Janis Lake Farm making waves in the new Australian Dori kiwi fruit market

A recent harvest of a new golden kiwi fruit variety in the Lower South West suggests the delicious fruit is here to stay with a local producer recording a solid yield in only its second year of harvest. Lake Janis Farm recently completed its second year of harvest of the new Italian kiwi fruit variety Dori — first brought to Australia in 2014 as part of a program run by the Southern Forests Food Council — and has recorded a harvest of more than 67 tonnes. Director Dean Ryan said the yield would continue to increase as the years go on and they expected to reach their maximum during the 2025 harvest. “It won’t be next year but the year after we’ll be getting pretty close,” he said. “We’ve learnt a lot this year — things that you probably couldn’t foresee. “Next year we’ve got quite a few different techniques we’ve picked up that we’ll change.” Mr Ryan said if they had known what they do now, the probably could have harvested more than 20 tonnes more this year. “We’ve got to refine our techniques and optimise what we’re doing and become experts at it,” he said. Lake Janis Farm was one of only two early adopters in Western Australia to establish the vines, alongside Hawebrook Farms in Pemberton, and has been working with the fruit since planting it more than six years ago across 3.85ha. Director Julia Ryan said it had been difficult being one of three producers in Australia however, the couple had been sourcing their knowledge from established growers across the world, including in South Africa, New Zealand and Italy. “It has been hard,” she said. “He’s out there face timing in the orchard, talking about stuff and trying to draw on their knowledge. “It has been exciting and daunting all at the same time — it’s exciting to do something new and different, daunting because it’s just been this steep learning curve to pick everything up.” Mrs Ryan said all the fruit went to Etherington Wholesalers at Cannington Markets and was snapped up by boutique grocers almost as quick as they were being picked. “It’s walked out the door, it’s sold already,” she said. “We’ve had rave reviews from people that have been trying them. “It hasn’t even gotten to the supermarkets though, you just need bigger quantities.” Mrs Ryan said the farm was positioned well geographically for this variety of kiwi fruit which reflected in their sales. “It’s an earlier ripening variety to the New Zealand variety so we’re getting in early,” she said. “They’re only just bringing their fruit over now to Australia. “We’re always going to come in earlier than their fruit.” Mrs Ryan said the couple had been looking into different, niche and gourmet areas to go into since they stopped potato farming a few years earlier. “We were very much commodity based before with beef and cattle so we really wanted to make sure we tap into some niche areas,” she said. Lake Janis Farms now also produces certified organic avocados and jersey beef, which is being stocked across the State and can even be found in Perth fine dining institution Rockpool Bar & Grill. “Dean’s ethos here is to run it all biologically and retentively,” she said. Mr Ryan said the feedback they were getting for both their jersey beef and gold kiwi fruit was phenomenal, a relief for the third generation farmer after the potato market regulations ended. “The potato board used to be like a moat, so we needed another moat,” he said. “Our moat is gold kiwi fruit because we’ve got pricing power at the moment … and we thought jersey could be our moat as well — it’s something different, no one else has done it, it’s a very high quality product. “Trying to get something no one else has got is crucial.”