July 4th, 2025Harcourt farm co-operating organically

Harcourt Organic Farming Co-Operative is looking for people to set up farm enterprises on their 38 hectare property beneath Mt Alexander. This is a fantastic opportunity for all those aspiring farmers out there who lack good viable agricultural land to make their dream a reality.
“We are open to new enterprises doing all sorts of interesting agricultural projects,” says co-founder Katie Finlay, “and are very keen for people to approach us.”
Katie’s family has been growing fruit in the area for three generations. The property which today’s HOFC sits on was established in the 1870s with some of the oldest continuously running orchards in the valley.
Katie and her husband Hugh took over the farm from her father in the 1990s and ran the orchard for more than 20 years before founding the co-op in 2018.
“There were lots of different factors which brought this move about. We had been through the drought, then a big flood and we were pretty burnt out and knew we needed a succession plan.
“But we were aware that there were young farmers who wanted to get into farming and who couldn’t access the land and so the idea of a co-op just evolved. We got both federal and state funding to help us decide what model we would set up including the services of co-op and farm leasing experts.
“Then last year we got some additional funding from the World Wildlife Fund that let us create a comprehensive plan on small farm viability.”
Katie says there are two different levels to the model they have set up. As the owners of the property Katie and Hugh hold conventional leases with each individual enterprise.
But together with all of their tenants they have established the co-op. This structure means everybody has an equal voice, a cohabitating of the land as it were, levelling out the traditional power imbalances between landlord and leaseholder.
Today the co-operative has several enterprises making use of the land within this structure. This includes Sellar Farmhouse Creamery, a micro-dairy run by Tessa Sellar milking 10 cows using sustainable farming principles and sold locally via subscription and weekly farmers’ markets.
The Orchard Keepers headed by Katie and Hugh manage an organic fruit orchard growing cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples and pears. Carr’s Organic Fruit Tree Nursery, under the mentorship of Merv Carr, Katie’s father, who has been grafting and budding heritage fruit trees for over 50 years, Katie and her sister Liz Carr continuing the family tradition here growing a variety of heritage fruit trees for sale in winter as bare-rooted trees.
“We also have bushfoods on the property as part of Murnong Mummas, an Indigenous-led social enterprise involved in the native foods and botanicals sector,” says Katie.
“Since we set up the co-op, we’ve had a really strong commitment to working with First Nations people acknowledging the pre-colonial history of this place. Part of that commitment is working with Murnong Mummas and other indigenous organisations to help achieve their aims.”
Even though the co-op is tiny compared to typical industrial scale agricultural operations, Katie feels it is important to maintain all these businesses and be open to other new enterprises that may want to share their resources.

“These little farming enterprises are actually vital to local communities’ long term food security,” she says. “If we just rely on large scale agriculture we are really vulnerable to supply chain breakdowns that may come with any form of economic and social disruption.”
Image: Katie with Jedda at Harcourt Organic Farming Co-operative
Words & image: Tony Sawrey | Scan the QR code for a little video