First-time farmer solves mulberry packing problem with dental drill

A retired dentist's $4 storage basket hack is solving a bruising and labour cost problem that turns many farmers off growing a popular, nostalgic fruit. 

Ten years ago, Peter Lynch and his wife, Karen, decided to have "a crack" at farming mulberries after noticing supermarkets didn't sell them.

With no horticultural experience, Mr Lynch took cuttings from their single suburban plant and founded the Kureelpa Mulberry Company in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

Through patient propagation, the couple's orchard has grown to 1,500 trees.

Fragile fruit

Despite the fruit's popularity, only a small number of farmers grow mulberries commercially in Australia.

Kureelpa Mulberry's harvest runs for just four weeks in September and October.

As the Lynchs discovered the hard way, the fragile fruit can be tricky to transport.

Despite their workers gently placing fruit into buckets, their losses and labour costs were initially much higher because of double handling.

"We were finding that if they were taking it to the packing shed and repacking into punnets, the handling associated was just causing too much bruising and bleeding," Mr Lynch said.

An innovator, Mr Lynch headed out to purchase $4 plastic baskets.

Using his old dental drill, he cut and reshaped the containers to neatly hold two stacked piles of punnets, which are secured to pickers' waists with a strap.

With their hands free, this simple hack lets pickers pack directly into punnets.

Ms Lynch said it had cut labour costs, as well as reducing fruit damage by 80 per cent.

The changes, implemented two years ago, have helped the couple invest in a cold room for their packing shed.

'Full of memories'

Originating in Asia, mulberry trees were common when Aussie backyards were bigger.

Their dark purple berries created generations of sweet memories of piping-hot pies, and mouths, fingers and clothes stained purple from freshly picked fruit.

Children shared their lush leaves to learn the marvels of metamorphosis, raising silkworms in shoeboxes.

The couple receives a wholesale price of $4 to $5 per 230-gram punnet from local fruit shops and markets in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

"A lot of people love discovering that they can find it in the shops when they haven't been able to before," Ms Lynch said.

New challenges

After solving the packaging challenge, the mulberry farmers now face another.

The couple is concerned the federal government's decision to cut working holiday maker (WHM) visa numbers by almost 40,000 a year will make hiring pickers difficult.

"We'd find it very hard if we had to rely on local people because we have to pick every day non-stop for four weeks," Mr Lynch said.

"I'm not sure that I'd find too many locals who'd be happy to just front up for one month a year … and then for the rest of the year they're on their own."

The wider horticulture, hospitality and tourism industries share these concerns.

"The humanitarian, the working holiday visa, there are different components … streams," Ms Lynch said.

"Rather than focusing on one number, I think we need to look at what Australia needs."

Mulberry farm workers Marion Lucas and Guillaume Renckly recently arrived from France on a WHM visa, and expressed uncertainty about future travel.

To stay for more than one year, they'll have to compete for places in a ballot.

"It's just more complicated to come and enjoy this beautiful land," Ms Lucas said.

"Yes, it's more stressful," Mr Renckly added.

A spokesperson for the federal Department of Home Affairs told ABC Rural "the reforms seek to balance the workforce needs of regional Australia with the need to maintain a sustainable migration program".

Mr Lynch said farming had given him purpose in retirement and, as long as pickers were available, he wanted to keep going.

"I need to feel like I've achieved something so that by the end of the day I don't feel guilty when I crack that first beer," Mr Lynch said.

"I don't see it as work. It's fun for me."