Wild harvest is a romantic and natural idea for some yet at the same time exploitative and intrusive to others. In truth it can be easily misunderstood. Learn about how we are addressing sustainability issues.
It is a remarkable feature of the pepperberry industry that it is still dependent on wild harvest sites such as Mt Ponsonby. Efforts undertaken to establish horticultural orchards are being undertaken but are not sufficient in scale to replace wild harvest any time soon. Moreover pepperberry’s growth requirements might be more complex than what is on offer in a monocultural orchard setting – efforts to establish orchards in this manner have been met with only partial success and appear to be very much individual site based. Therefore we at Wild Pepper Isle are supporting the development of wild harvest towards a more productive and sustainably managed system. Learn more about our wild harvest methodology.
We harvest pepperberry and kunzea from bushland sites across Tasmania. In all instances the bushland we harvest from is substantially altered through land clearing activities of the 20th century. That includes farmland, forestry and mining regeneration sites. This land is also privately owned and zoned as rural resource or forestry. We have agreements with land holders and are sometimes required to hold a licence for harvesting. We do not harvest from reserves of any nature nor undisturbed forest.
All bushland has conservation value and no human activity goes without impact. Harvesting from bushland sites across Tasmania we believe that we have a responsibility to understand and manage our impact and also to contribute towards the evolution of a managed horticultural system.
We own and manage Mt Ponsonby – one of the best natural stands of pepperberry in Tasmania. We hope that it will become an exemplar for sustainable management of this type of wild harvest system. Ultimately we hope to pass on some knowledge and build capacity in the pepperberry industry.
As demand continues to grow The Tasmanian pepperberry industry must transition towards a more conventional horticultural system. We hope that we can assist this transition through our Mt Ponsonby project and our plant selection program.
As we move around Tasmania harvesting pepperberries we have a unique opportunity to source genetic material that may be well suited to intensive horticultural operations. So every year we select high yielding individuals for propagation. We are planting these out on Mt Ponsonby and also selling pepperberry plants online.
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