Finally: some funding for the food industry

The Rudd government has announced $6.4 million to help 15 regional businesses boost innovation in Australia’s food industry, for both domestic and export markets.

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke said the funding was under the first round of the Regional Food Producers Innovation and Productivity Program.

The program was an election commitment for the government, to help support regional jobs and regional economies through new technology and productivity improvements.

The 15 businesses cover a range of food industries, including seafood, nuts, dairy, vegetables and meat, covering regional economies in Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria, NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.

Mr Burke said the food and beverage industry supported more than 200,000 jobs across Australia and global competitiveness was key to ensure the industry continues to grow.

“People in our food industries work hard to establish a competitive edge and the Government wants to encourage their efforts,” Mr Burke said.

“Food production is a critical industry, not only for regional jobs, but also because Australia will have a role in helping to address the world food shortage. This funding will underpin productivity growth right along the food production chain and value-adding to Australian produce. The Government will continue working to promote free trade globally and support the movement of food around the world.”

Around two-thirds of Australia’s food commodities are exported, worth more than $23 billion annually.

First round funding recipients were:

• SJ and SL May, Wirrimah - $45,300 - to design, develop and produce an injection-mould for manufacturing food-grade, heat-resistant plastic trays for fruit drying.
• Ricegrowers Limited (trading as SunRice), Leeton - $201,000 - to design and implement new technology that enables the inclusion of additional ingredients, such as cereals and seeds, into rice cakes.
• Emerald Creek Foods, Mareeba - $50,000 - for the design and development of a mechanised system for filling smaller, one litre retail tubs of gelato and sorbet.
• Stahmann Farms Enterprises, Toowoomba - $225,000 - to develop an innovative process for reducing the microbial loading of natural tree nuts.
• Kangaroo Island Shellfish, American River - $35,000 - for the innovative redesign of oyster washing/processing technology, providing greater throughput and efficiency.
• Spring Bay Seafoods Pty Ltd, Triabunna - $236,808 - to adopt thermal processing technology for manufacturing a range of flavoured mussel products with an extended shelf life.
• Redrock Lobster, Smithton - $200,000 - the adoption of centralised electrical automation technology - including variable speed compressors and frequency controllers - in its seafood processing line.
• Tassal Group, Huonville - $727,031 - to adopt innovative automated fillet trimming equipment from Iceland into it’s Huonville processing facility.
• Australian Gourmet Chestnuts, Eurobin - $250,000 - for the adoption of innovative chestnut peeling equipment, enabling it to move its existing offshore processing back to Australia.
• Geoffrey Gardiner Dairy Foundation, Tatura - $231,000 - to adopt real-time data collection and analysis technology, enabling the dairy industry to identify cost savings and efficiency gains.
• Sundown Foods Australia, Colbinabbin - $72,500 - for the development of innovative vegetable cutting technology for processing low-value tomatoes.
• Murray Goulburn Co-operative, Cobram - $771,225 - to develop a process to produce galacto-oligosaccharide using continuous chromatography separation technology.
• Craig Mostyn Group, Wooroloo - $347,415 - to adopt laser guided cutting robots in the business’s Wooroloo slaughter room, maximising yield, productivity and efficiency.
• Western Australian Meat Marketing Co-operative (WAMMCO), Katanning - $2,516,640 - the adoption of innovative boning, skinning, packing and conveyance technology in it’s Katanning meat processing facility.
• Challenge Australian Dairy, Capel - $489,800 - to design and implement innovative new milk concentration technology, enabling more efficient production of bulk milk for export.