Far North Coast boutique coffee producers, Jos and Wendy Webber, are looking to biological farming principles for both a marketing advantage and production benefits likely to be the key to their long-term viability. In this feature article for The Land, Shan Goodwin spoke with Jos and Wendy about their award winning Australian coffee – Kahawa Estate Coffee.
With more than 90 per cent of coffee consumed in Australia imported, subtropical NSW growers who have the advantage of disease‐free crops are looking to set their product apart for its “clean, green” traits and to tailor the style of coffee they produce to meet specific Australian tastes.
Coffee growers boast northern NSW has many natural advantages, and farmers like the Webbers are staying one step ahead by setting up their operations to take full advantage of the pluses that will come their way through consumer focus on sustainability, food miles, chemical‐free food, and quality. The Webbers run the nine‐hectare, 12,000 Arabica tree “Kahawa Estate” on fertile red volcanic krasnozem soil at Tintenbar, near Ballina, which should produce 10 tonnes of coffee a year when the final quarter of the plantation comes online.
Since taking over the former avocado and macadamia farm six years ago, the Webbers have progressively implemented biological principles.
