News

Macadamia industry pioneer Phil Zadro has retired as a director of Marquis Macadamias.

Phil was a pioneer across all facets of the macadamia industry from growing and processing through to marketing of macadamia products. 

“Phil has dedicated over 40 years to the industry, and without his drive, vision and leadership, the industry as we know it may never have existed,” said Marquis Chair Clayton Mattiazzi.

“He will be dearly missed given his insights, knowledge, and enthusiasm for constant improvement.”

Phil started exploring macadamia farming in the mid-1970s in the Northern Rivers region of NSW, leading to the purchase and development of the farm now known as Victoria Park. 

In the early 1980s Phil worked with other local macadamia farmers to form the processing facility Macadamia Processing Company (now Marquis Macadamias) in Alphadale, near Lismore in NSW.

He championed the construction of the original processing facility and its many extensions and has been an active advisor and board member since its inception. 

In 2008 Phil moved to acquire a small processing factory located north of Bundaberg at Winfield which he further developed and relocated to a new processing facility at Bundaberg. That factory operated under the name of Consolidated Nuts (Aust) Pty Ltd, which changed its name to Pacific Gold Macadamias Pty Ltd and then was purchased by MPC in 2019.

The processing company MPC initially sold its processed product to buyers through a marketing company called IML (International Macadamias Limited). Then in about 2012 a separate marketing company was formed to sell the products from MPC and Pacific Gold Macadamias Pty Ltd and some smaller processing entities in Africa. This has developed into a separate Joint Venture marketing entity now named Marquis Macadamia Marketing International Pty Ltd (MMI) which sells macadamia products in Australia and around the globe.

Marquis Macadamias is now recognised as one of the largest processor of macadamia nuts in the world, leading the development of new production and processing techniques with research, engineering, environmental and other initiatives.

Outside of processing and marketing, Phil’s initiatives in the macadamia nut industry have also contributed to scientific research and development of new varieties, disease and pest prevention and control, and the development of sound sustainable commercial farming practices which can be applied by all growers. 

We wish Phil all the best in his retirement and thank him for his endless passion and outstanding contribution to the Australian and global macadamia industry!