By Melissa Coleman
Strawberry farm owner Nathan Baronio, from Eastern Colour in the Granite Belt, said the farm opened once a month throughout the season for strawberry picking.
At this time of year Eastern Colour farm becomes a hive of activity with customers picking their own sweet-tasting strawberries.
The farm’s location is set in a stunning backdrop and provides the best environment for growing strawberries and apples – the farms two main production lines.
“The soils are fertile, and we experience cool night and warm days.”
These factors are just one of the secrets to the farms production of delicious, sweet tasting fruits.
“We’ve invested in strategic ways to produce a crop that is of a high quality and that people love,” Mr Baronio said
“Combine that and the Granite Belt’s incredible location and you have the perfect tasting strawberries and apples.
“The Stanthorpe apple is the best tasting in Australia, yes, the Tasmanian or the Southern apples might be a little firmer, but the flavour you get out of a Stanthorpe apple is incredible, its second to none, and strawberries are the sweetest,” he said.
Over the last five years the farm has invested heavily in the use of alternative farming which provide them with a lot more control and accuracy when it comes to coping with the challenges of Mother Nature such as drought and hail.
About 75% of their strawberry production is hydroponics.
“There were a hand full of fruit farmers in Australia that saw the opportunity in this new growing style, and they all went as big as we have,” Mr Baronio said.
“Our first plantation of strawberries was five years ago and we’re pretty excited about the future.”
“These days there are more farms moving toward this type of farming,” he said.
Hydroponic farming is where plants are grown in very tightly controlled conditions.
The type of light, temperature, humidity and nutrition can be tailored for each particular plant and efficiency of growth is somewhat faster.
The roots are in water and Mr Boronia said they use a medium similar to coco husk which aids in substrate cultivation.
“We grow the plants in an alternative media like coco coir, it’s a by-product of coconut production from India and Sri Lanka.”
“It works really well for what we do.
“A lot of work has gone into our hydroponic farming in a short time frame,” he said.
The family farm has been growing various fruits and vegetables for more than 50 years
“Throughout Mum and Dad’s farming career they changed production lines often depending on what opportunity there was, what the market needed, where there was shortages, and we, as third generation family farmers continue to do that,” Mr Baronio said.
“We’ve always kept a keen eye on opportunities and that’s how we noticed that berry production was a quick growing and undersupplied category, and Stanthorpe had a good climate for berries.”
Strawberry season runs from late September until the end of June.
