The turf industry in north Queensland has never been more vibrant and exciting. So the union of three of Townsville’s largest turf farms – Beau Park Turf Farm, Laudberg Park and Spring Creek Turf Farm – delivers endless possibilities for rapid growth and more opportunities to broaden horizons.
Now known as Great Northern Turf, the amalgamation has enabled the group to offer a larger choice of turf varieties which has helped close the gaps that existed in their previous businesses. Katie Fisher speaks to Natashia Radeck from Great Northern Turf about future plans, a major Nara Native Zoysia project and how the family business is training-up the third generation of turf producers.
Briefly tell us about Great Northern Turf’s business in terms of the recent amalgamation of three of Townsville’s largest turf farms – how is this helping you create more opportunities and broaden your horizons?
We all have basically been family businesses for the past 25 years but each of us have always operated under separate entities, however, always there to help each other out when needed. The amalgamation was long overdue and is already proving to be a much smoother path.
The development of Great Northern Turf has sanctioned the completion of much larger projects created from commercial industries and housing developments. It has also enabled us to offer a larger choice of varieties which has helped close the gaps that we had in our previous businesses.
Our parents, Ezio and Marlene Craperi, from Beau Park Turf Farm, were pioneers of the turf industry in Townsville, planting turf between Mango trees on their 2.5-hectare property at Kelso in the 1980s.
Their first large job was supplying Buffalo (Carpet Grass) for the development of Hayman Island Resort in 1987. The turf industry boomed in Townsville and consequently they needed a larger parcel of land to expand. In 1988 they purchased a Quarter Horse Stud and converted it into one of the largest turf farms of their era, Beau Park Turf Farm.
So, you could say that turf has always been a part of our lives growing-up. Our chores were never inside, always outside working on the farm.
It’s funny, we always laugh about how Dad made us paint the leaves of the weeds with a paint brush and a glass jar of round up. It wasn’t fun … so I’m glad things are now a little easier.
My husband, Aaron and I purchased our 23ha property, not far from Beau Park, in 1997 and started producing Green Couch. Called Laudberg Park, we soon expanded into other varieties as well as offering landscaping packages to our clients.
My brother Dion worked for Dad before starting his business in 1999 – Spring Creek Turf Farm – with his wife Kellie. Dion’s sons, third generation growers, are now part of Great Northern Turf and hopefully will keep the tradition going.
In total how many hectares do you have under turf and what turf varieties?
Between the three farms, we now have about 82ha under turf. Our varieties include, Green Couch, Broadleaf Buffalo (Carpet Grass), Grand Prix Couch, Zoysia ZT-11, Nara Native Zoysia, Empire Zoysia and Prestige Buffalo.
In the near future we plan to add Augusta Zoysia and Stadium Sports Couch to our list of varieties.
Why are you growing Nara Native Zoysia – why is this variety so popular in the market?
Nara Native Zoysia is a no brainer to be growing in Townsville. To the north and south of Townsville there are multiple beach suburbs with sandy soils and high salinity levels, which makes Nara an ideal turf to install.
Nara is still taking off in Townsville, but I am sure it will be a very popular grass, in the near future, especially since our past history has seen the enforcement of long periods with water restrictions.
More educational work needs to be rolled-out with Landscape Architects and Local Councils, as well as more awareness within the Community, on the benefits of Nara Native Zoysia here in the north.
With Nara having such high wear and drought tolerance, installing this low maintenance native turf in our local parks, homes and developments can only benefit the Community.
Nara’s drought and wear tolerance will add to its demand which is sure to shine.
How did you go about obtaining the tender to put Nara Native Zoysia in at a large Charters Towers development (pictured above)?
We actually didn’t submit an application to tender for Goldtower Central in Charters Towers. We were lucky enough that they contacted us through advertising and word of mouth. The Nara Native Zoysia did the rest once it was installed.
Tell us a bit about the new development – houses / shops …
Goldtower Central is located on the Flinders Highway bypass through Charters Towers and is a privately owned and managed commercial precinct.
The future tenants will range from commercial, light industrial and retail industries. State-of-the art facilities and immaculate gardens pay tribute to the history of this mining town. Offering direct arterial road access, highway exposure on the gateway to the west, businesses from mining projects to defence projects will capitalise from the planned future of the town and the north Queensland region.
The installation of Native Nara Zoysia to all roadside kerbs and parks at this precinct has increased the popularity of this turf, already proving to be a popular choice to whoever drives past.
What preparation work in terms of the site where the turf was laid did you have to do – soil prep / irrigation …
We did not do any site preparation prior to installing the turf at GoldTower Central. All irrigation and site preparation were installed by another landscaping contractor.
But, the installation of the Nara ranged in quantities from 2500m2 per day to 600m2. In total, we have now installed 7850m2 – with more to come.
The Townsville Council has recently undertaken a water-wise program – what are the learnings from this?
It was a bit disappointing that the turf selection list on the water-wise program did not include Nara Native, however Empire Zoysia was included.
As I previously said, there needs to be more awareness/information/advertising within the Community to promote Nara Native Zoysia, as being one of the most sustainable grasses on the market – promoting this turf in the north is a must!
Although Nara Native was not included, the benefits of installing any variety of Zoysia has prompted some developers to specify Zoysia turf to all road and house frontages. This is such a positive step towards the success of not only Nara Native but also other varieties of Zoysia.