Rural
30 July, 2024
Piñata stays sharp
Fourth-generation farming business, Queensland’s Piñata Farms, was last night inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame for outstanding leadership and innovation in Australia’s food production industry spanning more than 60 years.
Piñata Farms began with a single 26-hectare pineapple farm at Wamuran, north of Brisbane, in the 1960s.
Today, it is Australia’s largest pineapple producer and a leading multifruit producer, growing strawberries, raspberries, and Honey Gold mangoes over more than 1,000 hectares around Australia.
It employs some 200 people at any given time and is owned and operated by the Scurr family, led by brothers Gavin and Stephen.
Accepting the award at a gala dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, managing director Gavin Scurr congratulated all past and present inductees and acknowledged their contribution to Queensland.
“We are humbled and honoured to be recognised in such esteemed company,” Mr Scurr said. He praised the values instilled by their parents, Geoff and Narelle, and paid tribute to all Piñata Farms employees.
“This award is recognition for the whole Piñata team from the Northern Territory to Tasmania who, despite the weather, turn up every day and give their best to ensure Australians can enjoy fantastic fruit. It is a source of great pride to us that Australians can now enjoy a fresh piece of Piñata fruit all 31.5 million seconds of the year.”
Piñata Farms is widely regarded as an early adopter of new practices, technologies, and techniques.
In the 1990s, Piñata pineapples were among the first to be sent to market without tops – now an industry standard.
In 1994, the Scurr brothers introduced Hawaii’s low-acid hybrid pineapple variety MD2 to Australia, reinvigorating the fresh pineapple market.
In 1996, they pioneered pineapple production at Mareeba, Far North Queensland, and remain the only commercial growers in the district. Strawberry production began at Wamuran in 2000, and strawberries are now produced year-round in three locations in Queensland and Tasmania.
In 2009, after acquiring the breeding rights to grow specialty Honey Gold mangoes, the first commercial quantity of Honey Golds arrived on supermarket shelves.
In 2015, Piñata Farms entered a joint venture with UK-based BerryWorld Group to grow proprietary berries in Australia. Piñata Farms was among five 2024 inductees at the gala event attended by 800 business leaders and dignitaries.
The other inductees were tourism, property and boating entrepreneurs, the Longhurst family, leader and change maker for Indigenous reconciliation Shelley Reys, AO, business leader Stefan Ackerie, AM, and technology solutions company Data#3 Pty Ltd.
The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame was established by Queensland University of Technology Business School, State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Library Foundation in 2009 to recognise the public contribution made by business leaders to the reputation of Queensland and its economic and social development.
A central repository of digital stories and historical data about the inductees has been established in a purpose-built space at State Library of Queensland.
