Productivity powwow with Simon Dornauf, Hillwood Berries

Hillwood Berries is one of Tasmania’s berry growers, where if you’ve been to their café then you have most certainly tried their amazing berry ice cream. They are focused on growing as a business and meeting Australia’s increased demand for berries. 

Speaking with Simon Dornauf, we learned about the challenges that the berry industry continues to face and the productivity solutions being explored to keep those juicy berries in all of our homes.   

Starting 15 years ago, Simon and his family purchased their property in Tasmania. It was purchased at a time when the Tasmanian berry sector was on the rise; margins were strong enough that mistakes could still be masked by an operating profit.  

Since purchasing the property, Simon and his family have expanded their operations, increasing from two hectares to 78 hectares of berries. This growth includes further investment, with the purchase of an additional property interstate, moving into the Queensland berry region as well.   

Along the journey, the industry has continued to change, and the need to adjust practices and become more productive has become even more prominent. From labour shortages to understanding input costs, Simon is working to understand the productivity solutions he can implement to save time and money.   

The answer to these challenges in Simon’s opinion? Capturing data on farm, because “the most crucial path to productivity is to identify improvements and courses forward.”  

From capturing harvest picking insights to monitoring the cost of production, Simon believes using data will help create longevity in the business. But he knows that data analysis takes a particular skillset, so to further his productivity he has hired a Productivity Analyst with a background in economic analytics, to help identify opportunities across the business and help build an app and dashboards that display the data recorded in real time allowing his managers to make clearer, data driven decisions.    

Looking to the future, Simon’s desire is to be able to monitor all inputs across the business and find automation solutions that remove low labour skill jobs to create more meaningful positions amongst his team.   

To read more about how you can add further productivity solutions to your farm, check out the Hort Innovation and CIE Factors Driving Horticulture Productivity Report here: www.horticulture.com.au/ha24004/