About us
A Family Affair
The passion for farming is definitely in the family’s blood. Graeme’s great-grandfather
was a market gardener. Read more about a family affair
Quality
Pitchford growers are not your average, “no worries” type people. Careful scrutiny
goes into every item of produce headed Read more about quality
Reliable Supply
Pitchford Produce can be found in supermarkets and fresh food stores around Australia, distributed for Perfection Fresh Australia and Bache Bros. Commercial quantities can also be purchased on farm. Look out in future for “Web Site Sales”.
Read more
about reliable supply
Currency Creek, South Australia
Pitchford Produce is located in Currency Creek on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South
Australia, 60 kilometres from Adelaide.View location map.
Boyhood dream
Not everyone gets to take his boyhood dream and turn it into a reality, but Graeme
Pitchford is doing exactly that. The son of an accountant and youngest of three
boys, all he can remember is "wanting to be a vegetable grower". While he is a 6th
generation vegetable grower (down his father’s mother’s line), he began Pitchford
Produce at 18 years of age in 1989 with only the knowledge gained from Urrbrae Agricultural
High School and 6 months work with a grower from the Adelaide Hills. He had no experience,
no equipment, no market contacts but he had a passion for growing. That passion
continues as strong as ever today.
Those early years were hard as he tried different lines and gradually built relationships
with Pooraka Market wholesalers. He quickly found how difficult it is to grow different
vegetables, learn the required specifications, and find markets for the vegetables.
In 1999, Graeme formed a grower marketing relationship that enabled him to
enter into supply schedules and fixed prices. The first product under that system
was Broccolini and the relationship with Perfection Fresh has grown stronger each
year. In 2005 Graeme won the Perfection grower of the year award and travelled to
America as part of the prize. Whilst in America Graeme and his wife Mandy attended
the PMA (Produce Marketing Association) international conference and visited the vast Salinas Valley and met with
Broccolini and lettuce growers.
Graeme, now a published professional, keeps up to date in the industry through participating
in studies and following the latest research. One example is the intentional flowering
at the end of the broccolini’s life cycle, encouraging beneficial wasps, which decrease the
pest population.
Graeme and Mandy live on the farm with their children Eliza, Meg, Oli
and maintain a hands on approach to the operation. Graeme pays particular attention
to the life of the soil, water conservation and plant health.
There are only 12 growers Australia wide growing the trade marked Broccolini which
is a cross between Kale and Broccoli and Pitchford Produce is the only grower in
South Australia.