The avo-lution of Donovan Family Investments

Had you asked Lachlan and Annaleise Donovan 25 years ago if they’d be running a thriving horticulture enterprise employing over 100 people, forging export opportunities, and managing ten avocado orchards, they might have laughed you out the door.

Both hailing from grazing and grain growing families, Lachlan and Annaleise moved to Alloway (near Bundaberg) in 1997, with two toddlers underfoot, and just a smidge of avocado experience under their belts.

Discovering they had a bit of a knack for growing avocados however, the Donovans steadily expanded their operations, purchasing orchards opportunistically. Eventually outgrowing their packing shed at Alloway, in 2016 they established their packing facility at Isis Central.

It’s here that they changed things up a gear and broadened their packing capacities by investing in innovative, custom-made packing equipment and imaging ag-technology to grade fruit – one of the first in Queensland.

They also diversified to pack for other commodities such as citrus, as well as taking on fast-paced marketing, quality assurance and supply chain logistics on behalf of other avocado growers.

Although starting out from seemingly humble beginnings, the Donovans had a strong vision for the avocado industry and have been heavily engaged in progressing its growth, particularly the export market.

They were instrumental in founding the marketing group The Avolution and with other stakeholders contributed to the development of a guide for avocado growers to improve market access to Asia and the Middle East.

Both Lachlan and Annaleise travelled overseas on several occasions to deepen their understanding of consumer needs and foster relationships for export opportunities.

Lachlan contributed hugely to the industry through representation on the board of Avocados Australia Limited (previously the Australian Avocado Growers Federation), for 13 years.

Known for being an open and inclusive industry body, Australian Avocados Limited, has served the Central Queensland avocado industry well, sharing knowledge freely amongst growers and boasting excellent participation at industry field days and events.

Despite their commitment to the industry however, it hasn’t been all about avocados.

The Donovans pride themselves on being a strong family business, providing career opportunities for their sons Miles and Clayton, and a future for their own young families.

They hugely value each other’s input and contribution, holding weekly family meetings.

“We’re always going to have four different opinions, and that’s great. I mean, the ideas that the boys have bought along are fantastic most of the time,” Annaleise said.

“We discuss everything. We’re very open. Like, even before the boys came in, Lachlan would never make a decision without me. And I would never make a decision without him because we’re in together.”

Importantly, they maintain clear boundaries about each other’s roles.

“It’s one of those things that I don’t delve into what the boys are doing outside, and they don’t delve into what we’re doing down in admin,” Annaleise added.

They also value gender diversity, employing two female agronomists; and offering positions that provide career pathways, skills development, and security for staff.

Currently they employ a full-time Pack House Manager, a Quality Assurance team of five, an Office Manager, forklift operators, IT technicians to run the Invision and Compac Fruit Grading Machine, and a Workplace Health and Safety advisor who sorts out those tricky WHS issues.

“Staff is such a big part of business,” Annaleise said.

“If you don’t have good staff, it doesn’t matter how good your business is, it will go downhill really quick.

“You have to have good key staff, good management across all levels.”

For seasonal roles, retaining staff to return each year is crucial because of the skills they develop to visually assess the quality of fruit, rather than relying solely on technology.

“Computers make mistakes and the last thing you want is for a load of fruit to go out with a problem because it’s very hard to get a good name in the industry, but it’s very easy to lose your reputation,” Annaleise said.

They recently became accredited through Growcom Fair Farms program, and this has been a hugely important move for the Donovans to ensure they were running a safe and ethical workplace that would encourage staff to return year after year.

Annaleise first heard about Fair Farms at a Hort Connections conference and was inspired to pursue it because it is an Australian-based program, created specifically for the Australian horticulture industry.

“That was my big thing because it was done for the farmers on a more condensed level rather than other programs which are for multiple countries and industries,” Annaleise said.

“And the other thing for us, when we do something, we do it properly.

“We’re not one of these businesses that just do enough to get by, to get the certificate, to say we’ve got it.”

One of the changes they have implemented since becoming Fair Farms accredited is an employment contract for every single employee which clearly identifies their role, rate of pay, hours to be worked.

Previously they had only had these for part-time and permanent employees, of course, because that’s the law.

“Through Fair Farms, there’s a requirement to do this, and I can understand why it’s in there,” Annaleise said.

“The employee knows exactly where they stand.”

Recently, the Donovans also became Reef Certified (the first avocado growers to do so) through Growcom’s Hort360 Great Barrier Reef program, certifying all ten farms.

As an agribusiness valuing stewardship for the land, they are strongly committed to continuous improvement of soil health, improving inter-row grass cover, preventing erosion and sediment loss particularly on farms with new plantings, and zero nutrient losses.

Challenges they’re facing are not dissimilar to those faced by all farmers with fertiliser and fuel prices dramatically impacting their bottom line.

On a serious note, water issues – in what the Donovans described as the Paradise Dam debacle – have added significant stress on moving forward as a business.

“We have questioned our vision and growth during this challenging 18 months whilst the future of Paradise Dam was uncertain,” Lachlan said.

“It’s simple; no water security, no trees, no food.”

Looking forward, with a commitment for the Paradise Dam wall to be reinstated by the Queensland Government, the future for the avocado industry in the Wide Bay-Burnett is brighter.

When asked to reflect on the last 25 years, Annaleise responded “I’m very proud of what we’ve done and where we’ve come from.”

“If you’d asked me when we moved across here or before we’d even moved here, where we’d be in 2022, I wouldn’t have thought we’d be where we are now.”