South Pacific Seeds is doubling its processing capacity in the South East with a state of the art facility at Naracoorte.
Last week, the vegetable seed marketer opened stage one of the new plant, which will boost its competitiveness in the global market.
It expects to spend $8 million on the three-stage project within five years, with the first carrot seed processed there in May.
South Pacific Seeds is a leading supplier of carrot seed and more than 60 vegetable varieties from brassicas such as radish and pac choi, to onions and celery.
Its production area takes in Australia, New Zealand, Chile and the United States, and it has been growing crops in the SE of the state for 32 years.
Company chairman Sandy Dawson said they were grateful for the financial and in-kind support from federal, state and local government.
The first stage, involving the construction of the 1800 square metre shed and installation of a line to process five tonne to 20t lines, received a $300,000 grant from the state government’s Regional Development Fund.
Within the next 12 months Mr Dawson said South Pacific Seeds planned to add another line for cleaning smaller seed batches.
It will phase out of Mount Gambier, its previous SE headquarters, within a couple of years.
SA production manager Georgie Fitzgerald says about 1000 hectares is contracted each year in the region with 40 growers from Bordertown to Kingston and south to Mount Gambier.
About 60 per cent of the area is for carrot seed, mainly exported to Japan and Europe.
Mrs Fitzgerald expects the area to expand on the back of strong demand, especially from Asia.
“New varieties and genetics evolve and change quickly in vegetable seeds across a number of species and we too must expand our production into different locations across the SE and into Vic to meet that,” she said.
She says the new facility has been a five-year journey with considerable time spent finding a suitable site in the South East.
The 5ha site was bought in 2016 and construction of the shed began in 2017.
Late last year, seven containers of machinery arrived from German company Pektus, which was then assembled by Australian agents Graintech Engineering at Ballarat, Vic.
“We believe that Naracoorte is the key centre for small seed production in Australia and it made sense for us to expand our production in the area,” Mrs Fitzgerald said.
NEW PLANT WILL BROADEN OPTIONS
THE South East is the most significant area for South Pacific Seeds in Australia and managing director Mark Hancock says the new processing facility will give the company a “great springboard” to expand volumes.
“We have been a little bit constrained in the range of crops we can do and the volume we can put through the plant at Mount Gambier so this will change all that,” he said.
Mr Hancock says they will also be able to seize niche opportunities – such as Kebari, the world’s first gluten free barley – which require product integrity.
In 2016, SPS became the preferred grain partner for the CSIRO barley and has several SE growers producing it for export to a German brewer.
“Our aim is not to compete in the traditional grain industry or traditional pasture seed industry but where we can see niche opportunities that are more aligned with our business to segregate lines perfectly,” Mr Hancock said.
He said the SE climate was well-suited to vegetable production with its cool winters and mild, dry summers.
“It is relatively secure in either irrigation capacity with its pivots, or in the Millicent area where we do some dryland production it has got a long history of being a pretty stable, reliable area.”
Mr Hancock said the area had many skilled growers with experience growing lucerne and other small seeds who could adapt their expertise to vegetables.