LITTLE-KNOWN Billagah Street in Wagga could soon become famous in the Riverina for being the city’s first strawberry farm and cafe.
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Agricultural science researcher Michael Cashen has lodged a development application with Wagga City Council for an agri-tourism venture on a 14-hectare block on Billagah Street, off Narrung Street.
The family-operated business, to be called Bidgee Strawberries and Cream, has plans to cultivate 84,000 strawberry plants on three hectares, producing 42 tonnes of hydroponic strawberries a year.
Most of the strawberries would be sold on-farm on a “pick your own” basis to people plucking fruit from plants atop 1.4-metre-high vineyard posts.
“We will have the posts at a height so that kids can pick the strawberries and adults don’t have to bend down,” said Mr Cashen’s wife, Kylie, a food technologist.
The proposal also includes a roadside stall and a cafe where customers will be able to buy strawberry jams, jellies and sauces, as well sit down to eat a range of strawberry-themed deserts, light meals and beverages.
Mrs Cashen said the farm would provide another tourism attraction for Wagga.
“We have family who visit us, and they go to the Junee licorice factory, but there is nothing for them to do in Wagga,” Mrs Cashen said.
Mr Cashen said his family chose to grow strawberries for the venture because market research showed people liked the fruit, there were numerous value-added opportunities and people enjoyed picking them.
Pick-your-own strawberry farms are popular tourist attractions in other parts of south-eastern Australia, including Victoria.
If the development is approved by council, the Cashens hope to have a crop in this year and have the staged project complete within two years.
“We want to be up and running by summer,” Mr Cashen said.
Up to 10 people will be employed full and part-time on weekends during the busiest time of the year, between October and May.
Mrs Cashen said the site was a natural fit with the nearby central business district’s restaurants and accommodation and the Murrumbidgee Wetland.
“We’ve had a lot of guidance from council, particularly the planning department, and MJM Consulting,” she said.
The development application says the pick-your-own strawberry farm will be the only one of its kind in the Wagga local government area.
