The Citrus Australia Market Outlook Forum was an opportunity to showcase a remarkable diversity of people and enterprises that have placed citrus at the leading edge of the horticulture market through this year’s award winners.
Emerging Leader
Matt Benham
When Queensland citrus grower Matt Benham talks citrus, it is with an infectious passion.
He farms with his wife Rachael and parents Murray and Averial at Gayndah and has sought opportunities to travel interstate and overseas to learn new growing techniques, adopt new technology and view his fruit in the market.
And is always willing to share his insights, saying that this is how an industry grows. He shares through group grower visits, hosting workshops and field days, and the Benhams always have their hand up to host more.
“Even just other growers wanting to come over. If they can pack an Esky and want to talk citrus, they’re always welcome,” Rachael says.
Matt is constantly investigating new technology and machines that meet his mantra of working smarter, not harder, particularly in the field of hedging and thinning.
He and Rachael are taking part in an R&D project with AusIndustry into alcohol production through the distillation of waste fruit, and Matt has been the driving force behind trials in liquid ferment, following initial investigation by Murray.
Murray has been passionate about trying new things and the importance of soil health, while Matt continues to explore and share new knowledge.
Gatton University brings students to the farm every year, as does a teacher from Dalby Agricultural College and Caboolture High School. Rachael says Matt bamboozles them with citrus talk.
As an industry leader, Matt also volunteers time to industry committees. He is a past member of the Citrus Australia citrus pest and disease prevention committee, and has been part of the southern Queensland regional advisory committee for four years, recently being appointed chair.
Value Chain Innovator
Eastcoast Beverages
Great social media marketing begins with great people and when business actions and values can be showcased across wider platforms for everyone to like, share and comment.
Eastcoast’s social media has established great relationships with its customers, but this is only achieved through great business actions, recognised today as innovation in marketing.
In 2019 Eastcoast began their marketing campaign Return, Regrow, Re-juice which repositioned Eastcoast as a company that does more than just sell juice. They’re a family business that is committed to the environment with a goal of becoming 100 per cent recyclable.
Return, regrow and re-juice – an initiative promoting the juice industry as proactive and solution driven in sustainability. As part of this sustainability, Eastcoast supports those in need with the return of peel to Australian farmers in drought.
Associating target consumer values with its label, Eastcoast continues its theme of social responsibility in their flood recovery labels, where 10 cents from each bottle went towards Vinnies Flood Appeal in 2022. In 2021 the company supported Coast Shelter with a Christmas wrapping fundraiser. Eastcoast became known for breaking walls between the consumer and producer, building trust through social media. This included hilarious Valentine’s Day videos relabelling it as the sexiest juice company in Australia.
This dedication and investment in time and money marketing the family business lights the way for the future of citrus businesses and what can be achieved by promoting “who” the business is, not “what” it is.
Value Chain Innovator
Claire Wraight, compliance and personnel manager, Legacy Packaging
So much can be achieved in a short time with passion. Claire has worked at Legacy Packing as compliance and personnel manager for five years and in the past two years has not only changed the business but is contributing change to the wider industry.
In 2019, Claire was awarded a Hort Innovation scholarship to participate in the national Women in Leadership program. Since that time, she has been a motivating leader, encouraging young people to begin a career in horticulture.
In the past 12 months, Claire has hosted six students from the University of Melbourne as part of a project looking at putting masters students into local agricultural businesses.
On top of this, Legacy Packing hosts multiple university students through summer work opportunities and schoolies holiday programs. High school students are supported through a production traineeship and horticulture traineeship, marking the beginning of many careers into the industry.
From inductions and weekly meetings to reading cover letters and establishing mentor projects, Claire is known for accommodating various learning styles and needs to ensure young people are welcomed into the workplace.
Claire shows them many different skill sets can come into agriculture and still be valued.
Claire also attends and co-ordinates career expos, open days, farm tours and workshops with educational bodies but also partnering with other government groups to open doors for these young people. She has a strong voice in ideas and actions to highlight more movement in this space for our industry.
Hall of Fame
Mike Arnold
Lasting change requires vision, leadership and absolute commitment to the cause – all traits displayed by Mike Arnold over decades of selfless leadership in the Australian citrus industry.
Mike showed vision at an early age when he invested money in a private irrigation scheme on the family farm in the 1950s, and later replaced wine grapes with blood oranges, which proved to be wildly successful throughout Australia.
This vision has also been used to the lasting benefit of industry. Mike played a pivotal role as the chairman of Auscitrus since the amalgamation of the Australian Citrus Propagation Association and Australian Citrus Improvement Association in 2001, through to his retirement in 2021.
Before 2001 he was chair of the Australian Citrus Improvement Association for several years. He was also a founding member of the South Australian Citrus Improvement Society and chaired that through to his retirement in 2021.
Mike was always adamant that industry bodies such as Auscitrus should be governed by growers and nurserymen with “skin in the game”.
Through the years he has co-ordinated and led seven group tours to investigate citrus industries around the world, opening opportunities for other businesses.
He has also hosted many international grower trips and facilitated many technical visits to Australia in a bid to share knowledge, strengthen relationships and advance the Australian industry.
Mike was instrumental in leading the growth and development of the Auscitrus seed and budwood program. He oversaw the movement from a small operation largely run by NSW DPI employees to a financially strong and business-focused program.
Mike has also been a member of the Waikierie Co-Op Board for two decades, a former chairman and life member of the Agricultural Bureau of Waikerie and has granted 60 years of service to the South Australian Country Fire Service at state and local level.
Hall of Fame
John Morris
John Morris’s knowledge of merchandising and branding has been described as second to none in the industry. It was his application of those skills to drive growth and returns for Australian growers that brought him greatest satisfaction.
John got his start in citrus while at school, helping with harvest and domestic and export packing to Europe in the late 1950s and 60s.
After leaving school he developed a 20 hectare orchard on sand hills at cudgel using overhead irrigation.
After seeing an opportunity to provide 100 per cent orange juice in the early 1970s, John, his father David and brother Paul got a group of families together in Leeton and built a new juice plant.
They established Leeton Citrus Juices in 1972 and launched the Quelch brand, which became a household name on the eastern seaboard.
John became skilled in supermarket merchandising and produce placement of juice. He learnt on the job and as managing director surrounded himself with people who possessed skills he didn’t. He says, somewhat modestly, that this was the key to his success.
This juicing business was built up to a processing capacity of 45,000 tonnes per year, which was 7.5 per cent of total Australian citrus production at the time.
John was the managing director of this business until it was sold in 1988. Many farms in the Leeton area were developed around this business model and the opportunities that it provided.
Following this, John and partners bought a fruit and vegetable retail business in Sydney, which he continued to be involved with for 25 years.
He launched a few packhouse operations and was involved in the Riversun program and with his consumer marketing experience took great pleasure in seeing the industry work together under a common brand with serious merchandising and branding power.
John with his son Dean went on to develop Moricom Orchard in 2005, focusing on easy-peel seedless afourers and launched the Delite brand with a group of like-minded growers.
