Simon savours positive almond attitude

Simon Vause, pictured at his Lyrup block overlooking the Pike Creek, got into almonds after being drawn to the industry by its welcoming nature.
Simon savours positive almond attitude

Simon Vause

THE collapse of the ostrich market, drought of the late 2000s and water allocation roller coasters were all disasters which ultimately established Simon Vause’s farming foundations.
The former Telstra account manager started from humble beginnings after growing up in Mount Gambier but worked his way up the corporate ladder over 17 years with the communications firm.
“I wasn’t a farmer at all,” Simon revealed.
“My career in Telstra was such that I wore a suit and tie every day, account managing six of the top 30 customers in the state.”
Both Simon and wife, Melissa, were successful in their respective careers.
“We came across a crazy idea to mitigate our tax by buying ostriches, of all things,” Simon said.
“They were going to be huge.”
Agistment for the birds became rather expensive, so they bought their own block, at Lyrup, and based them there while continuing to work in Adelaide.
By the mid 90s, they had bred 100 birds, sent them off to be processed but never saw a cent as the industry collapsed.
On the flip side, their tax problem was also gone.
The pair was left with nothing but a block of seemingly random fruit trees and a stack of empty ostrich pens.
“It was a real fruit salad block,” Simon said.
Apricots, a range of citrus and hybrid varieties remained.
With the fruit packing and processing infrastructure still on site, the couple continued to manage the block from the city, mainly growing apricots and oranges.
“We were looking around for something to grow, grapes were booming, they were everywhere, but we had an idea that we didn’t want something that would go south,” Simon said.
The late Noel Sims, of Simarloo, was also transitioning into almonds.
Simon attended an almond industry conference in Adelaide at the time.
“It had all these people talking about the industry, where it was going, and it all seemed really good,” he said.
“Stone fruit was really hard because you were competing against everyone, it was all ‘secret squirrel’ stuff.
“If you knew something, you kept it to yourself, so it was very difficult to learn, whereas the almond industry was completely opposite.
“Everyone was keen to share and pass their knowledge on.
“That really resonated with me, it had a good feel to it.
“I find that just as much these days, it’s almost the industry’s greatest asset.”
The Vauses’ first 10 acres of almonds were planted in 97.
Simon eventually retired to be a farmer and the family moved to the Lyrup block in 2004.
He put in more eight more acres of almond plantings in 2005, shifting away from stone fruit.
“That was a real turning point for us because it was when we started to farm seriously,” he said.
The drought from 2006 to 2009 heightened that sense of seriousness.
“From then on it was all about efficiency,” Simon said.
“I went to every course you could lay your hands on and in an 18-month period, I learned more than I had in how ever long I’d been farming for.
“We all got so much more efficient, and suddenly water was this outrageously expensive product and we couldn’t waste it.
“It was a tragic time, which took its toll on many people, me included, but if I look back on it and say if it hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have got to where I am today.
“I made terrible decisions, I literally remember looking in the mirror and bursting into tears because I had just paid $1000/ML to lease in water and two days later, Karlene Maywald, the Water Minister at the time, announced a water allocation increase and the price went to about $700/ML.
“For us, it was a number with a fair few zeros on it, I may as well have just set fire to thousands of dollars.
“We came out of it actual farmers, serious about the business that we’re in.”