Jojoba seed dreams spur Narrabri farmer to plant thousands of trees
Clare Felton-Taylor, who has plans for an orchard, planted her first jojoba trees this year. (ABC New England North West: Lara Webster)
Northern New South Wales farmer Clare Felton-Taylor hopes to fill a gap left in an expanding market by a worldwide shortage of jojoba seeds.
The wax from the seeds of jojobas trees are used in a wide range of beauty products and as a substitute for oils.
With 55 per cent of the seed being liquid wax, those in the industry say it is similar to the oil in your skin which makes jojoba a gentler and more environmentally-friendly alternative.
Ms Felton-Taylor has just finished planting her first trees on her Narrabri farm.
She is no stranger to the plant as her parents have a plantation near Goondiwindi. But with retirement in their futures, Ms Felton-Taylor has decided it's time to go out on her own.
Almost 2,000 jojobas have already been planted on the Narrabri farm. (Supplied: Clare Felton-Taylor)
"For me to continue on having our own jojoba to make our own products then I really need to start planting jojoba trees," she said.
"Ideally it would have been good 10 years ago but as you know with life it's not always ideal.
"Hopefully in four years' time my plants will then be producing more seeds which will be more profitable."
Ms Felton-Taylor plans to have a plantation of 40,000 trees or 15 hectares, which in a good season could produce about $80,000 and $100,000 worth of income annually.
It took a 'village'
The journey to planting the jojoba trees has been one plagued with challenges.
COVID lockdowns and border restrictions made it difficult to get machinery moved from Queensland, while wet weather interrupted planting.
Ms Felton-Taylor works closely with her mum Judy to develop and market their jojoba beauty products. (Supplied: Clare Felton-Taylor)
After falling six months behind in her planting schedule, Ms Felton-Taylor had to call on her parents, friends and partner to hand plant thousands of young trees.
"It certainly has been a rollercoaster ... there's been a few tears at times," she said.
"It's the good old saying that it takes a village to rear a child. I think it's been a village that helped me plant my jojoba trees."
The wax from jojobas, which are desert plants, can be used in the cosmetic industry. (Supplied: Clare Felton-Taylor)
Untapped potential to capture
There are only a handful of growers in the Australian jojoba industry, though there are some bigger farms in regions like the Riverina.
With a worldwide shortage of jojoba and more consumers looking for natural and environmentally-friendly products, Ms Felton-Taylor believes there's an untapped potential for the product.
"Unfortunately we have lost a few of the older growers, so there may be 10 [growers]," Ms Felton-Taylor said.
Ms Felton-Taylor hopes the trees will begin to be more profitable in about four years' time. (ABC New England North West: Lara Webster)
"It is an industry I guess where we would love to have a lot more people growing it but at the moment it competes with other commodity prices which are quite high.
"With something like wheat you can plant it and you're not guaranteed to get the crop at the end but hopefully you plant all of these trees and you get years and years of supply out of them."
Ms Felton-Taylor's parents, Kim and Judy, agree there is a great deal of potential for jojoba.
"It doesn't need a lot of rain and grows on soil that you would not grow wheat, barley or sorghum on so the potential for it to expand is great if people can do it," Kim Felton-Taylor said.
Judy Felton-Taylor added that demand for jojoba products had increased exponentially since she started her plantation decades ago and she could only see growth continuing.
"We started selling our jojoba at markets and just about everybody would give you a blank look to begin with," she said.
"Now they say 'oh yes I've seen that in products, yes I use it' so there is a lot more use and it has become a lot better known."
The use of jojoba oil in beauty products is growing. (ABC New England North West: Lara Webster)