About Us

Our Story
The Desert Fruit Company is a cooperatively owned, worker run, Australian date farm. We are located south east of Alice Springs just shy of the edge of the Simpson Desert. Tamara Plantation was established in 1991 by Jim and Trudi Luedi and was run by Dave Berrick between 2006 and 2013. Since 2014, the farm has been managed by members of the Co-operative. Workers receive an hourly wage for their labour with any profits being re-invested into the farm to create a sustainable business.
Our goal is to make our farm an exemplar of sustainable and regenerative agriculture, an egalitarian and stimulating work environment and a profitable, remote business. And of course, to sell the very, very best Australian dates!



Volunteering
Volunteering is a unique experience on our property which sits just north of the Simpson Desert. We welcome volunteers who are happy to sleep in a swag, cook on the fire and work in all types of weather (hot, cold, windy, dusty).
Although we are not registered with a volunteer network, our expectation is similar to the common baselines of these various networks: you work about four hours and we feed you and put you up.
Farm work varies depending on the season and we like all our volunteers to keep their feet firmly on the ground (so no cherry picker work!). You might expect to be mulching palm fronds, grading and packing dates, pruning date suckers, fixing irrigation or fixing irrigation basins. Of course, if you have a particular talent which could be useful to us we are generally happy to put your skills to use.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please contact us for more information. We can arrange transport and you should be able to come to town at least once a week.

About growing, harvesting and selling our dates
Learn more about what the average year at the Desert Fruit Company looks like.

About our farm practices
Learn more about our farm practices and our vision for sustainable management approach towards water, soil, energy, pests and organic now and into the future.
