Volunteers squeeze every drop out of farm produce

Approximately 600kg of fruit otherwise destined for livestock feed has been picked by a group of volunteers for use at charity initiatives. The team of volunteers, organised by the Milligan Community Centre, comprised of workers from agribusiness Bunge, staff from Milligan Community Centre as well as students and a teacher from Manea Senior College. The group picked oranges from the farm of Clay Rose near Burekup that had grown to be too small and wrinkled to sell to supermarkets and growing under the shade of taller trees. Rather than be thrown away, the fruit picked was mostly donated to Foodbank and any leftover produce was given away at the Really Really Free Market. Milligan Community Centre people and place lead Crystal Mather said the project made a difference she was proud of. “It’s really nice to be able to do that for people and to provide that for people, and just the community that’s getting involved … it’s bringing people together,” she said. “There is a lot of food relief out there but a lot of the time it’s not healthy options or it’s not fresh. “So to be able to provide this is awesome, it’s helping people make healthier choices.” This was the second round of picking, with Milligan having previously done it earlier in the year. This time the group had more hands on board and hoped to triple what was last picked. According to Mr Rose, with increased costs the only feasible way the fruit not destined for supermarkets could go to people was for volunteers to pick them. The partnership between Milligan and Bunge came about thanks to Volunteer South West, who matched the agribusiness during the week of World Food Day. Bunge human resources business partner Australia Pippa Colreavy said the company were happy to be helping. “There’s a lot of people out there struggling and I think that if we can put our hand up and say ‘hey we can help out a little bit’ then it’s good for everybody,” she said. Ms Mather hopes to expand the project and get an almost year long cycle and is calling out to any other farmers who want to help out. “If there are any farmers out there who want to get involved, we’re really keen to expand this, and any businesses that want to get involved and help out in volunteering, or any groups,” she said. “We can just see it expanding and growing and becoming something quite big.”