Iconic Hills berry farm listed for sale amid fruit fly scare
A key supplier of raspberries and strawberries, forced to shut shop after getting caught within a fruit fly quarantine zone, has listed their property for sale with multimillion-dollar price hopes.
Adelaide Hills Berry Farm in Uraidla, owned and operated by brothers Dominic and Sam Virgara for almost 20 years, announced on Monday that they were left with no choice but to shut down operations “for good”.
Last month, it was revealed the family-owned business had been forced to destroy hundreds of thousands of dollars of produce after it was found to be within a 15km radius detection point of Queensland fruit fly.
It means the business – which is South Australia’s only wholesale producer of raspberries – will be under quarantine until May but farm owners said that was too late to keep operation afloat.
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Adelaide Hills berry farm brothers, Sam and Dominic Virgara walking through strawberries that can not be picked and sold because they within a fruit fly zone. Picture: Brett Hartwig
Dead plants are now littering the greenhouses.
Rows and rows of dead plants and berries wherever you look.
The popular berry farm, which also sells premium, hydroponically grown strawberries to farmer’s markets and selected high-end supermarkets and greengrocers in and around Adelaide, has been listed for sale for $4.5m in what selling agent Chris Weston of Raine and Horn describes as a walk-in-walk-out deal.
“It’s got many attributes and it’s just that they’ve been caught up in this bureaucratic bullsh*t,” he said.
“But there are many uses for it, other sources of income and the intrinsic value is really in the land and infrastructure.
Mr Weston adds the owners had essentially lost 12 months of business as a result of the quarantine but so far this had not deterred buyers.
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Brothers Sam and Dominic Virgara during happier times. Picture: Supplied
“They are losing a year of where they were headed…so they are losing a year of that particular income but there are other income sources there.
“There’s a cottage there, they get money from supplying Uraidla with water.
“So while things will be a little bit different in the short term…we’ve had people approach us for (growing) flowers (and) also had other good interests.”
Brothers Dominic and Sam Virgara announced the business closure via social media on Monday.
“Dear Customers It’s all OVER!! After getting no assurances from the Government that we will not face this again or their willingness to reduce the 15km quarantine zone, we have made the difficult decision to close the Farm – FOR GOOD!” the post said.
“The hard decision is now made, 15 full time seasonal casuals and 2 full time staff were terminated today. All irrigation and fertigation was turned off. All new plant orders cancelled.
“This message is not to seek sympathy or support, it is solely to let all our wonderful customers know that our berries will no longer be available so please don’t drive to Hills for our berries.”
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The Uraidla-based farm has now been listed for sale.
The sale includes a cottage that is currently rented.
The shutdown should not come as a complete surprise to followers, with the brothers – both in their mid-60s – first announcing retirement plans in late December when the property was first listed for sale.
“If we were 20 years younger, we would actually try and turn this into a tourism spot and … have a café and invite other little niche producers of various products to come in,’’ Sam Virgara said.
“There’s plenty of opportunity to value add (through) making things like ice cream and jams (using the farm’s berries).
“We sell quite a lot of raspberries and strawberries to gin manufacturers so there’s the opportunity to make your own drinks.
“It’s even a great location for things like weddings.
“We just need someone younger and enthusiastic to come in and build on what we started.’’
