Tropical Fruit World boosted by interest in farm tourism

Tropical Fruit World in northern NSW is a remarkable success as both a visitor attraction and a working fruit farm.

As reported in a recent ABC Landline program, farming and tourism are challenging industries in which to thrive but the Brinsmead family in the far north of New South Wales has successfully run a productive tropical fruit farm as a visitor attraction for 30 years.

Just south of the Queensland border, Tropical Fruit World opened its doors in 1983 as Avocado Land.

It was the brainchild of Bob Brinsmead and his wife Valerie who bought the land in the early 1970s.

Originally a fruit research station boasting a few avocado trees, the couple kept planting more until they were producing at a commercial level.

Bob Brinsmead told the ABC "we just loved avocados, the whole family was addicted to avocados.

"Wasn't long before we had about 3,000 avocado trees but then we wanted more than avocados."

Over the next decade the pair Brinsmead started growing a huge range of tropical fruit imaginable, with more than 500 different types of fruit now growing in the orchard.

As time passed, interest in the fruits being grown on the Brinsmead's farm grew, so they decided to open the 71-hectare property to day visitors.

Now known as Tropical Fruit World, an average of 1,400 people tour the farm every week on specially modified tractors and 34 staff employed.

One of the couple’s daughters, Judy, is now Managing Director and has helped turn the property into a thriving tourist attraction.

Judy Brinsmead adds "we really wanted to stay as farmers ... so I've increased the farming capacity and moved it from a farm and diversified so it becomes financially stable."

"The farm brings in directly about 10% of the revenue, but if I look at the total support base that the farm brings in as a whole of business it's about 90%.

"10% of that is retailing the produce to tourists on the property and another 30% is value-adding in products."

But while the visitors continue to roll through, research and growing of tropical fruit remain at the heart of the operation.

For more information go to www.tropicalfruitworld.com.au