Tourist crops providing selfie solution for famed Queensland sunflower fields

The golden sunflower fields of Queensland’s Darling Downs are a photographer’s delight, but the scores of day-tripping tourists they attract have been a blessing and a curse — until now.

The region, west of Brisbane, reaps an economic boost from the sunflower chasers.

However, commercial growers have long expressed their frustration with trampled crops and trespassers.

Roger Woods from Warraba Farms, near Cambooya, saw the problem and decided to take a different approach, planting a crop specifically for tourists.

He’s one of two farms along the sunflower route — which stretches from Toowoomba to Warwick — opening their farm gates this weekend.

“Initially, we operated a drone spraying business and we’d be out spraying sunflower crops and people would be pulling up in unsafe spots on the side of the road,” he said.

“They’d be picking flowers, and the farmers would be getting angry.

“We basically said, ‘What if somebody grew crops specifically for people to come and visit?’ And we did that.”

Visitors from the Philippines

This is the fourth summer Mr Woods has welcomed visitors.

The number of tourists has increased each season, and so have the distances they have travelled to get there.

“We’ve got a booking at the moment out of the Philippines and some out of Melbourne, so people are coming from all over the place to have this sunflower experience,” he said.

“I think one of my motivations is to get people who live in the city to come out to a farm and to talk to us to find out how we see things.”

At Ten Chain Farm at Upper Flagstone in the Lockyer Valley, Adrian Bonica is also preparing to welcome visitors for the second time on Sunday.

“All the sunflowers are just beautiful'” he said.

“There’s nothing that says happiness, friendliness and joy like a big yellow flower.”

Mr Bonica said open fields could prove vital to striking a balance between tourist interest and protecting commercial crops.

“We have grass laneways through the flower fields so it’s safe for everybody to come and walk through,” he said.

“We’ve got lots of parking available, so it does stop the danger of people parking on the sides of roads and jumping … over fences into properties.”

Golden opportunity 

The region’s peak tourism body is also on board.

Southern Queensland Country Tourism is keen to direct visitors to the fields and make the sunflower route a win-win for communities.

Chief executive Peter Homan said pre-COVID, market research found that around 400,000 people a year were travelling to the Southern Downs, the Toowoomba region and the Lockyer Valley to admire the blooms, with large numbers expected again this year.

He said tourist crops created certainty for visitors, guaranteeing them a glimpse of fields of gold.

“Not every farmer grows a sunflower crop every year because they’re a rotational crop,” he said.

“By having these commercial farmers who are going to operate every year, we can put all the mapping and the promotion around it, which is not only great for the consumer, but also good for the farmer.”

It’s a vision that the growers are also behind.

“If there are more opportunities, then we’ll become known for it,” Mr Bonica said.

“It will give people more than one stop for the day and make the trip that little bit more worthwhile.”