Michelle Distill of Tasmanian family farm Spreyton Fresh shares the business’ journey of growth and resilience with Achmea Farm Insurance as its specialist agricultural partner
For over a decade, Achmea Farm Insurance has been a trusted insurance partner for farmers across Australia.
It provides specialist, local, and direct farm insurance, dedicated to fulfilling its purpose of keeping farmers farming.
Among the thousands of agribusinesses Achmea Farm Insurance insures is Spreyton Fresh, a fifth-generation family farm in Tasmania’s Mersey Valley.
With a rich history of innovation and resilience, Spreyton Fresh has chosen Achmea Farm Insurance to help protect its legacy as it continues to grow and diversify.
From local and personalised service to essential coverage like Business Interruption insurance, Achmea Farm Insurance has supported Spreyton Fresh to protect its operations and navigate the ups and downs of farming.
In this interview with Spreyton Fresh’s Michelle Distill, she highlights the importance of having a farm insurer that truly understands the unique challenges of agriculture.
Read on to discover more about this partnership, and how Spreyton Fresh is growing, innovating, and securing their legacy for generations to come.
Michelle’s story
We trace our roots back to the late 1800s when the first apple trees were planted in the valley, and we picked our first crop around 1904 or 1905.
My son Jorden has recently come into the business and is a fifth generation farmer.
The growth of our family farm has been an ongoing evolution, as we have adapted with the times and continued farming, while also expanding to grow cherries alongside apples.
This diversity in our products allows us to cater to different markets.
As any farmer would tell you, you can be at the mercy of what anyone is prepared to pay for your products. That’s just part and parcel of running a business, but that led to us diversifying.
Expansion and growth
In 1998, my brother decided to start making apple juice, leading to the juicing side of our business.
Then in 2012, we ventured into making alcoholic cider, facing challenges as we initially focused on products that we liked, rather than what had mass appeal.
This forced us to re-evaluate our approach and shift towards a more contemporary style of cider that resonated with the public.
In 2023, we underwent a major revamp at our cellar door, expanding our space and adding a commercial kitchen.
This has allowed us to host functions for up to 100 people and attract more tourists, making our cellar door a destination rather than just a stopover. The support from Tasmanian tourism groups has been instrumental in our growth.
We are obviously hoping that it will lead to the cellar door becoming a destination rather than just somewhere that you go.
With farming, you have your issues, but then you bounce back, and you go again.
With three brothers directly involved in the business, and my son joining in as well, we truly operate as a family business.
As we navigate through the challenges of evolving and finding direction, we recognise the importance of building strong relationships in the industry.
It is a revolving process. It never, ever stops. I think if you stop, then you may as well just close your doors because you need to keep innovating and you need to keep trying. And, if you find an issue, you need to be working to fix it.
Since 2004, we have been growing all our cherries and apples using Regenerative Agriculture Practices and working towards being carbon neutral.
Regenerative Agriculture focuses on soil health, balancing soil chemistry and feeding the microbiological communities in the soil.
We minimise the use of synthetic chemicals and use organic inputs including humates, fulvic acid, kelp, fish, worm leachate, and natural compost.
We use targeted chemical applications when required. This ensures the ongoing viability of not just our orchards but helps ensure food security and, also mitigate some of the increasing threats from climate change.
The aim is to leave the soil in better condition for future generations.
Agricultural partner
We have been very lucky that I ran into Rebecca Muir – Achmea Farm Insurance Business Development Manager for Tasmania and Victoria – at a forum that we went to.
Bec has been excellent to work with on the insurance side of things.
We have a very good working relationship with Bec and Achmea Farm Insurance more broadly, and I think that’s important.
The relationships that you build within any sort of business – whether it’s dealing with insurance or your label manufacturer or this or that – it’s all about relationships and it’s all about how you can hang everything together.
We were not directly looking for another insurer, but our previous insurer had told us that our insurance premiums would increase quite significantly. Encountering Bec at a forum was fortuitous so that we could transition to Achmea Farm Insurance.
It makes sense to have our insurance with a farm insurer that has come from supporting farmers all the time. That helps, because Achmea Farm Insurance understand – they get the ebbs, peaks, and troughs and all the rest of it that come with any sort of agricultural business.
They just get it. It’s never a hard process to talk to them and say, ‘listen, we need some help with this or how can you help us with this’.
Having the support of a specialist agricultural insurer works very well for the farming sector, rather than just any bigger general insurer.
The fact that we were able to get similar coverage, but more competitively priced, just worked for us and it has been a good decision for us.
Future goals and adequate protection
Primarily focusing on the Australian market, particularly the eastern seaboard and Tasmania, we have started exploring the export market with recent shipments of non-alcoholic ciders.
Our long-term goal is to gradually transition towards cider manufacturing, while also continuing with apple and cherry production.
With apple production ranging from 3,000-4,000 bins and around 100 tonnes of cherries annually, our operations are steadily growing. The apples are used not only for juicing but also sold to a company in Melbourne for direct supermarket sales.
An important cover we have with Achmea Farm Insurance is Business Interruption insurance.
We would not necessarily worry about it if we weren’t manufacturing, but because we are manufacturing the juice and we’re manufacturing the cider, if anything went wrong and we couldn’t manufacture for any length of time, we would need that cover.
So, for us, it is critical. You have just got to weigh it all up and decide which way you want to go with it.
Family legacy
Our cider brand, Spreyton Cider, along with a hard ginger beer, has its roots in a family recipe that dates to one of my great-grandfathers, adding a unique touch to our products.
He was a sailing captain and always used to make ginger beer for his crew to stop seasickness, and then he became a publican down in Hobart.
He owned two or three pubs in Hobart, his name as licensee is still on board at Shipwright Arms in Battery Point.
The family story was that there was always a keg of ginger beer behind the bar, so we have modified a very old recipe to incorporate ginger beer in our range.
It has been a journey that has really evolved over the last five generations.
As a family business, we believe in constantly moving forward, finding new opportunities, and innovating with the changing times.
It is a journey we embrace, and we are grateful for the support from Achmea Farm Insurance and others along the way.
Insurance issued by Achmea Schadeverzekeringen N.V. (Achmea) ABN 86 158 237 702 AFSL 433984. This information is general advice only.
For more information and/or to request a quote from Achmea Farm Insurance, visit www.achmea.com.au
For more information about Spreyton Fresh, visit www.spreytonfresh.com.au
