Panellists at the The ‘Future for our food and grocery industry’ forum in Shepparton represented individual companies that run local food production enterprises among their wider portfolio.
Goodness Grown managing director and founder Paul Geurtsen said he saw opportunity to return to growing vegetables after a lengthy break and is establishing a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) glasshouse at Tongala in response to a market need for tastier tomatoes.
“They don’t have flavour anymore; I can’t taste them,” Mr Geurtsen said.
“So I wanted to create something that has vision, that could deliver something better to the customer that’s been lost.”
Mr Geurtsen said Tongala had met all the business’s requirements.
“This region of Shepparton delivered on water consistency, water quality, labour, resources, transportation and climate — all have answered what we needed.
Mr Geurtsen said the company was at the beginning of the construction phase of a CEA glasshouse and has started selecting tomato varieties.
“A few people in the industry are quite surprised we’ve been that advanced.”
Nick Raleigh is GO.FARM’s managing director of the company’s Sandmount Farms at Katunga.
GO.FARM is in its 10th year and has 10 properties in NSW, Tasmania and Victoria, two of which are in the Goulburn Valley.
Mr Raleigh said the company’s founder Liam Lenaghan sought to find a farming ‘goal’ after not being able to continue a five-generation family farm.
GO.FARM sought capital from external parties to focus on under-utilised and under-capitalised assets and transform them into new farming ventures.
“We don't just buy farms to keep farming them,” Mr Raleigh said.
“We buy them to do something else with them, and that is inject capital, invest in technology, people, productivity and the like, to turn the farms that we buy into something else.”
Mr Raleigh said GO.FARM focused on a high degree of research.
“But I guess we promote ourselves as property developers in agriculture, and I guess we claim to specialise in rearranging assets, investing in the productivity opportunities, technology and new crop types.
“I think our projects in this region are good examples of that.”
Redland Fruit is a company which has also invested in the Goulburn Valley, having bought apple orchards and commenced large replanting programs, as well as purchasing Geoffrey Thompson Holdings Ltd’s packing shed in October 2023.
The company’s history involves growing 1600ha of Naval oranges and mandarin varieties for international and domestic markets.
Redland Fruit’s orchards are in the Riverina, Sunraysia and central Queensland, and it also grows kiwi fruit in Western Australia.
Production manager Sam Bowman said the purchase of the Shepparton packing shed had changed the company from only growing fruit to now processing it.
He said the company’s goals for its export future were long-term.
“We look at things not just from a short-term perspective, but what can we do in 20 years from now,” Mr Bowman said.
“So part of our decision with acquiring the site down in Shepparton was sort of seeing that through.
“We have quite a large portfolio centralised around this area, with road freight being able to have produce transported down here.”
A challenge to all three companies is addressing the sustainability and energy efficiency of their operations.
Mr Geurtsen said Goodness Grown was looking at alternative energy sources through local dairies to produce methane from manure waste.
“We're starting with solar, like a lot of people,” he said.
“That will reduce 30 per cent of our energy needs on-site, with a combination of batteries.
“High-tech greenhouses have high returns per square metre, but a lot of energy per square metre is required.
“So we're working with local dairy farmers to look at how we can help manage their carbon footprint and take what people consider a waste and turn it into a resource and get a benefit for both parties.”
Mr Geurtsen said the company was striving for efficiency and optimisation by using current resources as effectively as possible
“Then bring the latest technology from around the world and implement it here locally.
“We’re at the beginning of that journey.”
The ‘Future for our food and grocery industry’ forum and dinner on Tuesday, September 3, was hosted by the Committee for Greater Shepparton.
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