Hydroponics targets market opportunities
Hydroponics targets market opportunities
By MATT WARD
Thursday, 17 November 2005
GOING hydroponic has proven a successful means of exploiting seasonal market opportunities for Giru growers Trevor and Beverley Shand.
Mr Shand had previously grown sugar cane with his family for 25 years – long enough to get ideas about trying something different.
“In the last year we grew 8000 tonnes; we had a big contract and the whole thing went pear-shaped,” he said.
“Getting into hydroponics has been a steep learning curve. When we first started I knew nothing about it.”
The Shands grow Lebanese cucumbers in a shed of 820 square metres – generally around 3000 plants are squeezed into this space.
The frame of the shed is enclosed with a clear plastic material called solar weave, and the plants are grown in pots of sand.
It’s a run-to-waste system – the opposite of reticulated – with a dripper for each plant supplying four litres/hour.
The beauty of a hydroponic operation, Mr Shand said, is that waste is kept to a bare minimum, both in terms of crop losses and nutrient/water usage.
“Out in the field you can easily experience losses of a third of the crop. Indoors, losses are extremely low and you use much less water.”
“Prescription” is a word that peppered Mr Shand’s description of his hydroponics operation. Nutrients are delivered at strategic times and in close to ideal doses. The shed opens up at the top and the sides to allow air to filter through.
He said you can grow almost anything in there; the previously owners were producing continental cucumbers and parsley.
But the biggest advantage the Shands enjoy is being able to supply produce to southern markets during winter when sheds south of Sydney close.
“There are lots of sheds down there, and their yields drop right off.”
Last year, between the months of July and September, the Shands were supplying Coles with up to 100 boxes/week, and the prices per box rose markedly from $20/box to $35/box.
“Next year, whatever we grow here Coles said they will take. We were trialling different varieties this year. Next year it will be all the one variety, so we should be able to supply 150 boxes per week.”
While Mr Shand admitted that southern sheds are beginning to become more sophisticated, some being sealed and temperature controlled, this is rarely cost effective. Tropical North Queensland, however, doesn’t have this problem and can therefore cut down on overheads considerably.
“It’s a market you can have control of with hydroponics. You can look for a niche market and take a versatile approach to growing.”
While the cost of production increases every year, Mr Shand said their needs to be a base price beneath which production is unviable. If it goes up, it’s a bonus.
By MATT WARD
Thursday, 17 November 2005
GOING hydroponic has proven a successful means of exploiting seasonal market opportunities for Giru growers Trevor and Beverley Shand.
Mr Shand had previously grown sugar cane with his family for 25 years – long enough to get ideas about trying something different.
“In the last year we grew 8000 tonnes; we had a big contract and the whole thing went pear-shaped,” he said.
“Getting into hydroponics has been a steep learning curve. When we first started I knew nothing about it.”
The Shands grow Lebanese cucumbers in a shed of 820 square metres – generally around 3000 plants are squeezed into this space.
The frame of the shed is enclosed with a clear plastic material called solar weave, and the plants are grown in pots of sand.
It’s a run-to-waste system – the opposite of reticulated – with a dripper for each plant supplying four litres/hour.
The beauty of a hydroponic operation, Mr Shand said, is that waste is kept to a bare minimum, both in terms of crop losses and nutrient/water usage.
“Out in the field you can easily experience losses of a third of the crop. Indoors, losses are extremely low and you use much less water.”
“Prescription” is a word that peppered Mr Shand’s description of his hydroponics operation. Nutrients are delivered at strategic times and in close to ideal doses. The shed opens up at the top and the sides to allow air to filter through.
He said you can grow almost anything in there; the previously owners were producing continental cucumbers and parsley.
But the biggest advantage the Shands enjoy is being able to supply produce to southern markets during winter when sheds south of Sydney close.
“There are lots of sheds down there, and their yields drop right off.”
Last year, between the months of July and September, the Shands were supplying Coles with up to 100 boxes/week, and the prices per box rose markedly from $20/box to $35/box.
“Next year, whatever we grow here Coles said they will take. We were trialling different varieties this year. Next year it will be all the one variety, so we should be able to supply 150 boxes per week.”
While Mr Shand admitted that southern sheds are beginning to become more sophisticated, some being sealed and temperature controlled, this is rarely cost effective. Tropical North Queensland, however, doesn’t have this problem and can therefore cut down on overheads considerably.
“It’s a market you can have control of with hydroponics. You can look for a niche market and take a versatile approach to growing.”
While the cost of production increases every year, Mr Shand said their needs to be a base price beneath which production is unviable. If it goes up, it’s a bonus.
posted by Yonner at 12:55 PM
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