About Arnotts Vegetable Farms

History

1900-1910

In 1908 after  working on his brothers Market Garden in Ormond for a number of years, SPENCER ARNOTT Purchased a 45 acre property at MOORES Road, WHEELERS HILL. Nearly every weekend for the next year and a half was spent trying to clear the block to grow crops. Late in the year of 1909 Spencer got married, built a house and started farming.

 

1910-1950

In 1925 Spencer Arnott’s oldest son David left school to help on the farm followed by younger brother Jack.

In 1941 Spencer Arnott passed away and brothers David and Jack formed a partnership together and were known as Arnott Brothers

1949 David Arnott Senior’s oldest son David left school to work on the farm and joined his father to form D.S & D.W Arnott.

 

1950-1980

In 1966 a 20 acre property was purchased at Beechers Road, Clyde and there was a transition over the next two years from Wheelers Hill to Clyde. At this point David Arnott senior retired from the business and a new era started with David and his wife Effie forming D.W. & E.M. Arnott

The Beechers Road property only had a shed and a small bore. In the two year transition a house, a dam and irrigation mains where completed to make this the new place and home for David and Effie and their 3 children. Over the next decade many improvements were made with the addition of fixed irrigation and drainage. Modern machinery was also purchased to reduce manual labour workload.

In 1976 David and Effie’s oldest son Craig left school to work on the family farm

By late 1970’s the new additions and enhancements put more pressure on the family to produce more which made the 20 acre property farm too small to stay viable. In 1981 a 40 acre property was purchased in Moores Road, Clyde. Beechers Road was sold to finance the setting up of the new property and as this was just a bare cow paddock there was plenty of work to do to get the farm up and running. This time we had no back up water supply of a Bore which was a huge gamble.

At this point the business became D.W. & E.M. Arnott & Son as Craig joined the business.

In the first week of June 1981 the bulldozers moved in and within a week completed a 6 million gallon dam which was used to store our summer water supply. Over the next 6 months the family house was built plus a new shed. Earth moving equipment was brought in to set up the farm which was then followed by fixed sprinklers and irrigation pumps. The first crops were planted by the end of June.

 

1980 – 2000

In the month of May 1980 we finished selling produce from the market floor for the first time in 4 generations. Spencer Arnott, David Arnott senior,  David Arnott  and Craig Arnott where the 4 family members to do the selling at the Melbourne Markets over the 40 plus years .

Mother Nature plays a role in many agriculture ventures:

In the early 1980’S during a severe drought, the farm was reduced to a dust bowl with inefficient rain to fill our dam for our second summer. For the first time since being in the Clyde area we were without a backup bore supply. Production was brought to a halt till a late autumn break allowed us to resume planting which left us with a reduced crop rotation for the winter. With the lessons of the hardships of that period our focus was to improve our water supply.

In 1988 a neighbouring 20 acre market garden was purchased which had a good water supply which was sufficient for both of the farms.

Craig’s younger brother Gavin  left school in 1984 to work on the farm and was the first family member to do an apprenticeship in the Agricultural industry.

In 1990  The New Business name became the now Arnotts Vegetable Farms Pty Ltd

1996 another neighbouring 60 acre property was purchased to help with the growing demand for our produce. After long negotiations with Government departments we were able to get a licence to drill for another bore which helped ease the pressure of limited water supply.

 

2000- 2010

During this time the business grew dramatically. We have tried to implement new technology and Machinery and with the help of training and better knowledge of the Agricultural industry we pride ourselves with a better understanding that helps us stay competitive. It also helped that we were able to obtain A class recycled water from the South East Irrigation scheme which has enabled us to drought proof Arnotts Vegetable Farms.

 

2010 – 2013

In 2011 we purchased another 29 acre property in Lang Lang to help with our winter production.
Arnotts Vegetable Farms has continued to grow with the expansion of staff and quality growing. We have been able to grow specialised produce to a niche market. Spring Onions are our main line and added to that,  we supply coloured Dutch Carrots, varieties of Radish, varieties of Beets, Asian vegetables and herbs.  Our product list can be up to 18 varieties of vegetables. We may also change what we grow according to supply and demand. We strive to accommodate our customers’ needs and we are always looking to improve on the quality of our products.

 

Some of the changes we have seen over the years:

– Watering by hand to dragging sprinklers and hoses around the farm to pre – setting  computers and being able to start them with a sms text message anywhere in the country

– Ploughing  with single row plough dragged by a horse –to multi rows pulled by a massive tractor

– Loading the horse and cart by hand then traveling a day to get to market – to loading semi trailers by forklift by mid day and the produce in is at interstate markets fresh the next morning

– Hoeing by hand – to inter row cultivation