The Minter family have been growing asparagus in Iraak near Mildura Victoria since 1927 when Garry Minter's great-great grandfather Frank first planted the Connivers Collosal variety. You simply don't grow asparagus as a short-term thing.
Asparagus officinalis is a perennial in the lily family. There are male and female asparagus plants, with the male producing the best quality spears, but the female producing the seeds you need to produce the next crop.
Each crop of asparagus takes up to four years to become strong enough to grow to maturity and make good eating. Once established, though, asparagus just keeps on going. A plant can live for up to 30 years and it's not unusual to find wild asparagus growing in abandoned paddocks and along riverbanks.
Stefano de Pieri uses some of the Minters’ produce to create a mouth-watering grilled asparagus with Taleggio dish. Source: Ben Fogarty
Wild times led to cultivation
This was exactly how Frank Minter got started in asparagus farming. He found wild asparagus growing in ditches on his farm, packed it up and put it on a train to be sold in at the markets in Melbourne.
The success of his wild punt led him to cultivate asparagus between the fruit vines that were his main crop at the time. The asparagus growing up the middle of his dried fruit crop soon became a cash crop and he expanded.
A plant can live for up to 30 years and it's not unusual to find wild asparagus growing in abandoned paddocks.
"Then in 1973, the 747 came on the scene." Darren Minter recalls on . "The Japanese pricked their ears up because of the 747 and we've been flying to Japan ever since."
Exporting the healthy green
What the Minter's have been flying is four different varieties of asparagus. Japan is the biggest export market for Aussie asparagus, most of which is grown along the Murray-Darling river. The family also export to Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, but it's Japan that can't get enough of this healthy green vegie.
Asparagus and all its spring vegetable mates have the perfect crunch for tempura appetisers. Source: Sharyn Cairns
One of the Minters most enduring export asparagus varieties is known as Ida Lea, a crop that's now planted extensively throughout the Sunraysia area. The Minters have also dabbled in producing their own variety, dubbed the "Minter variety".
To grow asaparagus, you need a well-drained, friable, rich soil - just like that found across the Murray-Darling basin. Asparagus is a hungry feeder, so adding truckloads of organic matter to the soil is a must.
A born recycler
The beauty of asparagus for the region is that it's salt tolerant. Darren explains that something like a citrus tree will put all the toxins into the leaf and then "throws the salt off onto the ground again".
"Where asparagus is unique, [in] not drinking it," he says. "So it's like, you'll have wet ground, but it won't drink the water because it's too salty."
At Minter Magic they lay terracotta drains six feet down in the soil to channel the salty water into a salt evaporation basin. The water is then recycled back onto the asparagus.
And very tolerant crop
The ability to recycle water for asparagus makes it an excellent drought-tolerant crop.
"It can drink a lot or it can drink very little, depending on the time of what you want to do," says Darren.
[Asapargus] won't drink the water because it's too salty.
He points out that even though you could effectively leave asparagus without water for a period of time, it's no something he advises. If you want to produce an economically viable crop, it still needs regular watering. So, extended drought, as the region has been experiencing for years, has been a problem for the asparagus farmer.
Picked and packed in a hurry
There's also the issue of asparagus' fragile nature. It might be a robust, long-term grower, but pick it and you need to move fast. Once harvested, the highly-perishable vegetable needs to be quickly and carefully packaged and transported.
Darren's son Garry manages the packing shed and will one day take over the farm. Just as Darren took over from Geoff, and Geoff took over from Norm, who took over from Frank who planted that first crop of asparagus almost one hundred years ago.
A fitting lineage for a vegetable that has patience built directly into its DNA.
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Marinated zucchini, asparagus and haloumi
