AUSTRALIAN Wildflowers farm at Laharum is changing its business to adopt more of an export focus.
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Wildflowers in Australia are growing in popularity and the company will capitalise on this with research into adopting new species.
The Laharum farm has more than 150 lines of wildflowers growing on 2500 acres, which can take three years to produce yield after sowing new plants.
Australian Wildflowers managing director Jo Gardner said the farm employed a mix of workers from the region and Karen refugees from Myanmar who have settled in the Wimmera.
“We employ an equal mix of Wimmera residents and we have a significant Karen workforce – the same people who work at Luv-a-Duck at Nhill,” she said.
Ms Gardner said 70 per cent of the farm’s output went to export markets in China, the United States, United Arab Emirates and many countries in Europe.
“The international market has been pretty exciting,” she said.
“We have got to try some new products offshore, which has been exciting for us.
“New lines on species that are suited to the climate here in the Grampians, which has been great to expose our region and what we have to offer.”
Ms Gardner said the company was expanding its operations at Laharum and was working on markets for its anticipated increase in output.
“We’re doing a lot of work on getting our relationships right so as our production goes through we have the people in place to take the product,” she said.
Last month the company announced it would expand its workforce and exports by 2018 after a state government grant. The state government provided $150,000 through Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund to improve Australian Wildflowers’ processing plant.
As part of the expansion project, the company is installing new equipment that will vastly improve the processing and packing of flowers for the Australian and export markets.
Ms Gardner said investors had also put $495,000 into the business, which was being combined with government money for the expansion.
When it comes to international markets for Australian wildflowers, each country is looking for something different.
“The United States market is pretty traditional, it has always taken products from the Grampians, so there won’t be major changes there,” Ms Gardner said.
“We’ll be continuing the current production that we have always had from this region.
“We need to educate the Asian market about what we do have to offer and hoping that it progresses well.”