When you know even from childhood, that you’re going to be farmer – it takes a lot of courage to leave the family property. From boarding school to university and even a career as a spacecraft engineer that takes you around the world. My guest knew that despite all that, he would return to life as a banana grower in North Queensland. Mark Nucifora of Fiorito Bananas has had two very different careers but feels right at home, on the family farm.
Mark fondly recalls how his Dad encouraged him to do what he felt was best with his life. That autonomy lead him to University in Brisbane, then to a job as a spacecraft analyst in Sydney. The skills he learnt there, landed him a role building satellites at Los Angeles Airport. “My office was basically; you could see the planes lining up. It was quite amazing for a country boy from Far North Queensland to see that. To see the technology there in LA and the culture, the celebrity.”
“You go over there and you see freeways where there are overpasses, and as an engineer to see that and appreciate what those guys had built was quite amazing.”
That same world brought Mark to China to launch one of the satellites he had helped to build. “That was amazing. Just an amazing experience,” he shares. “What I did in four years, I guess a lot of engineers may not get that sort of opportunity in a lifetime.” Shortly after, Mark had to make one of the toughest decisions of his life.
“I sat there for two months doing pros and cons. I guess at the end of the day, you had to make a decision and go with it. Here I am 30 years later.”
Mark decided to return to the farm with his father. He puts that down, in part, to obligation but also wanting his children to enjoy the same childhood he had. “It was an opportunity probably, again, to build something and grow something.” Putting his engineer’s hat on, Mark decided to focus on bananas instead of sugarcane, something that was only just starting in the region. “We were the first in the area to use laser levelling to flatten the land, and run it so that when it rains, the water drains.”
“I can’t speak highly enough of what Dad did as a farmer. In the area where we’re farming, it’s almost swamp. He created that into, I like to think, one of the most productive quality-driven farms in the Australian banana industry.”
The innovation didn’t stop there, from automated irrigation to a bagging machine on tracks that elevates machinery from bog holes. Farmers may experience similar challenges in many other parts of Australia, but more unique to the Nucifora family, is cyclones in Far North Queensland. “I couldn’t count how many we’ve had,” Mark says.
Cyclones over the years have cost Mark his crop, his family home and an income for up to 10 months one year. The memory of Yasi still hurts. “I had gotten married only four or five months beforehand. We were living in the house I grew up in. Yasi picked a whole shed up, foundations and all, twisted it up like a pretzel and thew it on our house – onto our bedroom. Luckily, were weren’t sleeping there. We were up at mum and dad’s, which is a lot more protected,” he shares.
“When you first come down and you see the damage, your heart sinks. But there’s a little bit inside you that doesn’t want to let stuff like that beat you.”
Fiorito bananas supplies the major supermarkets on the east coast. Food safety and quality is a big part of the deal. “You want consumers to feel confident that the food that Australian growers are supplying is safe for them to consume.”
“I love the fact that we as farmers are involved in employment that is pure. You’re dealing with Mother Nature. Mother Natures knows no excuses. Every day, you get up and face those challenges. Sometimes it wears you down. But when you look back, you think, wow, I got through that.”
“I’m proud of the fact that something I’m selling is just pure goodness. Bananas. Everybody loves bananas. Everybody eats bananas.” And chatting to Mark, was just pure goodness too. The man behind the bananas, just as incredible as the product he grows.
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