Ashgrove Tasmanian Farm, Elizabeth Town, Tasmania, Australia
The Ashgrove milk and cheese factory is located at Elizabeth Town, in the heart of the dairying and cropping region in Northern Tasmania.
Several generations of Bennett families have been farming the land surrounding the milk and cheese factory since the 1880’s.
In 1983 brothers, Michael Bennett and John Bennett AM together with their respective wives, Maureen and Connie, formed the Ashgrove Farms partnership. Ashgrove Farms continued the Bennett family tradition of mixed farming operations with a dairy herd, sheep, and vegetable crops.
In the late 1980s a decision was made to further develop the dairy operations with the decline in wool prices and the stagnation of the vegetable industry.
John and Michael’s goal in establishing the factory was to gain independence from the low commodity prices that dominated Tasmanian milk supply and to produce premium quality cheese by on-farm value adding using farm milk. In preparation a significant investment was made in building a new 50 unit rotary dairy in 1990.
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