The area was growing. Dimbulah is warmer than Atherton or Mareeba.

“I was sitting there thinking, ‘I need to do something different’.”

Mike had been importing grapes for his supermarket and had customers approaching him asking, “How come I have to eat this American stuff?”

Against advice and other growers calling him “crazy”, Mike said it was time to “have a crack”, despite initially

knowing very little about table grapes.

“Fortunately I was introduced to a husband and wife from Western Australia who knew a lot about grapes, nothing tropical, but they had a background,” Mike said.

Using his background in horticulture – Mike completed a horticultural degree from a New Zealand university, and experience working in a variety of horticulture industries – Mike, along with his farm managers, and a number of family members who have since become involved in the family business, developed everything from scratch.

Mike admitted it was a costly process.

“It’s still early,” he said. “You could invest a lot of money and lose it all.

“Set up costs are high – it costs twice as much to grow them because you’ve got to prune twice, pick twice, if you want to pick a summer crop of it.

“No one is going to do this in a hurry.”

Despite there being only a small amount of table grape growers in the area, Mike continues to plug away, trying new things, and has just planted 80–90 acres of Sheehan varieties.

He acknowledged, though, that not only was table grape production expensive, but doing so in far north Queensland was an entirely different beast.

“Downy mildew is killing us up here,” he said. “We’re a long way from the coast but it’s warm and humid.”

There are some regrets that Mike has had – hand-thinning tight bunches was one.

Though he might have had some difficult learning experiences and life lessons over the past year, Mike isn’t short of enthusiasm. His tenacity and willingness to give things a try are what has brought him success in life.

His independent supermarket has won the best IGA in the country twice.

Thankfully, Mike has the support of his family – his two daughters, one son, and sons-in-law, some of whom work or are about to work in his supermarket and others who are transitioning to the farm.

Mike’s son-in-law Dean has been shadowing the Fairview Orchards farm managers Danny and Heina, learning the ropes, after leaving his role as a builder.

“Everything is so different,” Dean said. “It’s really good to learn off Danny and Heina and they’ve had a lot of experience with the grapes.”

The Fairview Orchards team has overcome literal lightning strikes – which killed hundreds of vines – tropical weather conditions and other “teething problems other farmers would tell you to expect” to yield their first ever table grape crop.

One thing is certain – this harvest has been one they’ll never forget, and hopefully the first of many. v

Left: Industry newcomer Dean with his workers harvest their first boxes of grapes.

Below: Mike and Dean are one year into table grape growing in Far North Queensland.