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Australian vegetable growers retire after 25 years in industry

Chris and Diane Robinson are hanging up their hats after more than 25 years growing fresh vegetables in Western Australia's remote north. The couple's semi-retirement means the town of Kununurra has lost its only direct supplier of local vegetables.

The remainder of the town's produce has been trucked more than 3,000 kilometers from Perth. The couple were working for the state government's department of agriculture when they began their horticulture business, Oria Orchards.

"We were doing a full day's work then racing out to the farm afterwards and spending all our weekends working on it," Ms Robinson said.

They grew grapefruit and mangoes before branching out into other produce including asparagus, herbs, corn, tomatoes and lettuce. Most of their produce went down the traditional route to be sold in the Perth markets to the major supermarkets and metro restaurants. But they quickly found that process was not for them.

"It was just too hard to make any money when we sold to the big supermarkets," Ms Robinson said.

Read more at ABC News