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.

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

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

Sustainability is at the heart of
our operation at Burlington 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.