Meet the Grower: Frank Nobile

If you have eaten a snow or sugar snap pea in recent months, there’s a high probability that it was grown in the fertile soils of South Gippsland. 

With its reliable rainfall, South Gippsland is home to a number of snow and sugar snap pea growers, who over the six warmer months of the year, supply almost all of Australia’s markets.

VegNET Gippsland REAG member Frank Nobile is the Managing Director of Select Produce, the largest of these growers. 

Frank Nobile - South Gippsland

Select Produce has seventeen properties covering 3000 acres of South Gippsland, between the Strzelecki hills and the Bass Coast.  In 1996 fourteen of the region’s original pea growers came together to form a new processing and marketing company – Select Produce - with Frank at the helm.  In the cooler months, Select Produce grows their produce up in Bundaberg where they have access to irrigation, but all of their products are processed and packed at their modern South Gippsland facility in Korumburra.

Frank and his brother grew up picking peas for his uncle and grandfather in the Korumburra area.  The industry at the time was primarily growing garden peas, but since the 1980s when frozen peas took over much of this market, South Gippsland’s industry has shifted to a focus on hand-picked sugar snaps and snow peas.  When asked what Frank loves about the industry, his response is simple: “it’s in my blood, it’s what I know.”

Frank Nobile prides himself on his research skills and hunger for information, which has enabled Select Produce to innovate, invest in technology and implement systems to ensure their products are produced safely, ethically and consistently.  Despite that though, every snow and sugar snap pea is still hand-picked, meaning Select Produce and the rest of the region remain heavily reliant on seasonal labour each summer.

As Frank recently shared with a local primary school, “if you want a job in farming [and especially horticulture], you’re only ever limited by your imagination”. 

Through VegNET Gippsland, Select Produce has become involved with RACE Gippsland, which is creating opportunities for schools and teachers to connect with local producers.  As well as this school-industry partnership, Select Produce will also play host to a group of teachers participating in RACE Gippsland’s professional development program, which includes a learning module on the traceability of Gippsland produce, for which Select Produce’s packhouse is a perfect exemplar.

As well as this obvious workforce challenge, Frank would like to see more research and development investment in improved chemistry for the pea industry.  Being a relatively small industry, development of new chemistry is often lagging far behind other vegetable lines.  Prevention of pest incursions and chemical resistance is therefore a high priority across the region, especially as the risk of a number of Leafminers increases.

Following on from a webinar delivered by VegNET Gippsland and AUSVEG’s Biosecurity team in August, support will be provided to interested growers to develop and implement comprehensive On-farm Biosecurity Plans. 

If you would like to discuss your needs, or to request Biosecurity Signage, please contact VegNET Gippsland RDO, Bonnie Dawson (ph: 0407 683 938; or email : bonnie.dawson@foodandfibregippsland.com.au