Bonaccord

Gerald Ingram – Vegetable Grower

In 1960, Max and Kath Ingram began dairy farming on the fertile Mitchell River soil near Lindenow, East Gippsland, Victoria. As their children grew and became interested in farming, the family made the transition into growing vegetables. Today, Bonaccord is run by their four sons, Gerald, Ross, Keith and Murray.

According to Gerald, the business runs smoothly thanks to their clearly defined roles. He's in charge of mechanical harvesting and sweetcorn and bean crops, Ross looks after the office and marketing, Keith runs the packing shed and takes care of personnel, while Murray sees to ground preparation, various crop planting and livestock.

"It works well this way as we're not trying to do each other's job. We trust each other to make the best decision and always communicate." ‐ Gerald Ingram

As a child, Gerald only ever wanted to be a farmer. He soon developed a passion for working out in the open with the sunshine, rain and soil. And as his father encouraged him and his brothers to try new ideas, he soon became fascinated by being able to create something useable from seeds.

"As a child I had my own little vegetable patch and I'd take my produce to school and sell it to the teachers. This provided me with some great pocket money, although I did get into quite a bit of trouble when I drew pictures of harvesters in class instead of doing my school work." ‐ Gerald Ingram

Bonaccord has grown beans since 1974 and sweetcorn since 1980. They started supplying Woolworths with fresh vegetables in 1996. Sweetcorn and beans are in season from December to May. Cauliflowers are available in Autumn, Winter and Spring, while others, such as broccoli, are grown all year round.

On average, corn takes 110 days and beans take 70 days from planting to harvest. Gerald is often up at 3am during the bean season, in the paddock harvesting the beans that will be chilled, sorted, packed, transported and on Woolies shelves within 24 hours.

By Gerald's own admission, growing sweet corn and bean crops in the same area can be tricky. Ideal conditions for growing corn are hot and humid, whereas beans thrive in a warm, dry atmosphere. However, as summers are usually fairly temperate with plenty of fresh water and rich soil, it's an ideal region for growing both.

By far the biggest challenge is the weather. While keeping up with new technology and experimenting with different varieties and harvesting methods at certain times of the season can help to overcome some of the problems, it's a constant concern.

"We've had to endure droughts and devastating floods which can wipe out our entire income for months in a matter of hours. But the passion to grow quality vegetables and the love of the land keeps you going." ‐ Gerald Ingram

It's this persistence that has seen Bonaccord go from strength to strength. As Gerald says, "If you want something bad enough, never give up." And when it comes to advising the next generation of farmers, Gerald believes that the best way to progress is to "make decisions for yourself and always learn from your mistakes."

With four children of his own, Gerald found a unique way to encourage them to eat their vegetables. "We would mash all their veg together with ¼ of a teaspoon of Vegemite when they were toddlers. As they grew older, we'd tell them to put their fingers in their ears so they could hear the crunchy sound of chewing on a fresh green bean. This works with many other vegetables and salad too."

When buying corn and beans, Gerald recommends looking for full corn kernels and beans that are crisp and dark green in colour, then storing them in the fridge crisper at approximately 4 degrees Celsius.

And when it comes to his favourite recipes, he loves sweetcorn on its own. "Simply husk it and add it to boiling water for 3‐4 minutes or grill it still in its husk for 10 minutes on the BBQ, then roll it in butter with some salt and pepper." And with fresh green beans, "make an easy salad by boiling them for 3 minutes, plunging them into ice cold water and draining. Then toss them in some crushed garlic, salt and a generous dash of olive oil."