NEXT year marks 100 years of Moffatt feet on Tarome ground as a fifth generation continues a legacy of growing staples like carrots, onions and pumpkins to feed an ever growing Australian public.
A lengthy history means their story has been told multiple times and on a multitude of platforms.
What makes the Moffatts different to hundreds of other generational farming family across the Fassifern?
Perhaps the question better asked is how they hold it together in the face of unfavourable weather events and the bug bear of unreliable migrant labour or lack thereof?
Let’s throw in the war in Ukraine and its impact on the fertiliser and diesel supplies too.
The Moffatts may have been around a long time, but they are not impervious to the ills that beset any other large successful farming family.
Steven Moffatt is aware his current position in life is possible due to decisions made by his forebears in the early 1900s.
And while a hard work ethic has enabled each subsequent generation to keep pace, hard work alone didn’t mean success was a given.
“The legacy my great grandfather, grandfather and father left us gave us a big step up into the industry and it’s something we are quite proud of,” he said
“As a family that have been in the region for nearly a hundred years it’s a significant milestone not just for the business but more so for our forefathers, like my grandfather the late Scott Moffatt and his father Robert.
“My father Don and his brother Greg are still actively involved in the business but the three directors of Moffatt Fresh Produce are myself, John and Mitchell.                                                                   “Our family relationship has always kept us strong. At times, we agree to disagree but also see that as being quite healthy because we have to challenge ourselves in order to be better in what we do.”
Strong and healthy family relationships bode well for success, but that alone doesn’t guarantee it.
Many large and strongly positioned farming families have petered out, swallowed by corporate identities, an inability to maintain generational interest or for economic reasons.
“We live in a fantastic region, and I am just thankful our forefathers chose such a good area to take up the farming business,” he said.
“That in itself wasn’t a coincidence or by default, it was a key strategic move.
“And the things they looked for when selecting the land are still paying off generations later.
“We are close to the markets and port in Brisbane, proximity is key to our operation so good on those guys nearly 100 years ago for thinking about that.
“And that’s the legacy they left for us, so why wouldn’t we still be doing what we love?”
It turns out ‘location, location, location’ – ring true for farming properties too.
Mr Moffatt said he was fortunate to have been around when his grandfather Scott was active in the family business.
“I can still remember how [his grandparents] built a house in Aratula and left the original homestead, then he retired to Aratula but came into work every day afterwards, and that was just the way it was,” he said.
“Although he officially retired, I don’t think he ever actually retired.
“I spent my early years learning off the great man and he still is a household name around the place.
“That’s just what he wanted to do and he loved doing it.
“I can see history repeating itself because my father is the same.”
He said he didn’t get to do the ‘hands on stuff’ he had been brought up doing.
“My role in the business is as director and working with suppliers and customers ... there is a whole range of other facets to the business,” he said.
“There is not one part of the business that a family member doesn’t touch.
“A phrase we use is ‘we grow it, we pick it, we pack it, we freight it’ and we do that as a family.”
He said he’d done ‘the maths’ and the number of families their produce feeds within Australia on a daily basis was ‘quite phenomenal’.
“That’s something we are quite proud of, but the business has also turned its hand to the international markets within Southeast Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Middle East and that means valuable dollars coming back into Australia,” he said.
“The global economy is a little unsettled, but I still feel that Australian farmers are working hard to bring money into the country.                                                                                                                  ”He also worked hard at combating food wastage while supporting sustainability by processing products not suitable for retail markets and selling them to food services like airlines or catering groups.
“We are always looking at new technology and ways to better use renewable energy, all those things play a role in reducing waste,” he said.
“There is still a lot to learn in that regard, but we are getting better at it and learning new ways all the time.”
He said war in Ukraine had an impact on almost every business in Australia across the board.
“Inflation at the moment has also added to some cost pressures when trying to deliver a product that is going to be good value for the average family,” he said.
“It’s delivered some pressures but we are starting to see some of that normalise now and hope that pattern continues.”
The Moffatts grow carrots, celery and onions, with pumpkin and celery grown year round.
“With regard to size [of the land under cropping] it’s probably easier to put it into hectares grown on an annual basis, we work on a rotational program and currently grow approximately 1,300 to 1,500 hectares of vegetables a year,” he said.
“We rotate to give our fields a rest by using other crops, you get the best out of your soil by rejuvenating and regenerating it.
“There has been an excess of carrots the last two and a half years of La Nina, but our seasons have normalised now.
“There was still a suitable supply around the country during the terribly wet weather Queensland and Northern New South Wales suffered.
“We had May floods last year on top of February floods which had an impact on the business within the region quite significantly so now that we are well into the year, conditions are being quite kind to us and if anything, it’s turning a little bit drier.”
He said continued success of the family business meant ensuring the workplace was such they remained an employer of choice.
“We try and make our workplace as stable as possible and keep turnover to a minimum,” he said.
“We have around 125 to 200 people working for us, sixty percent of that are long term employees and the seasonal field and factory workers.
“We’ve adopted some of the traditional ways and values from our forefathers.
“They gave us the perfect precedent and foundation on which to work and using that we’ve been able to thrive.
“We will never stop trying to improve but that we are all still here and business is good, is a credit to sound decisions made some 100 years ago.”