What we grow at Burlington Berries
Burlington Berries specialises in producing the highest quality strawberries, raspberries and blackberries. We use advanced protective cropping tunnel systems to create a specialised microclimate. We maximise our fruit quality and yields unaffected by weather and adverse climate conditions.
Raspberries
We grow a Driscoll’s variety of raspberry called ‘Maravilla’. Maravilla is a large, firm berry with a delicious sweet and refreshing taste. Tasmania provides ideal growing conditions for raspberries which require frosts over the winter to set the plant up for a spring/summer crop. With a cool climate and mild summers, Maravilla has two fruiting peaks with a primary flush in December and a secondary flush of fruit in February and March. The fruit is grown on long canes supported by a complex trellis. 50% of our farm is dedicated to growing Maravilla.
OUR VARIETIES
MARAVILLA
Strawberries
We grow a Driscoll's variety called ‘Amesti’, a sweet, full flavoured berry, with a traditional shape, scarlet colouring and impressive shelf life. Burlington’s sun soaked fields, innovative growing methods and annual/biannual plant replacement system are ideal for high quantity production and quality yields. Amesti is an ever-bearer variety providing fresh berries from October through to late May. Commencing 2022 we are growing new premium varieties, Zara and Katrina. These are the latest Driscoll's varieties to be released commercially which will be marketed under the Sweetest Batch label, and are lifting the bar in taste and consumer experience.
OUR VARIETIES
AMESTI
ZARA
KATRINA
Blackberries
Blackberries are a part of the Rubus genus. Our Driscoll’s variety is called ‘Victoria’ and is renowned for its extra large berry with a sweet taste and juicy texture. Victoria Blackberries are thornless making them enjoyable to pick from December through to June . The key to a good harvest is to have well presented canes, active pollinators, and skilled pickers who are able to select berries at the right time.
OUR VARIETIES
VICTORIA
HOW WE GROW OUR BERRIES
GROWING STRAWBERRIES
IN TABLE TOPS
Our everbearer strawberries are grown in long bags suspended in gutters on table top structures, assisting with easy management and harvesting. These grow bags are filled with coir fibre which is the outside husk of the coconut and forms an ideal growing medium. The bags are fertigated with computer controlled individual drippers providing all the nutrients the plant requires. At the end of the season the coir is removed from the bags and it can be recycled as a soil conditioner. Strawberry plants are grown from small runners and may last for two years in their coir bag before being replaced. Flowers appear within two months of planting and mature in four weeks to form berries. These flowers are pollinated and each plant will produce about 40-50 delicious berries during the season.
GROWING RASPBERRIES
AND BLACKBERRIES IN TABLE TOPS
Our raspberries and blackberries are grown in large pots filled with coir, a natural coconut fibre that has superior growing qualities such as aerobic circulation and good moisture retention. All the plants’ nutrition is delivered by fertigation provided through drippers. The plantlet grows into long canes which are supported on a complex trellis system.
HARVESTING
Harvest is a busy time on the farm starting in October with the early strawberries. At Burlington Berries our fruit is picked directly into the punnets held in a field tray. Once picked, the trays are counted and move quickly into the cooling fridges. This reduces the amount of handling and damage to the berries.
Each picker has their own barcode and so there is full traceability from the field to the pack house where further quality checking is carried out. It is essential to maintain quality throughout the harvesting process. Through this method we have full transparency and are able to provide quick feedback to our supervisors and pickers.
Picking frequency depends on the temperature, daylight hours and humidity. In summer crops are picked daily and by late autumn this might be every three to four days.
Once harvested, the berries are ready for processing through the pack house.
PACK HOUSE
Burlington Berries has a modern and innovative on-farm pack house consisting of intake and despatch fridges, processing lines and a quality control section.
Fruit is picked, cooled down to three degrees Celsius, checked for weight and quality and finally lidded before being packed in Driscoll's boxes, ready to go on pallets and be transported to the Driscoll's distribution centre at Devonport. The Spirit of Tasmania ships daily to the mainland for national distribution supply chains. Burlington Berries’ efficient and innovative packhouse systems ensure our berries stay fresh and taste delicious right through the distribution chain to the customer.
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
Growing Berries is very technical. The plants are carefully managed in a controlled environment from the nursery through to planting in the field. Once established they are managed daily to provide the optimum growing conditions. Computer controlled technology is central to our irrigation and fertigation system. Our technical team includes the irrigation, agronomy, and machinery teams.
The agronomy team use integrated pest management (IPM) and good husbandry practices to reduce the pest and disease incidents without using harmful chemicals.
Our plants are irrigated by state-of-the-art Priva systems which ensure a clean and constant supply of water and fertigation to provide our plants with all the nutrients they need to thrive.
Planning and timing are central to successful berry growing with data collected and analysed daily in all areas of the production including climatic conditions, growth patterns, people management, and analysis of fruit quality prior to despatch.
Dogtooth Technologies from the UK have been working counter-seasonally at Burlington for five years with robotic pickers ‘learning’ how to pick efficiently.
Mechanical application of key micronutrients such as sulphur to reduce powdery mildew disease and air powered leaf removers help keep the canes clean and disease free.
Working for Burlington Berries has added so much value to my work
See why Antonio now calls Cressy home.
Antonio is one of our valued international workers, who supervises one of our many picking teams. Travelling all the way from East Timor to Tasmanian to work For Burlington Berries, Antonio has become an integral part of our summer harvest season and close team.
Working for Burlington Berries has added so much value to my work
See why Antonio now calls Cressy home.
Antonio is one of our valued international workers, who supervises one of our many picking teams. Travelling all the way from East Timor to Tasmanian to work For Burlington Berries, Antonio has become an integral part of our summer harvest season and close team.
Burlington Berries was established in Tasmania in 2012. Originally from NSW where the Sutherland family has farmed for generations, Kate and Stewart purchased Burlington Farm in 2010 as a location for their premium pasture seed business Upper Murray Seeds. In 2012 they joined with long term friends and 50% business partners Marion and Jon Regan and they established Burlington Berries. The next generation of Sutherlands now call Tasmania home, working alongside their parents to deliver a ‘Better Berry’ for all Australians to enjoy.
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Everything you need to know about Burlington Berries and how we grow a ‘Better Berry’ for all Australians to enjoy right here in Cressy, Tasmania.
“Working for Burlington Berries has not only given me the opportunity to live and work in Tasmania, but also to become a part of the community here”
Ben Lui
Seasonal Worker