Behind the rows of flourishing olive trees lining Brand Highway just north of Gingin lies Koorian Farming Enterprises – a family-run operation growing olives, pomegranates and figs on the undulating Gingin scarp.
Koorian is run by father and son David and Raf Gollach — experienced farmers — and Colleen, who provides back-office support. The family moved to Australia when political unrest all but ended agriculture in their home country of Zimbabwe.
“My Mum’s family have been farmers for generations,” explains Raf. “My dad got into farming in Zimbabwe in 1980. He had an agricultural business there growing 2000 hectares of capsicums for colour extraction.”
Once settled, and with Raf now in possession of a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Science from UWA, the family looked to apply their expertise to a new project, with figs at the forefront of their mind.
“Our initial idea was to grow figs in a greenhouse, because you can get them to grow all year round and the price for figs in the boutique market in the off season is good,” said Raf.
However, after viewing the farm — an established, but neglected olive grove with good infrastructure and captivating views to the coast — the family adapted their plans and set about breathing life back into the olive grove, as well as making a strategy to diversify the crops.
“The farm was established in 2001 — with the olives — and was sold in 2006. Those owners just walked away in 2012 — they stopped farming after a slump in the international olive price,” explains Raf.
“The olives needed a lot of work; they were untouched for about 10 years by the time we took over. We cleared 14 hectares of olives, and slowly pruned back another 65 hectares.
“When we were looking for crops to add in, we had to take into account that our water is slightly saline. And researching desert crops that are well-suited to saline water, we came up with figs — our original plan — and pomegranates! We planted 12 hectares of pomegranates and 3-4 hectares of figs.
“Our first commercial production took about 18 months and our fruit is now sold in Coles and independent grocers.”
Koorian grow four varieties of figs: Brown Turkey, a tough variety producing purple-brown fruit with pale pink rich flavoured flesh; Black Genoa, a large, black fruit with striking dark red flesh; and White Adriatic, which has a pale green to amber skin when ripe and a strawberry-red pulp.
The fourth fig variety, Raf says, “Is a bit of a hybrid that has grown into something that we weren’t expecting! We’ve self-named it ‘meringue’ and sometimes ‘Tom thumb’, on account of its small size, but delicious gooey-honey taste.”
While Koorian olives are turned into olive oil, a pantry staple, the figs have more of a cult following — a smaller market demand, but those who love figs do so with a passion! Figs are in peak production from now until June.
“It’s obviously a very niche fruit,” says Raf. “There’s certain cultural demographics such as Italian, Greek, and Middle Eastern families that are used to having them in their home and they create a strong demand.
“And pomegranates and figs are both trendy for salads.”
While they might be trendy, figs are an ancient tree and were one of the first plants cultivated by humans. In fact, subfossils of Ficus carica, found in the Jordan Valley in the Middle East, date their cultivation to around 9400 BC. This is prior to the domestication of wheat, barley and legumes and may be the first known instance of agriculture.
Figs were widespread in Ancient Greece and were a common food source for the Romans. In more modern times, fig and pomegranate trees have been a staple in the Australian backyard and their fruit is a source of nostalgia for many.
With the relatively low-maintenance, good value production of olives combined with the higher value, but labour-intensive crops of fig and pomegranates, Koorian’s diversification, combined with generations of farming experience, have turned the neglected property into a thriving enterprise. It seems they’ve hit the agricultural trifecta!
