Good clean paddocks, clean crops and minimal herbicide use are the keys to a healthy garlic crop, and the reason why Lamezia’s produce is popular with wholesalers in some of Australia’s most populated cities.
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Frank Ruberto and Belinda Headon favour hard neck varieties at their Hay property ‘Lang’s Crossing’ — particularly the Australian purple and the white.
The garlic is Lamezia’s core product, and this year they have 15 hectares sown in an 80:20 split of purple and white respectively.
upplementary crops this year include 15 hectares of onions and 150ha of barley “to help keep the farm clean’’.
In years where water is more obtainable — in terms of availability and price — up to 150ha of cotton would be grown on the farm.
“The purple is what the markets favour, mainly because of its appearance with the purple flecking,”Mr Ruberto said.
“We like to grow the white because of its longevity — it lasts longer in to the season and in storage.
“The flavours are very similar between the two, but the white is slightly more pungent.
“We have a good relationship with wholesale merchants in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne markets, but we would be happy to supply anyone interested.
“We would also love to, one day, offer a farm gate product.’’
The most promising bulbs of garlic are saved from each crop gown at ‘Lang’s Crossing’, to be turned to seed for the next year.
Dry sowing takes place in April and the crop is watered up as required before harvesting in October or November.
Mr Ruberto said the purple usually comes out of the ground two to three weeks before the white.
Investment in technology has aided in this process, but Mr Ruberto said there is a lot of work that goes in to the product before it reaches the market.
“The planting is all mechanised now, but first we have to select the bulbs with the best qualities (from the previous crop) to turn in to seed, which is then crushed and graded before being planted in April.
“Once the garlic is harvested, curing will take place for three to four weeks to get the moisture out. If it is too wet when it goes to market it can spoil.
“The garlic is stored in bins for curing. On mild days I like to leave the bins in the open air, but otherwise they are in a shed. On humid days we have to ensure there is proper ventilation using a fan.
“Once this curing has taken place our employees will clean the garlic, grade them according to size and place them in boxes of 5kg or 10kg.’’
Mr Ruberto says the garlic is very water efficient, and said the amount of irrigation required will depend on the season’s conditions. Because of the rain so far this year, the only water he had to put on the crop so far was at establishment phase. He anticipates the crops will then need two or three irrigations in spring to “finish them off’’.
“The garlic is dry sown into beds measuring 1.5m, with two lines of garlic in each bed.
“We use cow manure and gypsum to prepare the paddocks, and then a fertiliser blend. We seed into the fertiliser for nutrient input.
“We then ensure there are good clean paddocks throughout using a chipper and manually removing weeds.
“While you can use herbicides on garlic, it can affect the growth so we try to avoid it.’’
Lamezia has been producing wholesale quantities for the last eight years, but Mr Ruberto’s experience in garlic and vegetables dates back much further having grown up on a vegetable farm in Hay.
He said he took a 10 year hiatus from garlic when the Chinese product entered the Australian market, placing significant pressure on domestic producers.
He said varieties from Argentina, California and Mexico are also flooding the Australian market, and there needs to be further education on how the imported varieties are inferior to Australian grown garlic.
“Some of the overseas product in bleached before exporting, in some cases because they are reportedly grown using human waste as fertiliser,”he said.
“And some of the overseas producers are using chemicals that were banned in Australia many years ago.
“But when these products are in the shops, Australian producers cannot compete because of the (lower) price.
“We really have to educate people on overseas processes, and encourage them to choose the slightly more expensive but far superior Australian produce.’’
Senior journalist