Australia: All about truss at Lonsdale Tomato Farm

When the surf's up, Point Lonsdale hydroponic tomato grower James Moran can get a little edgy. For James, the sheer exhilaration and freedom of riding across a wave under a crystal clear sky sparks emotions close to his heart. Yet for James, proprietor of the family owned and run Lonsdale Tomato Farm, it has been a long time since he's answered the call of the surf. Hydroponic tomatoes are just too big a time-consumer, he laments.

"There's just not much chance of that these days," James says. "I'd like to get out there a bit, but it's not possible."

Angela and James at their farmgate, which helps them keep a close eye on consumer demand and allows visitors to buy fresh tomatoes and other produce. Picture: Zoe Phillips (Weeklytimesnow.com.au)

Instead, James spends most of his daylight hours nurturing, preening and plumping the 8000-plus snaking tomato vines in the company's 4000-square-metre hydroponic greenhouses on the four-hectare property.

Each year Lonsdale Tomato Farm sends out about 150 tonnes of tomatoes, with about 60 per cent going to independent supermarkets and a distributor in Melbourne and the remainder sold to supermarkets, restaurants and cafes on the Bellarine Peninsula and via the property's farmgate.

One of the big advantages of the business, says James, is its ability to sell top quality, blemish-free tomatoes year-round.

While many customers elsewhere are complaining of lack of flavour due to early picking, the Morans can supply flavoursome fruit that has been ripened on the vine.

Carefully monitored hydroponic farming in greenhouses also produces high yields that cannot be achieved in outside conditions where crops can be affected by drought, wind, heavy rain and hail and a greater prevalence of pests.

Click here to read further at Weeklytimesnow.com.au