This is all new to me. Not just the fact I have purchased a 40 acre property with the goal of growing the highest grade of Moringa in Australia, but writing about it and sharing my journey as I stumble through an unknown situation.
Part of me wants to chronicle this journey, while another part would rather remain private and carry on with business as usual.
Either this becomes a success story or a cautionary tale, but it won’t be boring.
Why I’m writing this
In a world of AI with tools like ChatGPT and others taking over thinking, writing and basic day to day activities, maybe writing is a dying art form for personal consumption. The Readers' Digest days feel long gone, short-form content is king, and here I am deciding in my infinite wisdom that maybe writing still has a path forward.
I guess time will tell and I should probably stop deviating from my actual task here, which is something I am notoriously good at doing. That task is starting a new Australian moringa farm and creating an industry with local farmers wanting to grow and sell Moringa as well.
(A single Moringa Tree, sitting alone on the property desperately needing some attention)
The seed problem
This idea has been years in the making. I have been working with certain farmers for years and trying to get high quality seeds into the country that has led to an infinite amount of issues. Our biosecurity and agriculture sector, as important as it is, has led me to banging my head against the wall on more than one occasion. The job is vital, important and as necessary as the sun in regards to keeping our borders safe from invasive species and other nastiness. But I do have to question where common sense was lost along the way.
Deviation is clearly a skill I’ve inherited, and while I could write pages on this biosecurity topic alone, I’ll rein it in and get back to the main topic - the new Moringa Farm.
The first two times I bought seeds into Australia, they were destroyed. It makes it hard both financially and emotionally when you are so invested in trying to get an industry off the ground. Don’t get me wrong, there are a couple of smaller Moringa farms in Australia, but they are not easy to deal with or work with. They tend to operate with a “we want to own it all” mindset, rather than sharing knowledge and helping the industry grow.
It was only last year after buying out a competitor I managed to get Moringa seeds into the country for the first time. I was ecstatic and got hold of the farms I had been dealing with up to that point. I sent seeds out straight away, eagerly awaiting the results.
The results however all came back poor. Five farms I sent them too, and none would propagate. I even tried myself with multiple propagation methods back on the Gold Coast to get any growth from them and I failed as well. This is also why I would not sell the seeds to our customers, even though they asked repetitively. I can’t sell a faulty product like that, it is against my nature and would leave the business with some not so nice reviews.
The turning point
This was never going to be the end however, as they say “when there is a will, there is a way”. I went up North of Bundaberg to a friend's farm, he is a cattle farmer that takes so much pride in what he does. We spoke about growing Moringa and I told him about my less than desirable results. It was then he asked if he could have a go at a few and I did agree to send them his way when I returned back to the Gold Coast.
I fell in love with his way of life, out in the bush, on a farm. Just peace and nature everywhere. It feels like the Australia I remember as a kid, no more cities like Melbourne where I spent 10 years, or tourist hotspots with insane traffic like the Gold Coast. It was just serene, picturesque landscapes coupled with a stress free living situation. The hustle and bustle did not exist out here, and luckily for myself my wife fell in love with the idea as well.
(I've woken up to much worse views)
Why Rosedale
So we started looking for property, I started researching the best growing conditions for Moringa and there is a lovely pocket of land in QLD that ticks all the boxes. That area is quite large down the East Coast North of the Sunshine Coast. A few properties came up and we absolutely fell in love with a 40 acre property just past Rosedale in QLD.
It’s off the beaten track, it’s quiet, it has approval to grow and clear land, it’s full of nature and has a three bedroom house built into it. Of course it came with a catch, it needs work, and a lot of it. The property has not really been maintained for years, it’s overgrown and needs love. But we are up for the task.
Moving up and starting over
Life moved so fast from that point, we put in an offer, it got accepted. My wife and I got married overseas, my father passed away just before the wedding and before we knew it, we got approved to buy the farm.
My friend, the cattle farmer, did the impossible. He managed to work out how to grow these seeds, no one else has yet. It was a method I never would have thought of, simple and so effective. From here we are going to be able to grow our crops of PKM1 Moringa in Australia and service the needs locally as well as internationally.
December was spent traveling 6hrs each way from the Gold Coast twice a week, while we packed, unpacked and started some renovations on the house. It was not until mid January we finally got up here full time to begin our new life as Moringa Farmers.
What happens next
It’s quite an uncanny thing and I probably have no right attempting this feat. After all, I am a digital marketer by trade, I worked at some of the biggest agencies in Australia in my time before finally making the leap to work on Moringa Products full time. What are these soft hands going to do on a farm? I know nothing about machinery, farming or the general day to day of running such a large property. I do know how to market though, and I see an industry in need here. A new Australian industry that can be exported to the world. That part I am confident in doing, but I need the product first.
I need that Australian Moringa and lots of it. So what better way then to come up North, have a go at it myself and encourage the local farms in the area that there just might be a new crop to grow in the near future.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined becoming a farmer, but here we are and this area is where I want to chronicle my journey and experience with growing Moringa. So come along, this should be a laugh as I fumble my way through machinery and agriculture on a farm that desperately needs some love. Join me on this journey as I clear overgrown bush, deal with the local wildlife, learn about dams, try to drive tractors and of course, grow Australian Moringa Oleifera.