News Release   27 April, 2026

Pole Position for Mountford Berries With Their 5ML

Crestmead, Queensland (16 April, 2026) — In Tasmania's northern midlands, where farming and history abound, the Mackinnon family's Longford property has seen many iterations during their six generations of ownership.

Once a dryland sheep farm, the paddocks of Mountford were also home to a section of the Longford Circuit – the fastest motor racing circuit in the Southern Hemisphere in the 1950s and '60s.

Popular with many of the motor racing greats of that time, including Sir Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart, the town's population would swell with spectators who came to watch them burn rubber in the Australian Grand Prix.

Today, that stretch of road is driven at a far slower pace, though farming at Mountford has become a much more intense activity, thanks to the addition of irrigation infrastructure.

With the sixth generation now at the helm, Mountford is home to a diverse farming operation, including Mountford Berries, which is managed by Roly Mackinnon.

"Back in the day, livestock was the main form of income here on the farm," Mr Mackinnon said.

"Over time, we've implemented irrigation into the mix to grow vegetable crops, poppies, and high-value seed crops.

Mr Mackinnon said they started growing berries 12 years ago to further diversify the business.

"There was a company looking to expand its berry-growing operations into Tasmania to take advantage of supplying fruit into the summer window, so we sort of jumped in headfirst," he said.

What began as four hectares of strawberries in 2014, has steadily grown to 34ha under polytunnels, and they now produce strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries.

"We started as an in-ground production system, and we've moved to a fully hydroponic system," Mr Mackinnon said.

"Being hydroponic means we're able to replace the growing medium every year or every couple of years, which helps us with our disease and pest management, and gives us the ability to grow high-yielding crops year on year."

The berries grown on Mountford are sold in major supermarkets, predominantly along the eastern seaboard of Australia.

"There's a kind of satisfaction knowing that the 170-odd people that we have working here on the farm have a career because of us, and we have a business because of them," Mr Mackinnon said.

"It's quite a nice feeling that we're all working together to achieve supplying fresh berries for Australia."

It's not without its challenges though.

"The supply of fertiliser, our growing medium and plants as well – all these areas are facing challenges," he said.

"We're a highly intensive labour system, and we're a pretty high-cost system as well.

"The cost of everything goes up every year and we have to find ways to negate that and get more efficient with what we do."

Specially designed equipment delivering efficiencies

One of the ways they've been able to find efficiencies is through investing in a John Deere 5105ML Specialty Tractor, featuring a narrow axle and low profile cab.

Purpose built for high value crop operations such as orchards and vineyards, the 1.6-metre width of the narrow axle configuration means the 5 Series tractor can be used by even more growers.

"We started off with the EN Series, which we now have a couple of, and then more recently we got the ML," Mr Mackinnon said.

"The width of the tractor is really important to us, because it needs to fit up the rows.

"We're putting a lot into growing the crop, so we don't want to ruin that every time we drive a tractor up a row by knocking berries around with the tyres."

Improved operator comfort and next-level technology, including the Gen 4 Display, ISOBUS compatible implements, AutoTrac™ guidance, JDLink™ and the John Deere Operations Center™, are also proving their worth.

"We recently purchased the newer 5ML because it was a significantly more comfortable tractor, which our operators appreciate," Mr Mackinnon said.

"The software that comes with the tractor and the systems behind it are going to be very advantageous to us.

"We have quite manual systems at the moment using paper and pen to do all of our record keeping and documentation, especially when we're talking about spraying, so it's really interesting and exciting to know there's ways we can do that all integrated in the John Deere Operations Center.

"It will make life easier and more accurate and traceable for our suppliers, it'll make life easier for our operators, and it can streamline what we do and make everything simpler."

Reliability front and centre

The Mackinnons have a long history with John Deere and have come to rely on the equipment even more since growing berries.

"When we're trying to control variables, machinery's really important and we need to be able to do farm operations reliably on time, all the time," Mr Mackinnon said.

"I feel John Deere do have an edge with reliability."

Aftermarket support from his local dealership has added to the great experience Mr Mackinnon has had with John Deere.

"The guys down at the local dealership do a great job, and they're always here to assist us whenever we need them," he said.

"I would definitely recommend the 5ML to other growers who were looking for a tractor to use on their berry farm."

Watch the Mountford Berries story here: https://youtu.be/oRHfjvPf7Ys

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