Tasmanian hazelnut farm Hazelbrae turns away from hospitality to online sales success
Hazelbrae Hazelnuts is looking to expand after a pivot to e-commerce and social media marketing pays off. (ABC News: Laurissa Smith)
In short:
Just 12 months ago, one of Tasmania's largest hazelnut farms was up for sale due to challenges in securing a loan and a downturn in tourism.
Now, the family-run business is booming after embracing online sales, coinciding with the farm's best-ever yield.
What's next?
Australia's peak hazelnut body says it is optimistic about growth in the sector over the next five years.
If you'd asked Tasmanian hazelnut grower Christie McLeod a year ago how she rated her online marketing skills it would have been tough to answer.
Now, e-commerce and customers found through social media make up three-quarters of the farm's sales.
"It's really driving our business so much that we're actually going to be, for the first time in 11 years … out of stock of raw nuts for about a month while we wait for these ones to ripen,"she said.
The farm saw a 25 per-cent increase in yield on the previous year. (Facebook/Hazelbrae Hazelnuts)
Property almost sold off
It was a very different story 12 months ago.
Despite Hazelbrae's trees being loaded with nuts, challenges in securing a loan forced Ms McLeod and her partner Mick Delphin to put their picturesque Hagley property in northern Tasmania up for sale.
"Because the interest rates had doubled in 12 months we didn't have the financials through COVID … that could show we would pay it," Ms McLeod said.
The family-run business has increasingly turned to online sales for its products. (Supplied: Hazelbrae Hazelnuts / Facebook)
There simply wasn't enough confidence from banks that the family's product would sell.
"One bank said to us if we had that much in grain we'd be fine to get a loan, but because it was hazelnuts, no-one was confident in what we could do with it,"she said.
Luckily, the family-run business was able to secure a loan and take the property off the market.
During this year's bumper harvest, one tree alone yielded 17 kilograms of nuts. (ABC News: Laurissa Smith)
They've even just harvested their best-ever yield, coming in at 41 tonnes.
And there are plans to expand the farm, from 5,000 trees to 6,000 over the next two years.
"The first planting was 2005 so they've been there for a while, and we're just now learning how to harvest them," Ms McLeod joked.
"It's actually 25 per cent greater than last year's yield for us, which is incredible."
Industry a tough nut to crack
The couple purchased the property in 2014 and admit the past 11 years have been full of challenges.
It included dealing with the devastating 2016 Tasmanian floods, an unexpected baby and more recently the pandemic.
"COVID left us quite bare in the bank, because we were mostly in tourism at the time," Ms McLeod said.
"So we really did struggle trying to balance what we were doing as farmers, and what we were doing as retail, restaurant, cafe and marketing.
Hazelnuts grow best in cool climate conditions, such as in Tasmania. (ABC Rural: Laurissa Smith)
It prompted a rethink, with Hazelbrae choosing to transition out of hospitality to prioritise its farming operations.
"It's really focused us on the farm and the product, and now we're seeing the results that will see us really comfortable in the future," Ms McLeod said.
She said hiring a coach to learn how to increase the farm's online presence and build up sales also proved vital.
"Now we're selling three-quarters of our product to customers all over Australia that we've either met, or they've seen our ads, or they visit us at Salamanca market,"she said.
"So, we sort of draw in some new people, but they mostly come from social media marketing.
"One of our customers has ordered 16 times in 15 months, so lots of repeat customers."
The family has managed to harvest crates and crates of nuts this year. (Supplied: Hazelbrae Hazelnuts)
Positive future on cards for industry
In late 2023, Ferrero Group, the Italian company behind chocolate products Nutella and Ferrero Rocher announced they would no longer grow hazelnuts in Australia.
For the Australian arm of the company, it meant giving up on a $70 million hazelnut farm in southern New South Wales and announcing it would remove the million trees it had planted at the farm since 2013.
The company cited long-term climate conditions for its decision.
Ms McLeod said it had been a disappointing turn for hazelnut growers, with Ferrero's investment expected to result in growth for the sector.
This year's strong harvest has prompted the business to finally purchase a new harvester, which can handle higher volumes of hazelnuts. (Supplied: Hazelbrae Hazelnuts)
But the head of peak body Hazelnut Growers of Australia, Trevor Ranford, said he wasn't concerned and he continued to have high hopes for hazelnut farming in the country.
"It has a real opportunity to grow,"Mr Ranford said.
"I saw it with pistachios, where the first two decades, the first 1,000 hectares was planted. In the past 12 years, an extra 2,000 hectares were planted, so the volumes are going up.
"I see hazelnuts as being in that same aspect."
Traditionally, hazelnuts have had the smallest share of Australia's nut-growing industry.
In 2024, the sector produced about 544 tonnes of in-shell hazelnuts with a farm-gate value of $5.5 million, according to the peak body.
There are roughly 1.2 million trees planted around Australia, primarily in the temperate areas of the south-east, including northern Tasmania.
Mr Ranford said the long turnaround between planting trees and seeing a solid crop, which can take between five and seven years, held some farmers back from taking the leap to hazelnuts.
But, he said he believed confidence was growing.
"I predict over the next five to 10 years, that move [will happen] from being a smallish industry to one that's starting to talk about 5,000 tonne plus."
Ms McLeod said she hoped her family's record crop would give confidence to other growers.
"This year, we've actually hand-measured trees yielding up to 17 kilograms, and that's a really good indicator that it's possible to do this in Australia.
"So we just now need people to take it on and put in a decade or so waiting for that to happen."