The words, “Dad I want to be a farmer”, were music to Darren Minter’s ears, a fourth-generation Mildura horticulture producer, who had initially pegged his son, Garry, to become an accountant.

The conversation was some years ago when times were tough on the farm and the Australian asparagus industry was falling apart due to cheaper imports and the rising cost of labour.

It was a pivotal moment in what Darren calls a brilliant father-son relationship, giving him the confidence Garry was keen to grow the Minter Magic brand, which started in 1912, when his English great-grandfather settled at Iraak, on the Murray River 35km southeast of Mildura.

From that point on, the Minter family planted more almond and citrus trees, and while Darren would have been content to stop growing asparagus completely (after farming them on 350ha in peak times), Garry was keen to keep the Minter legacy alive, continuing production on less than 15ha with his partner.

An introduction to GPS pays off

In addition to the small asparagus planting, Minter Magic now grows citrus and almonds on 400ha, employs 10 full-time workers and operates a John Deere fleet of equipment, including 5 and 6 Series tractors.

While tractors have been a key part of operations, the real game changer for Darren came with the introduction of John Deere’s GPS technology and AutoTrac, which they initially used to mark out asparagus rows some years ago.

“We're now getting the guys to use it in spraying because they find they don’t have to concentrate so much on driving,” Darren says.

“They can actually look around and check to make sure the sprayer is working without worrying about where they're going. So that sort of technology is always moving forward.”

Garry has taken a strong interest in keeping up with the latest John Deere technology to build efficiencies into their business.

“We saw how easy the original GPS systems was and what a difference it made, so we decided to take on RTK and StarFire TM, and the local dealership showed me how to set it up and calibrate it,” Garry says.

“Now we have two tractors, a John Deere 6195M and a 6120M, fitted with AutoTrac and the StarFire system that we alternate depending on the job. They give us a 2.5cm accuracy for operations like planting and harvesting.

“We’ve also used GPS for our latest orchard, to mark the spot where each almond tree should be planted in a uniform grid that will also help with ease of spraying later. It’s much less expensive than getting surveyors in to individually map out a new orchard,” he says.

Smart Apply delivers ‘amazing’ results

With the 6 Series tractors doing all the heavy lifting on the farm, Garry says the adoption of John Deere’s Smart Apply Intelligent Spray Control System on 200ha of new almond trees three years ago has made a big difference to productivity and operational costs.

The technology uses LiDAR, a remote sensing technology which pulsates laser light as the sprayer moves through the rows of trees. This creates a digital blueprint of the canopy, which is transmitted to spray nozzles, enabling chemical to be applied only where necessary.

“I was the one in the tractor at the time and it was so much more efficient,” Garry say.

“We planted our young almond trees with our standard Air-O-Fan band sprayer and we used about 5.5 to six vats of chemical, compared to one vat when we had the Smart Apply attached to the sprayer.

“That doesn’t just save us chemicals, it saves time driving back and forth filling up.”

Darren is also enthusiastic about the return on investment in Smart Apply technology estimating a saving of 20 per cent on their larger trees, and up to 80 per cent on the smaller trees, depending on their density.

“We have found it extremely viable in our spray plants. It really adds up to quite a lot, and we are extremely happy with it.”

Pressure to compete on world stage

Minter Magic’s almond and citrus products are exported to more than 30 countries worldwide competing with other global producers who are government subsidised. This drives the Minters to consistently adopt new technology to maintain a foothold in overseas markets.

“Australia is one of the most expensive countries in the world for labour, water, and power costs, so we need every edge we can get, because we’re competing with other producers world-wide,” Darren explains.

“We are leading the world in irrigation and technologies such as what John Deere is bringing out.

“We’re getting the best, biggest crops and fruit we can possibly get to survive in our harsh conditions and harsh economic circumstances.”

As the family enterprise continues to meet global challenges, there’s one advancement Darren’s most excited about, and that’s automation.

“The next technology we do need is these self-drive tractors. That's what I'm waiting for,” he says.

Watch the Minter Magic video at https://youtu.be/qedTAX3PZ1E?si=C2aCWnx3FkQbmHDj