‘Not a single call’: Hills growers left in the lurch after fruit fly scare

The devastated owner of a popular South Australian berry farm says a #metoo movement is needed to end an unfair fruit fly quarantine, which had resulted in the closure of his business of 20 years and firing of staff.

Dominic Virgara, who has owned and operated Adelaide Hills Berry Farm in Uraidla, alongside brother Sam for decades, says the family-run business was left with no alternative but to shut shop for good after it was found to be within a 15km radius detection point of a Queensland fruit fly.

Despite the outbreak having been first reported in January this year and staying in place until May, Mr Virgara says they were yet to receive a single call or visit from PIRSA or other government representatives.

This is despite numerous calls to local and state members, being forced to destroy hundreds of thousands of dollars of produce, and laying off 17 staff.

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Dominic Virgara at his Adelaide Hills Berry Farm in Uraidla. Picture: Lydia Kellner

“We have not had a single phone call or single visit from anyone in government…no one from PIRSA – or anyone else – has come here to see the devastation, to see that our plants are fruit fly free. No one has come to lay traps to see what is here or not,” Mr Virgara says.

“They can make that quarantine law for 15km and then not even budge on it or not even come and talk to us on the merit of keeping this going and what it’s done to not just our family but the people who loved our berries.

“There’s been no compensation, no insurance you can get from crop damage, yet when the bushfires came through, all the farmers got compensation. We’re just one farm so it just gets swept under the carpet and everyone else moves on, except us.

“What we need is a #metoo movement for farmers. Here, there’s only two of us but if there were a lot more (people)…we could get something done.”

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Dead plants are now littering the greenhouses.

Rows and rows of dead plants and berries wherever you look.

The popular berry farm, which also once sold premium, hydroponically grown strawberries to farmer’s markets and selected high-end supermarkets and greengrocers, is now for sale with price hopes of around $4.5m.

Mr Virgara says the sale marks the end of an era with his family’s connection spanning back more than 60 years.

Mr Virgara senior first secured a job on the farm in 1964 after migrating to Australia from Italy.

“It’s been quite hard emotionally as it’s the end of an era for us. If it gets sold, the connection is finished. It’s gone,” Mr Virgara says.

“(After we bought the farm), Dad, every week, he would come and see what we were doing and he was very proud of what we were achieving. He saw the state it was in when we took it over and could never believe that we could get it to produce some beautiful berries and where people would come from everywhere to buy our berries.

“He’d be devastated if he knew what’s happening now. He only passed away last year…but sometimes you’ve got to leave the emotions out of it and look at it as a business deal.

“(The property) won’t be easy to sell but I’m sure there is someone who can see value in this place.”

Brothers Sam and Dominic Virgara during happier times. Picture: Supplied

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Clare Scriven says the state government, in collaboration with PIRSA, had offered support to all affected producers within the quarantine zone, including Adelaide Hills Berry Farm.

“I appreciate that having put the property up for sale in December last year, the recent fruit fly outbreak has only added to the owners’ distress,” she says.

“South Australia has and continues to advocate for changes at a national level which would halve the 15km suspension zone to 7.5km to reduce the impact on farmers following a fruit fly outbreak – but this decision can only be implemented with the backing of other states and territories.”

In relation to trapping, Ms Scriven says they were only placed on specific properties if they fell within the designated trapping grid or if the property owner had entered a market access arrangement that required trapping.

“Requirements in place are vital to protect the state’s $1.3 billion horticulture industry and safeguard the wider community,” she says.