Steely resolve behind Minter’s moment of ‘madness’
Darren and Anne-Marie Minter, on their Iraak property, about 35km from Mildura, rebuilt their business through the toughest of times, by backing in their almonds.
Darren Minter
THE year was 2009 and Darren Minter’s fourth-generation farming operation at Iraak, 35km south of Mildura, had hit rock bottom.
Three consecutive bad drought years had taken its toll on the nation’s foodbowl and Minter Magic, a major player in almonds, citrus and asparagus, wasn’t immune to the climate.
A significant investment in the almond industry was an integral element in the tale of its survival.
Instead of conceding defeat, Darren doubled down, opting to purchase 300 acres of neighbouring property.
It was the Minter way.
“Everyone was selling land and there I was, buying it,” he laughed.
“Minters have always thought outside the square, we’ve never really farmed conventionally.”
The family’s farming roots hark back to great grandfather, Frank, an English immigrant who fell in love with the Mildura region, which reminded him of his home county of Kent.
Frank settled in the region and survived the depression utilising a natural sand drift for underground drainage on his property, which was producing dried fruit and asparagus.
Frank’s son Norm took over the farm and registered the Murrayland brand name in the early 60s.
That name was soon borrowed by juice companies and its local connotations were lost.
By the time Norm’s son, Geoff, and his wife, Betty, were involved with the farm, it was time for a rebrand.
“The agent said you’ve got to have your name in your business title, then people remember who you are,” Darren said.
“We went through Minterrific, Minter Gold, and we arrived at Minter Magic and that stuck.”
The Minters have an interesting history with names.
Darren is apparently named after the character from B*Witched, which is ironic given his mother initially took issue with Darren and wife, Anne-Marie, naming their son Garry - middle name Arthur.
“My mother looked at me and said ‘how could you name a kid Garry Arthur, poor kid’,” Darren laughed.
“I listed off all the Garrys who have influenced my life.
“My mechanic was Garry, my accountant was Garry, even one of my biggest farming mentors was Garry, and my favourite uncle was Garry.
“Then my mum’s father’s name was Arthur and Anne-Marie’s grandfather’s name was Arthur, so once I’d said all that she walked off with a tear in her eye.”
Garry is the fifth link in the Minter Magic chain, joining the family farm since finishing school.
The operation has evolved quite a bit over the years, starting out in dried fruit production but traversing through virtually any conceivable crop.
“The great belief is all your blocks should have 10 per cent set aside for experimental crops,” Darren explained.
“You meet more people, you learn more growing techniques.”
Minter Magic’s asparagus origins have been prominent, given the vegetable grew quite well naturally - without a lot of assistance - in between rows of fruit trees or grape vines.
Minter Magic has been exporting asparagus to Japan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates since the mid 70s.
When Darren returned to the farm in 1985, more change was in the air, putting in 40 acres of almonds, with asparagus growing between rows - of course.
They were growing rockmelon and zucchini at the time too.
“Dad had looked at all crops, oranges, avocados, and he was the old English style, ‘just grow what you can pick yourself’,” Darren said.
“There wasn’t much to do in March and he hated grapes, being dried fruit growers, so we planted almonds for March work, so we could both work all year ‘round and we had a diversity of crops, in case one fails.”
The first almonds came off five years later but the trees had been paid for with the asparagus harvested between the rows.
Comparatively low expenses led to increased almond acreage in 1997, 2009 and 2015.
It was the 2009 commitment that was ultimately a crossroad moment for Minter Magic.
Peter Yunghanns, of Katnook Estate fame, offered to sell 300 acres of land to Darren.
“I walked up to dad, we’d just lost all our money we had in the drought, and I told him we were going to go and buy this land, I told him ‘we could lose the lot’,” Darren said.
“He said to me ‘if you don’t do it, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life’.
“When your father has that sort of confidence in you, you just go ‘let’s do it’.”
Anne-Marie was equally supportive, despite the tough times.
“I struggled a fair bit, we were our raising kids but I just went with his judgement,” she said.
“It took the pressure off me a bit and Anne-Marie has been great because when it comes to these big decisions, she backs me every time,” Darren added.
“She has been very relaxed with my decision making and I think they’ve paid off alright.
“I had 250 acres already, I was comfortable, but to go ahead and double it, it was a big call.
“It was the best thing we ever did.”
The move didn’t pay instant dividends.
“It was tough, citrus went from $180 a bin, to $40 a bin,” Darren said.
Almonds remained relatively stable and Minter Magic now has 180 acres of almonds, with the 1985 plantings still alive and producing.
“They’re over 34 years old, there’s no bud left down low anymore, but I’ve been hedging and pruning since the day we started,” Darren said.
“I’ve hedged every year for the last 25 years, much to my father’s disgust.
“I said to him ‘when I start getting below a ton to the acre, I’ll stop doing it’.”
The pruning went to new levels in 2007, when Darren went through chopping the north eastern limb off each tree, about 25 per cent of the total plant.
“I felt I had no choice, the bud wood was dying, it was all blocked in,” Darren said.
“We cut that limb off, carted it out and picked 1.4 tonnes to the acre on old trees.”
“There are a lot of different pruning techniques I’ve learned from almonds that I now do with my citrus too.”
The original plantings still produced a ton to the acre last season but Darren confirmed they are closely looking at replanting in the near future.
His first dealings with Almondco came about in 1985.
“The way Almondco was run, was great,” Darren said.
After dealing with various co-ops across the wide variety of produce they had worked with, it was a breath of fresh air.
“The difference with Almondco is it’s still grower-run and grower-owned,” Darren said.
“The selection of directors, a ratio between farmers and business people, has been the smartest move Almondco has maintained.
“Most almond growers are progressive growers, they’re not ‘what my father used to do’ growers.
“You look at who is on the industry committees, on the boards, they’re all dominant natured people who don’t sit back and wait for things to happen, they make things happen.”
Minter Magic, despite its commercial name, remains a family-owned and operated business.
“We still discuss every day with mum and dad how things are being run,” Darren said.
“We used to sit around the table every morning and discuss what we were going to do, dad would have the final say, the only difference now is I have the final say.”
As their family history shows, the Minters are often trendsetters or have their fingers on the pulse.
The global appetite is turning towards almonds and they are ready for it to happen, with the world’s evolving palate and diet moving away from sugar-heavy, high fat foods.
“Almonds are stepping into that void very nicely,” Darren said.
He noted about 130 new almond-based products were developed in 2018, including items like almond yoghurt and almond cheese.
“What’s next? It’s gluten free, suits trend diets and the diets have worked, because ever since the 80s we’ve been told ‘snack on nuts’ and almonds are the cheapest nut,” Darren said.
“So it has huge potential in the future, and stats say by 2022, it is possible demand will overtake supply.”