FEATURE planting passion

Spend ten minutes with Neil Miles and it’s clear he’s not just running farms or importing fertiliser, he’s building something far more ambitious. It’s an approach that feels both grounded in tradition and sharply modern, delivered with the intensity of someone who’s earned every inch of progress.

Words Anitra Stene, Marketing & Communications Co-ordinator, vegetablesWA

NEIL’S path into agriculture wasn’t inherited; it was fought for. He grew up in Margaret River dairy country and spent time on his family’s Boyup Brook beef, sheep and cropping property. Agriculture was in the blood, even if the industry itself tried to push him away. He left school early, earned a horticulture qualification, and spent his early working years in nurseries, vineyards and farms, until an unexpected detour into hospitality shifted his path and set him on the journey of building the enterprise he leads today.

At 22, Neil moved to Bunbury and swapped secateurs for saucepans, working his way from kitchen hand to manager and, eventually, chef in Perth. Those years in hospitality mattered. They sharpened his sense of flavour, consistency, service; the things that only truly great produce can support. He still carries a deep respect for the people who work in commercial kitchens, the pace they keep, and the standards they uphold.

By 2013, with a decade of horticulture and hospitality behind him, he decided it was time to build something of his own. Planted Passion started with $200, a ute, and what he describes simply as, “I sold my time to make money to invest into company capital.”

It wasn’t glamorous. It was gardening and landscaping, long days, often 12 hours or more. But the work snowballed. He hired staff. The business grew. And the ambition grew faster.

By 2015, Neil had pushed into agronomy and fertiliser distribution, not because it was easy, but because he could see that growers needed more than generic programs and bulk blend formulas. His philosophy formed early, built around taking a broad, layered approach to plant health. Support photosynthesis. Strengthen cell structure. Treat fertiliser as a system, not a product. He saw himself, as he puts it, as “a vital part of the agricultural community,” serving broadacre, viticulture, horticulture and livestock producers alike.

Then came the land

In 2019, after years of saving, Neil bought his first farm, a 4 hectare former seedling nursery with some serious infrastructure including 12 greenhouses, sheds, machinery. It was a milestone, but also a starting point. Because in December 2020, he bought another farm roughly forty hectares, with seven water sources and room to scale. And all of this happened in the midst of COVID. So while dealing with the ongoing freight chaos, labour shortages and rising import costs, he didn’t retreat, he expanded!

By early 2021, he formalised the importing arm WA Fertiliser Supply, after deep R&D into what WA growers actually needed. He started with granular guano, seaweed, humates, then calcium foliars from Croatia. Now he brings in more than 50 products, many certified organic. Most importantly, he sells direct to farmers so there is no middlemen. It’s harder, it’s riskier, but it’s the model he chose because it keeps value on farm. He stays in constant contact with growers, holds stock, tracks seasonal needs, and matches products to goals.

“ Typically, I start with a visit on farm or a lengthy phone call. Products are then matched to their needs and we ensure the order arrives when they need it,he says. ”

Meanwhile, his own farming enterprise was taking shape and taking off. He became a certified organic grower focusing on protected cropping, growing tomatoes, capsicums, Lebanese cucumbers and eggplant.

He produced his own seedlings, improved his soils rigorously and relied on mechanical weed control to keep labour demands down. He invested into fixed irrigation for his market garden blocks to grow different outdoor crops like broccoli, cauli, cabbage, beetroot, kale, lettuce and silverbeet. And he upgraded his machinery relentlessly including tractors, spreaders, mechanical weeders, transplanters. He will work towards investing in heating, cooling and lighting to expand to 12 month production.

Neil now imports close to 100 containers a year, supplying growers from Northampton to Esperance and interstate, while running two farms in Manjimup; one greenhouse heavy, one cropping-focused. Ninety five percent of his revenue comes from fertiliser… and yet he refuses to drop horticultural production. Why? Because, he says, the industry is “in crisis,” and when growers leave, the whole country loses.

He wants to “lessen the burden to others,” helping however he can, giving his time freely because he believes WA needs people who stay, not walk away.

Underpinning all of the importing, the agronomy, the organics, the relentless expansion, is something more personal. Neil is a single parent. He has his son fifty percent of the time, and he has redesigned his entire business architecture around fatherhood. Every decision, every workflow update, every structure he builds is made with that responsibility front and centre. He’s transparent about his long term motivation, he wants to build something lasting, something that matters, or, in his own words, “I’m building an empire my son can run”.

Ask him about his ultimate aim and he won’t talk about scale or yield or market share. He’ll talk about soil and food security.

“My overall goal is to help create healthier soils in WA that grow better crops and livestock, which ultimately leads to better food security for everyone.”

That’s not a business plan, it’s a legacy.

And in a sector facing pressures from every direction, maybe that’s exactly what WA horticulture needs, a grower who isn’t just chasing volume or margins, but rebuilding trust in local production, championing organics, modernising fertiliser use, and stitching community back into agriculture.

Planted Passion is more than a brand, it’s an attitude. A reminder that resilience can be grown, that value chains can be rebuilt, and that the future of WA food that is real, local and nutrient dense starts with people who plant their passion and refuse to let it die in the rows.

“My overall goal is to help create healthier soils in WA that grow better crops and livestock, which ultimately leads to better food security for everyone.”
Neil Miles, Planted Passion

Thank you to the Southern Forests Food Council and Farm Weekly for their source material, insights and ongoing support of Western Australia’s growers.

• Source 1: Passion, Produce and Organics: The Vision of Planted Passion Farm, Southern Forests Food Council: www.southernforestsfood.com/single-post/passion-produce-and-organics-the-vision-of-planted-passion-farm

• Source 2: A Passion for All Things Organic Underpins Successful Manjimup Business, Mel Williams, Farm Weekly: www.farmweekly.com.au/story/9068302/neil-miles-long-journey-from-hospitality-to-organic-farming