Most people on the land consider flies to be an absolute pest.

But a vegetable grower on Tasmania's central coast has become the first farmer in the country to breed flies to pollinate vegetables.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 9 minutes 46 seconds 9 m Rural Reporter: Breeding flies to pollinate crops ( Hilary Burden ) Download 4.5 MB

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 10 minutes 39 seconds 10 m Farmer Alan Wilson talks about breeding flies to pollinate his cauliflowers ( Hilary Burden ) Download 4.9 MB

Alan Wilson is growing cauliflowers under tunnels for seed production for Serve Ag in Devonport.

He has found that flies rival bees when it comes to cauliflower pollination and has invented a way to breed them.

Male and female brassica plants are housed inside a greenhouse made of six plastic tunnels with shade cloth walls which protect the plants from cross-pollination.

Three types of flies join bees inside the greenhouse to help with pollination.

"It's been an interesting thing to learn about over the past few years," Mr Wilson said.

"It starts off in a little bush hut further away where I hang any meat material I can get my hands on."

'Happy' maggots start the process

Inside the small hessian and tea tree bush hut, well away from other farm workers, Mr Wilson collects maggots falling from carcasses.

The maggots then hatch flies which blow naturally from the environment.

The bush hut where Alan Wilson breeds his maggots ( Hilary Burden )

"Maggots want to get under something or into the ground to pupate and I use ground-up coconut coir in trays to mimic soil," Mr Wilson said.

"And there the maggots stay, in the bottom of the trays, because they're happy."

Mr Wilson then transfers them to the poly tunnel where they are put into trays with ox livers.

"I source ox livers as a cheap source of protein in the hope that the first crop of flies will generate a second generation of flies inside the house," he said.

"We initially used just bees for pollination but didn't achieve an outstanding seed set.

"Serve Ag was aware they used flies in Europe so the suggestion was made and when you think about it, that happens outside.

"You don't necessarily see it but they're there.

"Flies crawl around over the flowers chasing the nectar and in the process transferring pollen."

Seeds destined for France

When the cauliflower plants are in full flower and the female rows have set pods, the male plants are removed and the females will be left to develop plenty of seed.

They will then dry off, ripen and be racked and thrashed.

It is intensive manual work with each plant being individually cut off and put on a rack to dry.

Serve Ag then cleans the seed, packs it, and exports it to France.

"Purity is important because when a seed company is selling you a line of seed, you expect it to not have snibs or different types and it has to be pure to give you an even crop and a good outcome," Mr Wilson said.

While he is proud of his invention and ability to diversify his farm from cauliflower cropping to cauliflower seed production, Mr Wilson's wife Judith is a less enamoured.

"I've been asking for a little gazebo in the garden for about 42 years and what happens? There's one built here for the flies!" Mrs Wilson said.

Geoff Dell of Serve Ag said they were the only growers in Australia to grow cauliflowers for seed under tunnels.

"We were forced indoors because of disease levels in north-west coast soils after growing brassicas for so many years, and the [increased] risk of contamination from other crops in the area," he said.