An Indigenous community harvesting Australia’s earliest commercial garlic crop is hoping to pass on farming skills to improve the lives of future generations.
Alyawarr man Ziggy Rice has been involved in this year’s garlic crop from bulb planting to helping pick about 21 tonnes of garlic.
The harvest at Centrefarm, an Indigenous-run horticulture farm 350 kilometres north of Alice Springs, is by far the earliest garlic crop of the Australian season.
Mr Rice is the fourth generation of his family to work on and care for the land around Ali Curung.
“I am proud,” he said.
“My family’s proud of me.”
The central Australian crop has extended the window to buy Australian-grown garlic at supermarkets.
Australian Garlic Producers chief executive Nick Diamantopoulos said the warmer climate at Centrefarm meant it could plant and harvest the crops earlier than in other states.
“There’s no-one else in Australia harvesting garlic as early as August–September. This is a world first,” he said.
Mr Diamantopoulos said it would reduce Australia’s reliance on imported garlic.
“They’re literally just finishing the harvest off in Europe, yet we’re growing our own garlic in the middle of Australia,” he said.
Mr Diamantopoulos said the crop was larger than last year’s harvest, but there was still room for improvement.
He hoped the farm could one day produce tenfold the amount.
“It all comes down to irrigation,” he said.
“And I would probably not plant as early next time. I think last time we planted it was still a little bit too hot … but having said that, I’m most impressed.”
Farm manager Joe Clarke, an Arrernte man from Central Australia, said Centrefarm had made a huge start on what it was trying to achieve; training and employment for Indigenous people.
“For me, the rewarding thing is those ladies and those fellas own that crop, because they’re the ones that jump on the tractor, they’re the ones that fertilise it,” he said.
“I started on this venture six years ago and I got frustrated along the way, but for me to pull up today and jump out of my car and see happy smiling faces and meaningful [work], that makes me proud.”
Ziggy and Joe share a vision that one day the next generation will take over the farm and create a better life for themselves and their communities.
During the harvest, school students from Alice Springs and Ali Curung visited the farm.
