Fourth-generation farming business, Queensland’s Piñata Farms, has been inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame for outstanding leadership and innovation in Australia’s food production industry spanning more than 60 years.

Piñata Farms began with a single 26ha pineapple farm, growing fresh and cannery fruit at Wamuran, north of Brisbane in the 1960s.

Today, it is Australia’s largest pineapple producer and a leading multi-fruit producer, growing strawberries, raspberries and Honey Gold mangoes over more than 1000ha around Australia.  

It employs some 200 people at any given time and is owned and operated by the Scurr family, led by brothers Gavin and Stephen. Other members of the Scurr family work throughout business.

Accepting the award at a gala dinner at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, managing director Gavin Scurr congratulated all past and present inductees, and acknowledged their contribution to Queensland.

“We are humbled and honoured to be recognised in such esteemed company,” Mr Scurr says.

“We have farms around Australia now, but our homes and hearts are, and always will be, in Queensland. It’s a great state to live and work in and we’re proud to be Queensland farmers.

“We appreciate the solid foundation and the values our parents Geoff and Narelle set for our family in the 1960s, passed on from our grandparents before them.”

He said even from a very young age it was instilled in thefamily to focus on quality and do things right the first time. 

“Those same values are now part of our wider company culture and it’s a foundation the next generation can build on.”

Mr Scurr also paid tribute to all Piñata Farms employees who have contributed to the company’s growth, success and reputation in the fresh produce industry.

“This award is recognition for the whole Piñata team from the Northern Territory to Tasmania who, despite the weather, turn up every day and give their best to ensure Australians can enjoy fantastic fruit,” he said.

“It is a source of great pride to us that Australians can now enjoy a fresh piece of Piñata fruit all 31.5 million seconds of the year.”

“We have had many great people who have worked alongside us and equally invested in our journey including some who have been with us for many decades. Farming is a challenging business and we’ve certainly had many setbacks, but we’ve enjoyed the journey,” he says.

Piñata Farms is widely regarded as an eager and early adopter of new practices, technologies and techniques. There have been many key stages in the company’s growth.

Key stages signposting growth include:

• In the 1990s, Piñata pineapples were among the first to be sent to market without tops – now an industry standard. In 1994, the Scurr brothers introduced Hawaii's low-acid hybrid pineapple variety MD2 to Australia, reinvigorating the fresh pineapple market.
• In 1996, they pioneered pineapple production at Mareeba, Far North Queensland and remain the only commercial growers in the district.
• Strawberry production began at Wamuran in 2000 and strawberries are now produced year-round in three locations in Queensland and Tasmania.
• In 2009, after acquiring the breeding rights to grow specialty Honey Gold mangoes, the first commercial quantity of Honey Golds arrived on supermarket shelves and in 2015, the business entered a joint venture agreement with UK-based BerryWorld Group to grow proprietary berries in Australia. Specialty strawberries and raspberries are now produced in Queensland and Tasmania.

Piñata Farms was among five inductees at the gala event at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, attended by some 800 business leaders and dignitaries.

The Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame was established by Queensland University of Technology Business School, State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Library Foundation in 2009 to recognise the public contribution made by business leaders to the reputation of Queensland and its economic and social development.