Meet the Grower: Berry North

Aussies can’t get enough of blueberries, with the average person eating about 3kg of the sweet berries each and every year. Thankfully, our Produce Partner Berry North is keeping up with the demand, growing a staggering 300,000 punnets a year for ALDI customers. That’s a lot of bluebs, clearly the team at Berry North are just berry good at what they do!

For the past six years, ALDI has proudly been working with the team at Berry North to get their delicious blueberries on our shelves. Located about an hour and a half away from Cairns in tropical Far North Queensland, Berry North’s beautiful berry farm is situated in the Atherton Tablelands. The tablelands are known for its lush and bountiful lands, making the region a prime location for growing some of the nation’s freshest produce.

Berry North grows a number of premium blueberry varieties including Sunrise, Dawn, Masena and Ridley 1111. All of which are known for their extraordinary size, crisp juicy bite and sweet flavour. Berry North’s growing and harvest seasons ramp up from March to October each year.

It’s a family thing
Berry North is a third generation, family owned and operated, diverse farming business with four different farm locations, from the Atherton Tablelands to Lakeland in Cape York, Far North Queensland. The Inderbitzin family has been farming on the Atherton Tablelands since the 1970s and aim to leave the land they farm on better than how they found it.

Nicole Inderbitzin owns the farm with her husband Martin, making it a full family affair.

“We are truly a family business here at Berry North. Martin and I’s three children love getting involved on the farm, from irrigation to picking and packing. We really enjoy being able to share our passion for growing with them and because of this they are our toughest critics and have become little berry experts in their own right,” says Nicole Inderbitzin, owner of Berry North.

A Good Different partnership
Berry North has been supplying ALDI with its fresh blueberries since 2018, with the team on the farm crediting their relationship with ALDI for their business’ growth in recent years.

“We have been able grow our supply with ALDI over the past six years, moving from just one blueberry variety to four. It is so great working with a partner like ALDI, and we are looking forward to growing our partnership in the future,” says Inderbitzin.

Since working with ALDI, Berry North has enhanced its production processes from the paddock to the packshed to ensure quality is always front and centre.

“We are constantly working on improving our fruit quality and have planted new varieties to achieve this goal. In the packshed, we have installed state of the art packing equipment to ensure our quality is consistently good,” says Inderbitzin.

ALDI’s Produce Partners are key to the business’ long term success, with the supermarket continuously celebrated for its exceptional fresh produce. The proof is in the peaches, with ALDI being awarded Canstar Blue’s Most Satisfied Customers – Supermarket Fruits & Vegetables award for the past three consecutive years!

“Working with Partners that truly align to our core values and beliefs is an extremely important factor in our business’ accomplishments. We simply wouldn’t be able to win such accolades without our Partners’ efforts on the farm,” says Matt Atley, Group Director, Fresh Produce at ALDI Australia.

“Partners like Nicole and the team at Berry North work tirelessly to help get the freshest, Australian produce on our shelves every single day for our shoppers. The team at Berry North are one of many Australian growers that we are proud to partner with, ensuring that 97% of the fresh produce customers see on ALDI shelves is Australian grown,” says Atley.

Working with ALDI in such a collaborative way lets Nicole and the team at Berry North remain focused on growing the best berries possible for shoppers.

“My job is really enjoyable, especially working with a partner like ALDI. Over the years, as our supply out here on the farm has grown, this has been extended through to ALDI stores and their customers. We supply over 300,000 punnets of premium blueberries to ALDI each year and our relationship is continuing to grow each and every year,” says Inderbitzin.

Sustainability isn’t just a ‘buzz’ word
You might not bee-lieve it, but Berry North is not only home to premium blueberries, they also house thousands of extra little workers on hand throughout the year to ensure the best berries end up in ALDI stores.

“We have about 80 beehives on the farm which our tiniest workers call home. These hardworking bees help ensure that pollination across our crops is optimised and supported, so we can get more berries into ALDI stores,” says Inderbitzin.

The powerful pollinators work around the clock, spreading pollen throughout the farm from flower to flower. This process is called ‘buzz pollination’, where we see the pollen being released via the bee’s wings vibrating and flapping over the plants. The bee’s efforts have played a pivotal role in producing better quality blueberries on the Berry North farm, helping set the fruit on the plants and improving fruit size, shape and overall taste.

But it doesn’t stop there… Berry North is proud to open their farm up to other insects, all in the name of more natural pest management.

“On our Berry North farm in Far North Queensland, we do have a lot of pest pressure. One thing we are really passionate about is limiting our use of pesticides. We do this by releasing a variety of beneficial bugs, which are predators for the insects that cause harm to our crops,” says Inderbitzin.

The ‘super’ bugs arrive on a special card from Berry North’s integrated pest management partners, which are then applied to the individual plants. Once the bugs develop and hatch, they lay their larvae which ultimately destroys the ‘bad’ bugs in a more natural manner.

Growing the best berries
Grown in the tropical Atherton tablelands for ALDI, Berry North’s blueberries take about eight weeks on the tree to reach their peak. Once the berries are ripe and a nice bloom (a thin white coating on the berry which indicates freshness) develops, they are then lovingly handpicked by Berry North’s expert berry pickers.

The little bluebs are then inspected by high tech machinery and workers by eye to ensure the best berries are packed and shipped to ALDI stores around the country.

“Over the past ten years growing blueberries on our Atherton farm, we have seen a real evolution across varieties. There are new types of berries being developed for key characteristics like best shelf life texture, size and overall taste,” says Inderbitzin.

As new varietal innovations emerge, quality will always remain a constant.

“It has been rewarding seeing our success in growing blueberries in the tropics. This journey hasn’t been the easiest but it’s always really exciting to head to an ALDI store and see our fruit on shelves. We take such pride in growing the best quality blueberries for customers,” says Inderbitzin.