Nelson Dichiera’s family have been farming the rich, red soil around the Victorian town of Mildura since his grandfather emigrated from Italy in the 1930s – and he hopes one day to pass that legacy onto his four children. It’s a dream that could have ended if he and wife Zoe hadn’t had the foresight to seek out a partnership with Woolworths after they took a gamble and moved into organic table grapes on their Borderland Farm almost 15 years ago. Since then, the partnership has grown stronger and even more important to Nelson, 50, and Zoe, 52, who have expanded their organic table grape production with two grants of $500,000 from the Woolworths Organic Growth Fund. Zoe reveals just how life-changing the experience has been.
How Woolworths helped us realise our dream of affordable organic grapes
3:35 min read
Why did you first want to partner with Woolworths?
We needed a market because the local market wasn’t big enough to take all our grapes, and to be honest, Woolworths was very supportive from the outset. The trust between us has built over the years. If they come to us with something, we can trust their information, and if we go to them, they trust our information.
How has the partnership played out over the past 13 years?
We supply 35,000 boxes to Woolworths every year which is about 60 per cent of our production. Our dream is to sell 100 per cent to Woolworths, and they are certainly beside us trying to make that happen and build on the customer base. We’re also very proud to be under (Woolworths’) Macro because it’s such a trusted brand now. We now see Woolworths as an extension of our farm, an extension of our business.
How has Woolworths Organic Growth Fund helped you realise your dreams?
The first grant helped us plant new licensed varieties of grapes that are better and easier to produce and increase efficiencies. Our aim is to have red, white and black grapes on the shelf from November through to April. The second $500,000 grant will help us develop red and white organic table grapes at our Borderland Queensland Farm.
What inspired you to switch from conventional farming to organic farming?
Nelson would be out spraying, and it didn’t sit well with him knowing the children (Oliver, 19; Charlie, 17; Rosie, 13 and Nella, 11) were playing in the yard. Do we really need to do this? Is it really needed to this extent? He started looking into other options and how we could minimise the chemicals we were using and still achieve a similar outcome.
Was it a difficult process?
It took three years to convert over which gave us time to work out what was working. Our main thing was not just to transition to organic, but also to work out best practice to live up to our motto, which was (and still is) “affordable organics”. We didn’t want to be at a high price point and not be affordable for working class families. Our philosophy is very much about making organic produce accessible for everyone. We’re a family of four children, so we get it.
How did you make your organic farm such a success?
Lots of practice, lots of experimenting and lots of disappointments and exciting moments. Obviously, there are surprises. We lost all our crop in 2022 due to weather. That’s the thing with organics. The idea is that you make the vines like your own body – healthy as possible to fight anything that comes its way. But when you have a weather event that is so traumatic, there is only so much the vines can do themselves. Conventional farmers have all the chemicals to combat against it.
What sets organic table grapes apart from other grapes?
The intensity of the grapes – the chemicals can take out and dull the natural flavours.
