LOXTON will soon become home to a National Almond Centre of Excellence - one of Australia's largest and fastest-growing horticultural sectors.
In April, the state government reached an agreement with the Almond Board of Australia to base the facility at the Loxton Research Centre, where PIRSA office space was vacant.
The facility is being refurbished into offices and laboratory facilities, where researchers and board staff will be based.
The government has committed to spending $1 million a year for four years on the project, with further contributions expected from industry and the federal government.
Funding will also be used to buy "an experimental orchard", where varietal trials will be conducted, and research into new production systems and enhanced land and water management.
"The trials will look at nutrition, irrigation, planting densities, crop optimisation, sustainability and so on," centre chairman Brendan Sidhu said.
"We are hoping this will help growers with smaller orchards, finding ways to make them more viable on a smaller footprint."
Mr Sidhu said the money would also be used to fund researchers (four or five a year) for the centre.
"The researchers will look at things like diseases and have the ability for leaf and soil analysis at the new centre," he said.
"We are in the process of signing deeds for those researchers and hope to be underway in the next three to six months."
Regional Development Minister Geoff Brock said the government funding "recognised the potential for significant industry growth in the region and more broadly, leading to more regional jobs".
While Almond Board chief executive officer Ross Skinner said the centre would add significant research capacity to the industry.
"The rapid growth recently experienced by the industry has outpaced the availability of researchers with experience in almond production," he said.
"It has also highlighted the need for an experimental orchard to accelerate the evaluation of the very promising new varieties from the University of Adelaide, which are more suitable to Australian soils and climate.
"This agreement lays a foundation for the industry to continue to develop, supported by a strong research community working closely with industry to provide the knowledge and technologies required to implement the almond industry's strategic plan."
Mr Skinner said the industry's producers overwhelmingly supported the establishment of the centre.
"The industry looks forward to working with researchers and Horticulture Innovation Australia in developing the future research program that will utilise the resources that the ministers have announced,'' he said.
"This will ultimately benefit not only almond producers but also the river communities."
