Until the mid 1990s the Dumaresq and Mole river valleys at Mingoola were productive with tobacco, employing a multicultural mix during the three months long harvest.
When that industry wound back growers like Bob South looked to other, similar crops to farm.
Mr South settled on echinacea, as the bright colourful flower grew well on his river flats and the production of this medicinal herb was not a lot different to tobacco. In fact Mr South's existing drying equipment suited the new crop to a tee.
“The quality of echinacea breaks down over time not at temperature,” Mr South explained, saying the hot temperatures of his tobacco drying kilns were ideal for this product.
Mr South used to grow the plant from seed, planted in June, but these days prefers to buy in seedlings and plants them out in prepared alluvial sandy loam in October with a March harvest. “I’ve got more freedom this way,” said Mr South.
The echinacea plant, native to North America, is well suited to free draining alluvial sandy loam.
Secure water from Glenlyon dam is a plus although occasional flood does wreak havoc. In 2011 Mr South lost $30,000 worth of dried flower and crop when the valley was inundated by water that fell mostly on Toowoomba.
“Echinacea doesn’t need a lot of nitrogen,” says Mr South, saying that too much actually darkens the flower when dry. Mr South was certified organic for a dozen years but today grows his crop biologically.
“We use no herbicide,” he said. “So all weeding is done mechanically, with the hoe. It’s important to keep it clean, but echinacea’s a breeze to chip compared to tobacco.”
Late summer harvest is done a bit at a time, with flowers and stems cut by hand and wrapped in hessian, just the same as when tobacco leaf was picked. Roots are later dug with old potato equipment and, back at the shed, prepared for drying back by first getting a clean in a modified carrot washer. Flowers and stems are arranged in trays and loaded into oil-fired kilns which use heat transfer pumps to keep fumes out of the product. Once dried the entire echinacea plant is pushed through a chaff cutter and sieved very finely before bagging ready for transport.
His summer crop is not large, less than a hectare, but is enough to supply his market without saturating it.
No surprise, cheap foreign imports from Eastern Europe have cruelled the Australian echinacea industry in recent years and while the market always appreciates Australian quality, it is not always willing to pay the right price. Prior to the flood of cheap imports Mr South used to grow other medicinal herbs - stinging nettle, which used to give pickers some curry, marshmallow and dandelion root.
“There can be a limited market for echinacea,” said Mr South.
For the moment the echinacea market is growing well, at 8.4 per cent per annum or 42 per cent growth from 2011-2016, according to George Stefanovski, technical manager with Sydney company Herbal Extracts.
“From our point of view there is always room for new growers,” said Mr Stefanovski, “especially due to customers requesting products made from local produce.”
There was also room in the market for new herbal medicine products, however price and seasonal variability ‘are the main drivers for purchase’, he said.
Did you know?
Angustifolia Echinacea in the US midwestern state of Wisconsin helped transition tobacco growers out of that industry when it collapsed in the late 1990s.
