Ivanhoe Flower Farm’s Kate Arthur with Rob Papasidero from Wagga Fruit Supply. Photo: Marguerite McKinnon.
Third-generation rice farmer Kate Arthur has turned trial into triumph after swapping rice for ranunculus (Persian buttercups), and business is blooming.
“We come from rice farms, and so we’re used to irrigation growing, but this is really a pivot,” Kate said.
Kate and her husband Lindsay, also a rice farmer, wanted to continue the family tradition of growing rice and running sheep, but the environment had other plans.
“We moved to The Rock 10 years ago, and before that, we were at Coleambally where we grew rice together, and we got sick of the politics with irrigation, and so we moved to where we thought was going to be reliable rainfall,” she said.
“It turned out that it’s not so reliable.”
The Millennial Drought of 1997-2009 was devastating for farmers, but it got so much worse in 2017-2020.
This drought was the worst multi-year drought in eastern Australia since 1911, with 2017-2019 being the driest and hottest three-year period on record.
The impact was devastating and farmers were forced to sell stock, cut back cropping programs, rack up debt to buy fodder at higher prices, or get out altogether.
Kate and Lindsay were not immune. Having bought a rundown iris farm at The Rock, they’d started a family, but rising costs forced them to sell all of their breeding ewes and start anew.
“We had to sell our stock and make a change.”
Ivanhoe Flower Farm is a new Riverina business by Kate Arthur and her family. Photo: Supplied.
“The [flower] beds and the layout was there but had been run down from years of just stock running on it,” she said.
“We put a bore down and had to find a way to supplement our income.”
Kate and Lindsay reformed the flower rows and added a compost and watering system, but the learning curve was steep.
“I’ve had one summer season, which wasn’t great because I was trying to grow my own seeds, and I didn’t have the set-up to do this,” Kate said.
Kate found support in Little Triffids florist and farmer, Sophie Kurylowicz, who shared her knowledge and experience of flower farming in the Riverina.
“Sophie’s been really supportive. She actually put me onto this,” Kate said.
A game changer for Kate was moving from seeds to plugs, or little plants.
“I now buy plugs in 288 trays, which is much more productive and much more profitable, as we don’t get the losses when putting seeds in and you’re not sure how many you’re going to get coming up,” Kate said.
In less than a year of operation, Kate is supplying to Little Triffids Flowers, Scooter Flowers and recently Wagga Fruit Supply, as well as other florists in Albury and Wodonga.
Her flowers are many and seasonal and include poppies, ranunculus, sunflowers, zinnias and cosmos.
Rob Papasidero from Wagga Fruit Supply said the addition of fresh flowers near the checkouts had been welcomed by customers.
“She (Kate) is a very good quality supplier, and people really like what she’s bringing in, and it’s local and you can’t argue with that. It ticks all the boxes,” Rob said.
The hand-picked flowers are being grown without any chemical sprays, meaning extra work to reduce insect buildup.
”How do I stop the bugs? With great difficulty,” Kate said.
“We are now putting a cover over our snapdragons. They’re very sensitive to white cabbage moth.
Making things a little easier is a supportive flower community in Wagga, Albury, and New Zealand.
“You see what they are growing, what they’re getting in stock and what they like,” Kate said.
Ivanhoe Flower Farm at The Rock is a new Riverina business selling locally grown flowers to Wagga Fruit Supply, and florists in Wagga, Albury and Wodonga. Photo: Supplied.
Ivanhoe Flower Farm also offers DIY buckets, where customers planning functions can come in and select what they want.
“I’d like to get into a few more supermarkets, and I’m planning on starting a newsletter to help educate people on the sort of flowers that they’re buying and to let them know that our flowers are chemical free,” Kate said.
More information on Ivanhoe Flower Farm can be found on its Instagram page.
