Thousands of pistachio trees stand in neat rows at Robinvale in northern Victoria. The orchard spans almost 300 hectares (741 acres) and is among the oldest of Australia’s large-scale commercial plantings, stretching across the flat plains near the Murray River.
It’s a far cry from the mountains of south-west Iran, where Bahá’í man Mehran Mahdavi farmed before his family was forced to flee their homeland in 1980 to avoid persecution. But there are similarities. Both have harsh, dry summers and cold winters. Mahdavi, with a decade’s experience working in agriculture in Iran, could see the connection.
