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Raffa Family The Raffa family has lived in the area since the early fifties, after Luigi Raffa migrated to Australia from Sicily. Luigi worked on farms in the area and he and his wife Sebastiana had three children including Con and Lou (see pictured). Luigi purchased the family property and worked hard growing onions, potatoes, carrots, swedes, turnips, corn and peas. In 1972, as soon as Lou left school, he joined his father on the land, while his older brother Con spent many years working in the bank. The family decided to extend their cropping to asparagus in response to market needs and also to supplement their income at off season times for their other vegetable crops. “The summer and autumn crops are planted in spring, and asparagus provided the perfect balance. It provides returns in spring when you are planting other crops - you have an income while you are spending money,” says Con. Then in 1988 the family started a packing operation as well as growing asparagus, as Lou explains, “We started processing our own asparagus and we couldn’t keep up! So we called on Con to help. Con had said he would always come onto the farm when he retired from the bank. You need two people looking after the other crops and one person to look after the asparagus, and we were lucky to have Con. We now specialise in asparagus.” All Lou’s working life has been spent on the farm and he has a passion for the lifestyle, the work and the hive of activity during the season. “The place comes alive for 12 - 16 hours a day and a 3 or 4-month season is gone in what seems a month! You enjoy that season then you go back to working with 2 or 3 people,” says Lou. Lou and Con Raffa produce green asparagus for both the domestic and export markets. It is packaged under “Mack” brand - which is jointly owned by Charlie & Lena Motta and Sean Limbrey - and marketed under Momack Produce Pty Ltd. To contact the Raffa family, call Lou Raffa on (03) 5998 3502. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Back | Home | About Asparagus | Recipes & Tips | What's New | From the Chefs | Supplying Asparagus | Contact us | Site Map Copyright© Australian Asparagus Council. Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure that the information on this website is correct and up to date, no representation is made or warranty given (either express or implied) as to the completeness, accuracy or currency of the information that it contains. Last updated August 2007 | |
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