Nick Diamantopoulos
Founder and CEO of Australian Garlic Producers (AGP)
AGP创始人兼首席执行官
When Nick Diamantopoulos bought a hobby farm in Gippsland, rural Victoria, 30 years ago, he dreamed of a world where Australians would not have to buy imported garlic. Little did he realise that his passion project would manifest itself into Australian Garlic Producers’ (AGP), the country’s largest producer of Australian garlic.
Today, he is the founder and CEO of AGP, which operates more than 700 acres of garlic fields across Australia. Nick is widely known as the “Garlic King” who, through great innovation, persistence, and daring, created a homegrown, Australian-made garlic industry that prides itself on the utmost quality in its garlic bulbs whilst also fostering a sense of community as jobs are created for “the next generation of Australians”.
How did one man’s humble beginnings, from helping his mother grow plants in their garden during his childhood to a love for the symbiosis between nature and industry, prepare him to become the agricultural industry titan that he is today?
To understand Nick’s story, it’d be helpful to understand his professional background in chemical engineering and applied mathematics. Shortly after graduation, Nick worked in the building industry as an industrial chemist for 15 productive years. Yet, his passion for agriculture never waned, and Nick worked tirelessly to identify a unique crop that would not only be suitable for the specific climatic conditions of Gippsland but also cater to a gap in the Australian market.
Enter Nick’s Eureka moment with garlic!
After extensive research into Australian garlic, Nick discovered that the garlic seed used in Australia “was full of disease and viruses”. Nick also learned that Australia imports most of its garlic from overseas.
“I wanted to get into farming and agribusiness, but I didn’t want to compete with anyone, so my research revealed that nobody in Australia was growing garlic on a commercial scale, as 95% of Australia’s garlic was imported from overseas.”
“The only problem was that the Australian garlic season started around Christmas and finished later in the summer”, said Nick reflectively.
Recognising the inherent opportunity that lay in creating a homegrown Australian garlic industry, Nick focused his efforts on cultivating garlic and chose Gippsland, with its high annual rainfall and naturally sloping landscapes, to be the idyll landscape to grow a winter crop like garlic.
Though the journey from hobby to business proved much more challenging than initially envisaged, Nick never faltered in his vision. The vast market potential of bringing homegrown Australian garlic kept him motivated to solve both the issues of poor garlic quality and an overdependence on imported garlic.
Before AGP, Australia was importing around 10,000 tonnes of garlic, and Australia’s garlic industry barely existed. There were a few Italian growers in the Riverina Griffiths area who grew garlic in small quantities for personal use and sold some of their surplus at local fresh markets. Issues with an unstructured garlic industry were exacerbated by limited scientific knowledge about garlic production, disease management, pest control, and fertilisation. Even the Department of Agriculture in New South Wales was initially sceptical about the viability of growing garlic in Australia.
To combat the above problems, Nick looked overseas for expertise in garlic cultivation techniques to apply his learnings to Australia’s unique climatic conditions. Nick’s quest to find the perfect garlic bulb took him from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs to Far East Turkey and to the peaks of the Andes.
“In Peru, I found varieties that had not changed in the 500 years since they were introduced by Spanish conquistadors,” he says. Over the past three decades, Diamantopoulos has accumulated over 300 different varieties of garlic, importing many through quarantine and breeding others locally.
Smiling optimistically in a manner that complements his ‘can-do’ entrepreneurial spirit, Nick’s enthusiasm oozed into his passionate insights on this somewhat ordinary vegetable as the radiant sunlight graced his garlic fields.
Leveraging his background in science, Nick created a distinctive product called SupaGarlic, an innovative range of dietary supplements made locally with 100% Australian garlic oil. By utilising techniques such as DNA fingerprinting and testing for their various sulphur compounds, Nick was able to identify garlic varieties with specific health benefits and use patented technology to create a high-potency garlic oil extract that retained these health benefits.
“SupaGarlic uses homegrown Australian garlic that is harvested and bottled locally. While other garlic supplements on the market use a mix of imported ingredients, the garlic oil used in SupaGarlic has been laboratory tested, is well trusted by our consumers, and has a strong potency for eliminating viruses”. Furthermore, Nick ensures that AGP uses sustainable farming methods that are ethically procured in all facets of SupaGarlic’s production. Nick and his team at AGP continue to research and identify new species of garlic as well as their associated health and wellbeing benefits when it comes to developing future SupaGarlic products.
“If you’re developing a nutraceutical product, I think it’s important for consumers to know that what they’re ingesting is safe, has full traceability, and is grown in a clean environment that’s absolutely safe”.
Since its inception in 1999 on less than 10 hectares near Mildura, AGP has grown exponentially. Nick’s final message for aspiring entrepreneurs, particularly those considering entering the agriculture industry, is simple: have a deep love for what you do. This, coupled with sound business planning, will help you overcome the inevitable challenges and hurdles that arise in building a business.
AGP and Nick’s garlic bulbs will be trucked to retailers such as Coles and Woolworths over the winter, completing Diamantopoulos’ decades-long ambition to fill supermarket shelves with Australian garlic. He says Australia is now the only country with a continuous supply of fresh, local bulbs.
“My Greek mother makes the best skordalia in the world,” he says.
“She says the garlic is now good enough to make it year-round.
The taste has been worth all this effort.”
Website: http://www.australiangarlic.com.au
当 Nick Diamantopoulos 在30年前于维多利亚州吉普斯兰（Gippsland）买下一个休闲农场时，他简朴的愿望仅是盼着澳大利亚人不再需要购买进口蒜头，却从未预料到，他的一腔热情会造就了目前澳大利亚的蒜头产业巨头（AGP）。
被称为“蒜王”的Nick是AGP的创始人兼首席执行官，在澳大利亚经营着700多英亩的蒜田。他透过创新、坚持和大胆的方式，缔造澳大利亚蒜头产业神话，以高质量的土产蒜头球茎而自豪，为“下一代澳大利亚人”创建无数就业机会的同时，也培养社区意识。
从童年时期只是帮助母亲在花圃里种植花草的懵懂小孩，到现在热爱自然与工业共生的农业巨头，他到底如何走到今天？
Nick在化学工程和应用数学方面的专业背景可说是助长了如今的成就。毕业后不久，他作为一名工业化学家在建筑行业工作了15年。然而，他对农业的热情从未减弱，废寝忘食的钻研和工作，想要发掘出不仅适合吉普斯兰特定气候条件，而且可以填补澳大利亚市场空白缝隙的独特农产品。
“蒜头”突然在Nick的脑海中灵光一现!
针对澳大利亚蒜头展开全方面研究后，Nick发现本土使用的蒜头种子“充斥着疾病和病毒”，而且蒜头大部分是从国外进口的。
“我想踏足农业综合企业，但不想与任何人竞争，而我的研究解析显示，澳大利亚无人以商业规模种植蒜头，因为本土95%的蒜是从国外进口的。”
他若有所思地说：“唯一的问题是，澳大利亚的蒜头产季大约在圣诞节前后开始，会在夏季末结束。”
由于察觉到澳大利亚本土蒜头产业的无限发展潜力，于是他专注于蒜头的种植，并选择了吉普斯兰，这里的年降雨量大，地形自然倾斜，适合种植蒜头等冬季农作物。
另外，即使将休闲爱好转为商业的过程比最初设想的更具挑战性，但他的想法从未被动摇。而引进澳大利亚本土蒜头的庞大市场潜力让他有动力解决蒜头质量差和过度依赖进口蒜头的问题。
其实在AGP横空出世之前，澳大利亚大约有1万吨蒜头皆为进口货，本土蒜头产业几乎不存在。格里菲斯（Riverina Griffiths）地区有几个意大利籍种植者，少量生产蒜头仅供个人使用，并将剩余的一些蒜头卖给当地的生鲜市场。基于对蒜头生产、疾病管理，虫害防治和施肥方面的科学知识有限，加剧了蒜头产业非结构性的难题。就连新南威尔士州的农业部最初也对在澳大利亚种植蒜头的可行性持怀疑态度。
Nick当时就攻克这些难题转向国外寻求蒜头种植的专业技术，并将所学的知识应用到澳大利亚独有的气候条件中。他曾经为了寻找完美的蒜头球茎，从墨尔本东郊到土耳其的远东，再到安第斯（Andes）山脉的峰顶。
“在秘鲁，我发现了一些品种，自从它们被西班牙征服者引进以来，500年保持不变。”过去的30年里，他已经积累发掘了300多种迥异的蒜头品种，许多是通过检疫进口，还有一些是在当地培植。
当绚烂阳光照耀着Nick的蒜田时，他乐观地微笑着，与其贯彻“可行”的企业家精神相得益彰，他的热情见解似乎点滴渗透了这个日常普通的蔬菜产物。
Nick也充分利用本身的专业知识，创立了称为“SupaGarlic”的特色产品，这项100%从澳大利亚本土蒜油提炼，当地生产的创新营养膳食补充剂。而透过DNA指纹分析和测试各种含硫化合物等技术，他能够识别出具有特定保健功效的蒜头品种，并运用专利技术创造出留存上述具备保健功效的蒜油提取精粹物质。
SupaGarlic原材料为澳大利亚本土蒜头，这些产品是在当地收获和装瓶。虽然市场上的其他蒜头补充剂使用进口成分的混合物，但SupaGarlic中使用的蒜油经过实验室测试，除了深受消费者信赖，也具备强力消除病毒的作用。”另外，为了确保AGP在SupaGarlic各个生产环节皆符合道德规范和可持续性的农业格式，Nick和AGP的团队不间断研发和鉴定蒜头的新品种，并以相关的保健功效福祉信念来开发未来的SupaGarlic产品。
“如果你正在开发一种营养保健品，我认为最关键的是让消费者了解他们摄入的东西是安全的，拥有完整的可追溯链条，并且是在绝对可靠安心的干净环境中生长。”
自1999年在米尔杜拉（Mildura）附近不到10公顷的土地上成立以来，AGP的业绩倍速增长。对于有抱负，特别是考虑进入农业领域的企业家，Nick给了简单的结论：对所做的事情抱持着深切热爱，再加上合理的商业计划，将协助你们克服在创业过程中不可避免的挑战和障碍。
AGP和Nick的蒜头球茎将在冬季用卡车运往科尔斯（Coles）和伍尔沃斯（Woolworths）零售商处，从而圆满达成Nick Diamantopoulos长达数十年的雄心壮志–让超市的货架上摆满澳大利亚蒜头。
他说，澳大利亚目前是唯一持续供应新鲜本地蒜头球茎的国家。
“我的希腊裔母亲所调制的蒜泥酱(skordalia)可说是全世界最佳。她说现在优质的蒜足以全年食用。因此，这个美味体验让一切的努力都很值得。”
EZ AUSTRALIA.NEWS 