The Ballarat region is renowned for gold mining and precious metals yet a young family in Mount Edgerton is looking to put the area on the map for a new kind of gold.
Saffron, commonly referred to as “red gold”, is one of the most expensive spices on the global market and Ballarat is perfectly situated to farm this valuable commodity.
“Our climate is ideal for growing saffron,” says Rachael Sherman, first generation farmer and co-founder of Sherman’s Run, the home of Ballarat Saffron.
“Saffron needs four distinct seasons, hot summers days so it can bake in the sun, heavy frosts to set the flowers, patches of rain at all times of year and then wind to dry the plants after the rain. Ballarat offers it all.”
Australia is known to produce some of the highest quality saffron in the world, with a sweeter taste and more floral fragrance than imported product. Due to the climate requirements, much of it is grown in Tasmania and the New South Wales high country, yet despite having saffron farms in our country, there isn’t enough to meet demand.
“Australia produces about 10 kilograms of saffron a year and we import around 3500 kilograms. There is so much opportunity for people in this area if they want to take it up.”
This opportunity is one of the reasons Rachael and her husband Jesse decided to take the rare step of getting into farming, without any background in the industry.
“I completed a Certificate II in Agriculture when I was at school,” says Rachael, “and it opened my eyes to the kind of life you can have living on the land. We wanted that for ourselves and our girls, to build a legacy they can continue.
“The idea for saffron came when we started researching niche farming and micro cropping to suit the small space we have. The fact that saffron is a high value crop for a small yield made it very appealing but we also love that it’s unique.”
While it may seem like a dream crop to grow it is far from easy. Jesse and Rachael tend to their small crop several times a week and at certain times of year, it requires hours of work daily.
“The red strands only grow once a year in Autumn, but work happens all year round,” says Jesse. “There is constant watering, weeding and fertilizing to be done, as well as checking that no animals have come in to eat the crop. Kangaroos and rabbits are a constant problem.
“The corms (bulbs) grow and divide underground over winter and spring. Mother corms can have up to 12 daughters during this time. In early summer, we dig up the corms, divide and clean them, then replant them individually so they can grow and produce the purple flower, which ideally happens in February. When those flowers open in Autumn, that’s when we harvest the stems.”
Starting with just 200 mature corms as a test crop, Rachael and Jesse were able to harvest 2.65 grams, enough to make 50 meals, which is far more than they expected. By the second year, the yield had doubled.
Now into year three, the couple has several thousand corms in the ground at various stages of maturity and everything is coming along nicely.
“We are on a long-term plan, making sure we take it slowly and do it right,” says Rachael. “We aim that by our fifth year of farming we’ll have enough to start selling. We have some very supportive and patient businesses in the community who are on a waiting list and we’d like to take our product to farmers’ markets, once there is enough of it.”
At this stage Jesse and Rachael are using what they’ve grown to reinvest in their own crop and expand their knowledge.
“It’s important to us that once we go to market, we can provide advice to our customers, so we’ve spent a lot of time learning and experimenting - everything from farming tips through to cooking advice and how to properly extract the flavour and aroma.
“Saffron has medicinal purposes too so it's important for consumers to know how to extract all the goodness from the stems.”
Like any farming, Jesse and Rachael have faced challenges along the way but it hasn’t deterred them from their goal. In fact, they strongly encourage others to follow their lead.
“Get out and have a crack,” says Jesse. “There are so many niche farming and agricultural activities you can do on a small piece of land and if we can build up our farming community, we’ll all be so much stronger together and more sustainable in the long run.
“It is possible to become a first-generation farmer. We have found the community to be so supportive of us and what we’re planning, and every saffron farm we’ve reached out to has generously shared information and guidance.
“If you have the drive to do it you will succeed. If someone wants to move in next door to us, they’re more than welcome. There’s more than enough opportunity to go around.”
You can follow Rachael and Jesse’s journey on the Sherman’s Run Facebook page.
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