When you think about fruit grown in northern Victoria, you imagine pears, peaches and apples – certainly not avocados. It’s just not a word that springs to mind along the Murray. So the Gannawarra Times/Swan Hill Guardian decided to take a closer look. WHAT do you get when you cross avocados and Andrew Crossman?
Crossie’s Cados.
Established in 2005 at Torrumbarry in Victoria’s north, Andrew Crossman has built a business which is continuing to grow season after season.
The farm, which he manages with his wife Sarah, sits on the property his parents once used for dairy farming.
But Andrew says he never saw himself following in his parents’ footsteps.
Instead he wanted to do something similar to his grandfather Claude Crossman.
“He had an orchard growing stone fruit in Doncaster (in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs) and I had an interest in fruit trees,” Andrew said.
“There was a direct correlation between growing stuff and then eating it off the tree.
“I really enjoyed the aspect of going out and picking a piece of fruit and being able to eat it.
“After I came back from Melbourne at 23, I started doing a bit of research about farming fruit.
“I didn’t want to be a dairy farmer, but I did want to live out on the farm one day, so I thought to myself: what can I do?”
In the end, the answer was sitting right in front of him.
“All the family like eating avocados,” he said.
“I knew there wasn’t anything really similar being grown in the area – Barham was probably the closest.
“I went on a few trips to Mildura and Robinvale to see what other people were doing,” he recalled. “That meant I was looking at irrigation systems and what trees were being planted as an example.”
By 2003, Andrew was beginning to experiment with the idea of growing avocados on the family farm.
He planted several trees to see whether the fruit could be grown, and the results were better than he expected.
And in 2005 the first block of trees was planted.
“There was a fair bit involved in the initial starting of the business because you are putting a big investment into something,” Andrew explained.
“It is a long-term return. You are looking at five to six years before you see a full financial benefit from what you’ve done.
“We knew the soil types were suitable for avocados in certain areas of the property.
“So, it was pretty clear to us if we were able to get water there then the fruit would grow.”
Ensuring the soil was the right type hasn’t been the only challenge Andrew and his business have faced during the past 15 years.
With weather patterns in Victoria often hard to predict, Andrew said the farm had sometimes offered a challenging environment to grow his product.
“We’re happy with where we are at, although there have been a few setbacks along the way,” he said.
“Avocados themselves aren’t easy to grow.
“We’re pushing the boundaries with climate including extreme heat and cold.
“There are a few factors which decide whether you will get a decent crop or not.
“The biggest factor for avocado is minimum temperature at flowering.
“If we get too many cold nights in a row it can affect the quality of product.
“We can’t mitigate against that.”
Crossie’s Cados has faced arguably one of its biggest challenges in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With restaurants and cafes being forced to close under restrictions, Andrew has been forced to get creative.
“That year was the first serious crop we’ve had,” he said.
“We would usually pick about two bins a week which is the equivalent of about 2000 avocados. At the peak of the season we have picked as many as 15,000 in one day.
“We’ve been selling at farmers’ markets a lot more and would have sold a lot more to local cafes and restaurants.
“We lost a lot of the hospitality market through COVID-19 restrictions. Farmers’ markets have been great for us.
“We’ve done a bit of wholesale into Bendigo as well, which has been one bin a week.
“Without Melbourne really opening up we thought it was time to do the wholesale experience. We thought it was a good experiment as a business.
“Because consumption in Victoria has dropped, the price point has gone down about 40 per cent.
“A class one tray of avocados depending on their size is about $50 a tray.
“If the second series of lockdowns hadn’t happened, they would be about $75. It’s a seven-day-a-week job at the moment.”
Andrew isn’t just a farmer either, he is also a full-time tennis coach for a number of local players.
His normal day would involve farming between 7 am and 2 pm, before hitting the courts from 4 pm to 8 pm.
“They are big days, but you have got to put in the work,” he said..
For now, Andrew and Sarah are continuing to build their business.
“We’d like to think we can add up to 800 trees in the next few years,” he said.
