Sustainable farming and our organic future
Construction of our new factory in Far North Queensland is almost complete, and we are on-track to achieve organic certification at the Mareeba farm in September.
With that exciting milestone just around the corner, we sat down with founder Gary Mazzorana for a chat about ANP’s sustainable approach to farming and the significance of the upcoming certification.
What will ANP’s organic certification mean for the company?
Organic certification is an exciting development for us. It means more options for our current customers, and it will open new opportunities in markets such as Europe, Japan, Korea and the United States, where we recently achieved self-affirmed GRAS certification under the Food & Drug Administration.
It’s a certification that reflects our sustainable, zero-waste farming philosophy, which has always been an important part of our business.
How do the company’s farming methods benefit the environment?
One of the magnificent things about our approach to farming lemon myrtle is that we have basically zero waste. Our crops are incredibly sustainable.
Our only by-products are the stems and twigs, which are separated from the leaf during harvesting. That by-product doesn’t go to waste though, and is used to make our organic compost, so it goes straight back onto the field to enrich the soil.
Importantly, lemon myrtle farming uses lower levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in comparison to most other crops, eliminating the need to use chemical fertilisers. The crops are also highly water efficient, especially when compared to many introduced species, and we use low-pressure drip lines to keep the trees watered.
From an environmental perspective, these are big wins.
Tell us more about the new factory. What does it mean for production?
As the largest producers of lemon myrtle in the world, the new factory means we can increase processing capacity. Demand currently outstrips supply and we have planted 180,000 new lemon myrtle and anise myrtle trees to keep up. The new factory means that we can scale up processing to meet this demand, both domestically and internationally.
If you think organic lemon myrtle could be right for your business, please get in contact with our friendly sales team.
