Maurie Cafra planted his first asparagus spear in Koo Wee Rup in 1983.
“It grows well here because it's a very fertile clay soil,” Cafra told the Monitor. “Once the roots are established, there's no irrigation needed, and it's also not too hot here.”
Gippsland is well known as one of the major producers of dairy in the country - supplying an estimated 23 percent of Australia’s milk - but if you’re seeking a crop that totally dominates its market, consider asparagus.
The Koo Wee Rup region in West Gippsland produces more than 95 percent of Australia’s entire asparagus crop, according to the Australian Asparagus Council.
Cafra’s parents bought his property 80 kilometres southeast of Melbourne in the 1950s after migrating from Italy and grew potatoes, carrots and onions.
Cafra and his wife Maria took over the business in 1975 and switched production of the 69-hectare property to an organic certified farm named Cafresco Organics.
Brian Edwards, marketing and shed manager for Cafresco Organics, told the Monitor: “Asparagus to Koo Wee Rup is like what rare earth metals are to China, that is how valuable they are.”
Maurie and Maria Cafra at their Koo Wee Rup farm. Image provided by Cafresco Organics.
Why does it grow so well here?
Cafra said in West Gippsland the yield of the pointy green vegetable that changes your number ones is better than anywhere else in the country, but that it is challenging to farm.
“It's very expensive to harvest because there's no way to mechanically harvest it, every spear has to be cut individually. It's quite a lot of work.”
To help him collect the roughly eight tonnes of asparagus his farm produces annually per hectare, Cafra relies on a team of 14 migrant workers.
“Typically, the asparagus season only lasts from September until December. It’s a spring crop. It grows as soon as the soil warms up and we have a black soil here, which warms up fairly quickly.”
Cafra said West Gippsland’s varying weather helps give the spikey green crop enough heat without drying it out too quickly.
“We'll get a few hot days and then it cools down, which gives the spears a bit of a breather, and then off they go again with the next warm days.”