SON OF A GUN

JASE Dobra is the next generation of farmer in the Dobra horticulture family. He’s the grandson of hort doyenne Maureen Dobra and the son of Kevan, who is a part-owner of the family’s Loose Leaf Lettuce Company with Maureen and her husband Barry. Jase runs the Sativa Gardens farm, which is part of Loose Leaf, looking after 120 acres of baby leaf lettuces.

This 30-something grower has lived and breathed horticulture all his life. Conversations and decision-making about the farm have swirled around him since a child, so understanding the land, industry and growing on Sativa is almost as natural as breathing. Since taking over the management of this farm several years ago, he’s put that knowledge into practice. All bolstered, of course, by the brains trust of grandparents Maureen and Barry, and father Kevan.

So, what’s it like working for family? “It’s good most of the time. You’re always going to butt heads, but at the end of the day, you’re always all there for each other,” laughs Jase. He now lives on the farm with girlfriend Emily, who is a supervisor on the farm. He enjoys their work-life balance, managing the farm between 6am to 3pm, spending time outside and indulging in his love of driving.

“Probably the thing I enjoy most about my job, though, is that we’re giving back to the community. That’s what makes us proud. We’re providing food for people who we may never meet, but we are having an impact on their lives,” he says.

Stepping into a career at Loose Leaf Lettuce Company wasn’t his first choice. He toyed with the idea of becoming a sport teacher, but the call of the land and working outside prevailed. On leaving school, he worked between the two Loose Leaf farms for 12 months, then worked for another local grower for six months, before settling in at Sativa and working under his father Kevan.

“Over time he started stepping back. It happened very naturally. He would go on holidays and I would spend more and more time as a manager. I just started making more decisions,” says Jase. “I run all the operations at Sativa now. Dad assists me when I need his advice.”

He still keeps one foot in sports, however, having just completed a campaign for a national title in drag racing in his 2010 Holden Commodore. This love for driving may be traced back to the years he spent driving tractors on the farm after school.

The Sativa Gardens farm grows spinach, rocket, mesculins (red and green corals), mizuna, tatsoi and baby cos. These lines have been tried and true for many years, and the varieties are swapped about depending on the climate at different times of the year. The farm turns over about 20-25 tonne a week, which is sold via the markets and wholesalers.

Jase likens the growing conditions at Sativa to planting vegetables on a beach. There are very few nutrients in the ground and it doesn’t hold any water. To counteract this, the land is fertilised three times a week and, during summer, watered up to four times a day through sprinklers and overhead irrigation.

“We’re struggling with water because we’re trying to put so much on. It’s an issue. We’re on the borderline of our limit already. If our water licence is reduced, we won’t be able to grow as much, and there will be less food coming into the community,” he says.

Fertilisers are also an issue. “We are looking for more resistant varieties to lessen our chemical use. That’s a big drive for us as a company – looking to make our production more sustainable,” he explains.

Lastly, what would Jase say to other young people considering their options for a career? “I would say it’s a lifestyle. We only work Monday to Friday, we have the farm set up to work remotely and we finish work in the mid-afternoon so can go and do what we like. I can even make it to the beach. So if you like the outdoors and you’re willing to put in the hard work, then it’s worth it.”