On The Land
4 September, 2026
Coffee grower takes key role
LOCAL coffee producer Stephen Curtis has been elected vice president of the Australian Grown Coffee Association.
This follows the group’s annual general meeting that also re-elected long-time president Rebecca Zentveld from northern New South Wales.
Third generation primary producers Stephen, wife Natalie and family moved from their property on the Central Highlands just over four years ago and have transformed Australia’s oldest coffee growing plantation at Walsh Road near Dimbulah into a family farming enterprise that is committed to continuing the legacy of naturally processed coffee.
From working in their expansive plantation paddocks all the way to sales and despatch, the Curtis family keeps a watchful eye on all facets of quality coffee production grading, roasting, blending and taste in order to produce the best possible quality Australian-grown coffee, farm sustainability, and product market reliability.
In more recent times, this has led to the family acquiring another farming property near Dimbulah to keep up with confirmed market share and coffee production to meet clearly indicated future coffee growing demand for the family’s Domigo Coffee blends and other products.
“Australian growers supply a small percentage of the coffee consumed nationally but the industry wants to grow this figure,” Mr Curtis said.
“Our group is encouraging Australians to make the change to locally grown beans to increase consumer appreciation for our unique coffee flavours.”
Australians drink around two billion cups of coffee every year, yet less than 1% of the coffee consumed in Australia is home-grown.
However, a new $4 million national research program aims to change that, helping Australian growers capture a greater share of the nation’s love for premium coffee, while protecting the industry from future threats.
Launched by AgriFutures Australia, Southern Cross University, Plant Health Australia, the University of Queensland and the Australian Grown Coffee Association, the five-year Australian Coffee Research Program is the largest coordinated investment in Australian coffee research and development to date.
The program will help growers improve productivity, test new coffee varieties, strengthen biosecurity and explore opportunities to expand production across Australia’s coffee-growing regions.
