Raymond 'Spike' Dessert III, the Kimberley's beloved seed farmer and rum maker, has died. He was 73.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 6 minutes 46 seconds 6 m Pioneering Kununurra farmer and rum maker Spike Dessert remembered. ( Vanessa Mills ) Download 12.4 MB

Californian-born Dessert was a man whose farming achievements were as bold as his accent and style.

Known for his distinctive American twang, braces, and wide-brimmed hat, Dessert was a favourite among Kununurra locals and tourists alike.

He arrived in the Ord Valley of Western Australia in 1972 looking for a country with a stable government and frost-free agricultural land where he could grow seeds.

Alongside his wife Kae and children, he went on to build a seed business and an award-winning rum distillery.

Dessert experimented with agriculture like few others in the East Kimberley, growing a diverse range of crops from pumpkins and onions to corn.

The father-of-four and grandfather was also well known for his contribution to the Kununurra community as a member of Rotary, the State Emergency Service and as a shire councillor.

Kimberley rum served at Noma

Dessert started his distillery, The Hoochery, in 1999 as an add-on to his Dessert Seed Company.

The idea for the distillery came to him after he visited a cellar door winery and his original plan was to do the same.

"We started the 'Hoochery' because the government keeps telling farmers to diversify," he said in a 2016 video interview.

"So we diversified, making a product from local agricultural inputs.

"I thought it would be a good idea to have a cellar door winery except we don't grow grapes so we switched our brains to having a cellar door distillery."

Dessert would say light-heartedly that he came to Australia in 1972 to "get away from paying taxes". ( ABC Rural: Tom Edwards )

His family's history spanned an area from Canada, down the Mississippi to New Orleans and he was convinced he'd picked up some distilling genes from his ancestors.

"I've always thought I've made a good rum [but] nowadays, I know how rough it was to start with and it's improved," he said.

Dessert was always keen to try new methods of farming or downstream processing, going as far as importing a sugar mill from Colombia for his rum distillery.

He was laid back about the accolades that were heaped upon The Hoochery, even when the two-starred Michelin restaurant Noma, in Copenhagen, started serving his rum.

"I'm not a real connoisseur of fine foods. We mainly drink our rum here with fish and chips, burgers and steak, but if they feel it was the best I'm really happy with that," Dessert said at the time.

When asked why he had stayed in the Ord Valley for more than 40 years, he said: "I'm probably too old to move. My kids are here, we've built it up, it's a good life".

Tributes flow for agricultural pioneer

In the East Kimberley and beyond, communities have been saddened by the news of Dessert's death in Perth on Wednesday.

His daughter Kalyn Fletcher said her father died after contracting a lung infection following a basic knee operation two weeks earlier.

The news has come as a shock to those who knew Dessert, with hundreds of people expressing their admiration for him on social media.

Farmer and Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley president David Menzel described him as "larger than life".

Spike Dessert started The Hoochery 17 years ago as an add on to the Dessert Seed Company. ( Tom Edwards )

"Spike Dessert was a huge character in the East Kimberley and bigger than that," he said.

"Wherever he went, people just knew him or knew of him and respected him for the person he was."

As a founding member of the Ord Irrigation Co-operative, Dessert was an inveterate researcher on crops, travelling to places like Japan and Colombia to visit farmers.

"You'd read a reference book and then go to Spike to fill in the gaps because he just had that sort of knowledge," Mr Menzel said.

"He managed to keep four of his children in the Ord Valley with their families and his wife Kae, who is an absolute stalwart of the community and the education system here."

Kununurra Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Jill Williams described Dessert as "legendary".

"Spike's achievements have certainly put the Ord Valley on the map and we'll always be very, very thankful for that," she said.

"His experience and mentoring of other farmers will be sadly missed."

'He had a lot of successes'

Farmer Robert Boschammer, who had known Dessert for over 30 years, said one of his greatest achievements was his family.

"He's got a wonderful family, that's probably his best achievement, but he's got plenty of other achievements in the community," Mr Boschammer said.

"He probably had more failures than anyone I've ever met [and] that's because he tried so many more things than anyone else.

"He had a lot of successes too."

Dessert is survived by his wife Kae and four children.