Emile Kranse had just returned home to Muchea after two years managing flower warehouses in China when he noticed Australia’s largest waxflower farm,
Muchea Gold was on the market.
Seeing an opportunity ripe for picking he approached his long-term employer, the Lynch Group suggesting they add the wildflower plantation farm to their
portfolio. The company, which operates bouquet houses world-wide and supplies flower bunches to over 3000 Australian supermarkets, snapped up the
opportunity, taking over the property from Bill and Lynne Hoffman in April this year.
“We are very lucky to have taken over such a nice farm from Bill and Lynne, who have stayed on for a couple of years to give us advice,” says Emile.
“We also have Ron and Vicky Quinn who have been in the Wildflower industry for 25 years as our farm managers,” he says, “So I am lucky to have a lot of experience on my side”.
Emile also has a wealth of experience in flower production himself, and having grown up in the famous Westland region of Holland perhaps floriculture
was always his destiny. His first job was working in the famous Westland glasshouses which produce some of the world’s most magnificent flowers.
Since then he has run his own flower growing business before taking on more managerial roles for Lynch Group.
His passion for his product is obvious but he maintains that he sees past the prettiness. “ I see the quality of the flower, the structure, stem, shape and yield.” Emile believes Australian wildflowers are still under-rated and hopes to see more of them in the Australian market in the future. Whilst Muchea Gold currently produces around 300 000 bunches of waxflower a year, many plants are still being established and Emile hopes to pick half a million bunches next year.
His long-term plans include diversifying the varieties on the 391 acre property, extending what is now an intensive four month picking season, and providing more home-grown product to Lynch group’s bouquet houses.
“I am back doing something that I like the best,” says Emile, “growing things”.
