Each year Guyra’s Flower Farm produces around 15,000 bunches of Peony roses which are sent to wholesalers in Sydney.
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It’s certainly a thriving business – but owner Christine Gellie said she wants it to grow.
“They’ll usually get sent to Woolies, Coles, Aldie or sometimes to other buyers for huge events,” Mrs Gellie told Fairfax Media this week.
“We have supplied to markets and have sold ourselves at the Flemington markets (in Sydney).
“But we want to focus on our quality so we feel that by Paul and I both being here we can maintain a product which is a high level.”
Water security is an issue, Mrs Gellie said.
She wants to set up a water recycling system on her Guyra property to increase production – but at the moment they don’t have the resources.
“With the water recycling system being set up, we could reach into bulb production which would diversify our flower business,” she said.
“We’d like to do that as the winter commercial industry when the flowers are a little less busy.”
In winter, when the flower business in quiet, Mrs Gellie and her husband fall back on their cattle business.
Transporting the flowers can be difficult too.
Because the farm doesn’t produce enough pallets, large freight trucks won’t do pickups.
“Another limiting factor is getting our product from Guyra straight to Brisbane on the New England Highway within 12 hours,” she said.
“At the moment there are a small number that will pick up one or two pallets but they divert to the coast or inland to Inverell.
“The flowers are on the refrigerated truck for too long so they don’t remain fresh.”
Mrs Gellie said at the moment, 90 per cent of the flowers sold at supermarket chains in Australia are imported.
She said it was also very tough to compete with the prices of overseas companies – as it is for many Australian businesses.
For more visit the Guyra Flower Farm visit their Facebook page.