HILLANDALE | MIXED FARMING
“ I phone the markets every morning to determine prices. Our business is built around risk, and buyers often pull out. Now we offer at our price and stay aggressive about those prices.”
“ In the case of coriander, the pricing is governed by certain buyers linked to supermarkets. It is a very closed community, and you need to be part of that to stay in the market. We pick today, and tomorrow the crop must be on the shelves.”
BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP
Roy grew up in Newcastle and moved to the farm in 1980, where his father, Colin, taught him how to work and never give up.
“ When we bought this farm, he said:‘ Don’ t worry, you will make a plan.’ When I asked him how we were going to pay for it, his answer was that we would make a plan.”
Roy started farming at Hillandale in 2008 and initially ran a contracting business doing baling and combining. Agricultural and earth-moving machinery contracting helped to subsidise the farm while the farming operation was being developed.
“ In the early days, you cannot just build up a farm. You have to have a subsidy of sorts,” he says.
At that stage, the farm was not well developed, and only about 100 ha was used for irrigated pastures and some crops.
SHEEP IN THE CYCLE
Apart from the vegetables, Justin also runs a flock of about 500 Dohne Merino sheep, which forms part of the broader farming cycle. At selected times, the sheep graze on cut vegetable lands, and oats planted in rotation with coriander provide winter grazing.
106 GROND TOT MOND JUL 2026