Pristine property paramount in Pearce’s pursuit of product perfection

Chaffey almond grower, Don Pearce, takes great pride in the neat presentation of his orchard.

Don Pearce

FIVE minutes of perusing Don Pearce’s almond property at Chaffey, north of Renmark, and his commitment to quality control is more than evident.
The neatly mowed lawn and colourful garden that adorns his home mirrors a generally tidy and ordered mindset.
Don’s orchard is no different. You could almost eat off the ground.
That is the idea, after all.
“At the end of the day, you’re harvesting off the ground, and especially with nonpareil, they’re almost open, so things have to be pretty tidy,” he said.
“It comes down to the orchard, all the diseases, pests and rubbish can come in from the growers if they’re not up to date and keeping things tidy.
“I think everyone should have pride in how their block is presented.”
Don claimed Almondco’s Grower of the Year award in 2016 and while he appreciates the honor, he places higher value on the co-op sharing his high quality control standards.
“The standards are huge,” he said.
“I think Almondco set the pace, the cleanliness of the place is like a hospital.
“They shouldn’t worry themselves too much about me, as I’m right anyway, but you should be checking on everyone, I understand that.
“I think it has to be run like that, you’re dealing with big exporters, it has to be a perfect product.
“Others are going that way but I think Almondco set the pace, without a doubt.”
Don was a printer by trade, having left school aged 15 to take up an apprenticeship at the Murray Pioneer, based locally in Renmark.
Despite regularly coming home covered in newspaper ink, the calling of life back to the family block was pumping through his veins.
“I’d always grown up on the block,” Don said.
“My father, John, he had one and was keen on it all the time, it sort of seemed my destiny too, in a way.”
John was a huge peach producer at Renmark North, the second largest supplier to the cannery in Berri, but a visit from an American almond pioneer, Ed Grant, led to the first ever plantings of almonds in the Renmark district.
“No one had grown almonds out there in those days, it was red clay and the common thought was you needed red sand,” Don said.
“They only planted them 12 feet apart thinking they wouldn’t grow and as it turned out, we had to pull every second tree out.”
His brother Sam is now a grower on the original family block.
Don bought his first block on Darling Street while working in Cairns in 1989 and then moved out on his own to his current Chaffey property, “Sierra”, in 1995, with the first plantings in 1996.
“It was a big, vacant paddock,” he said.
“I had a bit to do with almonds previously and even here, people were saying ‘no, you’ve got to plant grapes’.
“I just said I wanted to make a living, it’s had its ups and downs, but you just sort of persevered.
“It was a good decision – I can say that now.
“That’s the game we play, it’s not always beer and skittles.”
Pest issues are greatly reduced due to his isolated location and while he’s not an organic grower, Don isn’t too far off, often letting nature do the work for him.
“I’m not fussed about controlling birds, crows in particular,” he said.
“They clean things up really good.
“For the little bit of product they eat, I find they support what I do.
“I don’t have carob moth or anything like that.”
Coming up 30 years since his return to the Riverland, Don freely admitted he doesn’t always do things perfectly.
“You’ve never fully worked it out but it is becoming second nature to me now,” he said.
“You never stop learning, I’m still asking questions, and there’s things I used to do quite fastidiously that I don’t do anymore.”
But his attention to detail ultimately underpins everything he does.
“I enjoy it, for sure, but you can’t be slap dash and think ‘she’ll be right’, if there’s a tree that needs attention, you treat it individually,” Don said.
“If you’ve got an issue, dig a hole and find out what’s wrong with your block.
“I don’t know every name of each tree but I take a lot of pride in the orchard.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Chaffey almond grower, Don Pearce, takes great pride in the neat presentation of his orchard.