HISTORY

Two Canadian brothers, George and William Chaffey recognised the potential to irrigate arid land around the Murray River.

The Chaffey brothers worked closely with federal and state governments. By this time, they had 8,000 acres under irrigation, supplying around 3,500 pioneer fruit growers growing largely vine and citrus crops.

In those days, transporting fruit – firstly by river to Echuca and then by rail to Melbourne – took several days, and fresh produce would often spoil along the way. When a promised rail link to Mildura did not eventuate, growers began drying their grapes for freighting to Melbourne and other markets.

The Mildura Raisin Trust and Renmark Raisin Trust were formed. They operated independently of each other, but shared the same objective of protecting growers by regulating prices, setting standard terms and conditions of sale, and promoting exports.

The Mildura and Renmark trusts joined to become the Australian Dried Fruits Association (ADFA), established to protect the interests of dried fruit growers.

The ADFA underwent a crisis when grower returns crashed to very low levels, largely because of additional production flowing from WWI soldier settlement schemes.

A subsequent restructure led to increased focus on export and meeting local grower requirements for profitable returns.

The ADFA changed its name to Dried Fruits Australia (DFA) to reflect the modernisation of the organisation.