An innovative young farmer with a passion for industry sustainability and consistently delivering a high-quality product to consumers has claimed the 2024 Corteva Agriscience Young Grower of the Year.
Announced at the horticulture awards for excellence at Hort Connections in Melbourne, Zeke Zalsman from Oldbury, Western Australia, was recognised for his commitment to sustainability and a zest for innovation that has propelled him into new ventures.
Zeke is the second generation at the helm of his family’s business, Zaldeesh Farms, which specialises in the production of capsicums and eggplants, as well as growing pomegranates using wastewater from the greenhouses.
Since returning to the business five years ago, the 32-year-old has developed the operation to where it is today via a trial-and-error approach.
“My parents started over 30 years ago as field growers, and over time we’ve built greenhouses and learnt the different features we need for our unique Perth climate,” Mr Zalsman said.
“In the summer, we get very extreme UV and extreme heat, and then when you come into winter, it gets quite cold and there’s not a heap of light hours.
“Capsicums are quite a delicate plant and in the field the growing window is quite limited.”
Today, they account for these challenges through high-tech greenhouses with heating and cooling capabilities, shade screens that are automatically controlled based on radiation levels, and a computer-operated CO2 system.
Innovation at the forefront
Not afraid to be the first person to try something different, even if there are risks involved, Mr Zalsman is the first grower in the country to commercially adopt heat pump technology for greenhouse heating, resulting in cost reductions and an increase in production and quality.
“We had been circulating water through pipes heated by LPG to keep optimum temperatures during the night and winter, but the cost increases meant we had to start running the greenhouses at a lower heating capacity.”
The lost production, reduced quality and increase in disease prompted Mr Zalsman to look at new research for greenhouse heating, and a piece of promising technology being adopted in Europe held the key.
Heat pumps are a relatively new, highly efficient technology seen more commonly in industrial hot water applications, such as heating public swimming pools and hotel hot water.
Using the environment as a heat source, such as residual atmospheric heat, it is capable of producing more energy than it consumes.
Mr Zalsman says the results were incredible and the technology had allowed him to improve the quality of his product while reducing energy costs by 25 per cent.
Wins and losses all part of the process
Asked where his innovative mentality came from, Mr Zalsman put it down to natural curiosity.
“My dad’s always had a bit of a restless mind and I think I’m probably a bit similar to him,” Mr Zalsman said.
“Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad; you get distracted by things and go wandering and if you see something that could be better, you work out what to do.
“We can also get easily excited by new things.”
There’s been some definite failures but those too were learning opportunities.
“In the past five years, I don’t think there’s been two years in a row where we’ve done completely the same thing,” Mr Zalsman says.
“We’ve tried diversifying with different crops and while it’s not necessarily worked for us, we might have learnt something about how to manage or get the best use of our technology by growing another crop that needs something different than capsicums do.
“We’ve not necessarily stuck with that crop, but we have been able to bring what we’ve learnt from that back into the capsicum growing.”
A true eating experience
Despite Mr Zalsman’s pioneering nature and willingness to try new things, what drives him is far simpler.
“I like producing a product that people can enjoy, and we’re really just trying to get that product as good as we can,” he says.
It’s a far cry from the kid who never paid too much attention to the farm growing up and did a finance and economics degree at university.
“I worked in a bank for a few years and didn’t get much joy out of that,” Mr Zalsman said.
“To me, in that job, there was nothing material at the end of it and I had the feeling that if I wasn’t there, the world would just go on and nothing would change.
“With this, we have our product and if we were to stop, there would be a hole in the supply.”
Beyond improving the quality of their products, Mr Zalsman’s goal is too upscale their operation to ensure consistency of supply.
“We still have gaps in our winter supply, where we’re quite low in volume.
“I’d like it to get to a point where we have a very good supply across the entire season and eliminate or reduce the need for product to come in from New Zealand.
“It would be nice to be able to supply enough to enable WA to be fully local.”
Praised for contribution to industry
Recognising Mr Zalsman’s efforts to improve the profitability and sustainability of not only his own business, but the wider protected cropping sector, Corteva Agriscience marketing manager, Nick Koch, says Mr Zalsman was an inspiring young leader for the industry.
“Mr Zalsman should be congratulated for his pioneering efforts to increase the accessibility of a technology capable of future-proofing protected cropping businesses against rising costs, carbon footprint and threats to social licence,” Mr Koch says.
“We are proud to support young growers like Zeke and celebrate all the nominees for the Young Grower of the Year.”
