Orchard is the pick of the bunch

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
THE Sanders’ orchard in Three Bridges has earned a Victorian award for their unique apple crops that places the farm years ahead of world-wide competition.
These days Hugh Sanders’ orchard, run by his sons Kevin, Peter and Robert, has become a top destination for visiting farmers to observe successful growing methods that could be transferred across the fruit industry.
The Mail went to see what earned the farming family a Victorian Department of Industries Science award and the respect and acknowledgement of apple growers world-wide.
Kevin said Australia grew 0.6 per cent of the world’s apple crops and is rated 32 out of 33 in terms of top growers.
That is slowly improving with the Sanders taking out a top agricultural gong, the Hugh McKay Future Farming Award, for their unique approach to apple production, which has resulted in the trees bearing fruit within eight months of planting.
Kevin said it was a humbling experience.
“I didn’t know what a huge deal it was, it’s for the whole of agriculture and the technology we have is really good.
“For Peter and I it’s our lives, and Bob never gets excited and he jumped out of his seat,” Kevin said.
The farm has been in the family since 1975, now with more than 50 hectares of orchard.
It was Swiss apple grower and researcher Christian Krebs who persuaded Kevin to try a “V” shaped trellis, where individual trees are leaned to either side to allow maximum light in the morning, afternoon and height of the day.
“Farmers have looked at the V trellis for many years, but with lots of skepticism,” Kevin said.
“Christian was convinced that it’s the most financially beneficial way to grow, and we took it from there.”
Freestanding apple trees take three to five years before they fruit, but the two-year old trees in the Sanders orchard are already producing 30 tonnes of fruit and 80 tonnes by their fourth year.
“We’ve got bus loads coming to see what’s new in technology,” Kevin said.
“South Africans, Germans – it used to be us going over there.”
The Sanders were the first apple growers in Australia to take on the new method, although Kevin said a farmer in Shepparton has now started the V trellis as well.
Kevin said there was always new technology to try, and he believed in testing the boundaries.
“You need to extend a bit beyond what you can do. Be at the extreme end and work your way back,” he said.
“Until I was 45 I thought I was pretty smart ’til I realised it was actually ignorance.”
“After seeing Europe I now read more than 700 research papers a year.”
All three brothers have been around Europe, visiting orchards and research centres to discover different methods and technology.
“You can learn from people repeatedly,” he said.
Kevin speaks to French apple growers and researchers via Skype, he regularly calls Italy and reads all the German documents.
His one catchword is adaptability.
“I just enjoy the challenge – if this is the cutting edge, what next?”
Hugh, 82, was out in the fields trimming branches while we walked around.
“In his seventies Dad still worked day and night, in the rain,” Kevin said.
“How can you spend 40 years doing something you hate for the money? I don’t think I could do it if I didn’t love it.”