Southern hemisphere’s largest celery grower has ‘never pushed a tree over’

By Andrew Bristol

Adam Schreurs – the southern hemisphere’s largest celery grower – (pictured right, with VNZI's Daniel Sutton, left) has ‘never pushed a tree over’ on the 1000-acre farm that he has developed from dairying, over the past 10 years.

‘I’ve developed this property 100 acres at a time,’ he says. ‘During this period, I have never cut down a tree and every year, I plant around 10,000 trees. In all, we have about 100 acres of bush here and there are always flowering plants that act as homes for the beneficials.’

Adam has been a major proponent of integrated pest management for more than 30 years. Today, he uses no insecticides and minimal fungicides on his Middle Tarwin property, which is about two hours southeast of Melbourne, towards Wilsons Promontory. 

The property is impressive and hard to imagine. Celery – and irrigation – for as far as the eye and see. On the day of this visit, there were five celery harvesting units in action. Each unit has been developed by Adam. Some wash, sort and box the celery while others stack the celery in large bins, ready for further preparation in the packhouse. 

‘I first visited this area when I was 12 and it had always stayed in the back of my mind,’ says Adam. ‘We ensure our soil is almost always covered – it is sometimes only fallow for a day but never for more than a week.

‘Our rotation is spinach, leaks and then celery, and then a cover crop. We also grow leaks. We spray off the cover crop with glyphosate using a drone. We are also constantly experimenting, for example, with direct drilling.

‘Our focus is on maintaining organic carbon. We have been part of the soil wealth project for more than 10 years.’

In terms of integrated pest management, Adam says they use reverse leaf blowers to collect what’s on the plants.   

‘We do an official count of beneficials once a week. We’ve graphed what we’ve found for years and years, so know our own thresholds.’ 

Massive reservoirs

During my visit with colleague, Vegetables NZ research, development and extension manager, Daniel Sutton, Adam showed us a 25-acre reservoir that was nearing completion – one of four similar reservoirs with another planned.

‘This reservoir cost A$1.8 million and took two years to build due to wet weather conditions. I can control all the farm’s irrigation from my phone,’ says Adam. 

‘We collect all the water we can from the property, using silt traps and native grasses to purify it. I also have a permit to collect water from the river that runs through the property.

‘We dig out our silt traps every three months. I can also prove that once water gets to our reservoirs, there’s no nitrogen in it, thanks to the native grasses.’

‘What’s a win for me is also a win for the industry’

Adam has intimate knowledge of the 1000-acre farm that he has masterminded over the past 10 years.

Asked why he does what he does, Adam replies it’s because he ‘loves it’.

‘The doors are always open here. We share all our data through field days, webinars and we’re now exploring virtual reality. What’s a win for me is also a win for the industry.

‘My next objective is certified organic growing. I am currently experimenting with three to five acres. But I am also looking forward to coming to the end of developing this farm, as for the past few years, I have been pushing people all the time.’

Adam employs about 175 people across his whole business, a business he bought from family members in 2013.

‘On this site, we have about 60 to 70 people, some of whom started with us at 16 and are still with us now they are more than 60. We are like a big family and have very low staff turnover.

‘I cook everyone bacon and eggs on a Monday when we discuss the week. Every other working day, we have a brief 10-minute meeting at the start. We also provide buses to get our people to and from the farm.’

Adam says he’s ahead of the regulatory curve. ‘We’re doing none of this because we have to. We’re doing it because it makes sense. How we are growing has also made us very attractive to the supermarkets, who really want what we grow. That wasn’t always the case…’