FOOD and agribusiness operators in the Murraylands and Riverland will be able to access free business advice as part of the 2020 Experts in Resident program.
This allows one-on-one virtual appointments with experts in areas such as technology, agritourism, business growth, marketing, supply-chain management, packaging, export and more, as part of a $17,000 partnership between Regional Development Australia Murraylands and Riverland and PIRSA.
Since inception of the program in 2017, hundreds of local business people have participated in workshops and face-to-face sessions with experts, yielding incredible results.
RDAMR chief executive Ben Fee said this program offered incredible value to our food and agribusiness operators, who may otherwise not have been able to access this level of expert advice.
"The Experts In Residence program is about supporting our regional agribusinesses to realise opportunities for growth and innovation through accessing world-leading expertise," he said.
"This means that farmers can now sit in their paddock, open their device and dial into one-on-one meetings with experts from across Australia."
Loxton North fruitgrowers Jane and Paul Wilson, RivPom, took advantage of a market access and development one-on-one appointment in 2018 through the Experts In Residence program.
They said their heads were "bursting with new information" after the appointment with an export expert, giving them the knowledge and support to start developing their own export plan.
They say there is still a long way to go but they are confident they are on the right path.
Simon and Sally Peacock of Bakehouse Farm, Mypolonga, had a similar experience with Experts In Residence in 2018 when they reached out to gain one-on-one expert advice in packaging and labelling for their honey produced in the Murraylands.
"Through the program, we worked with a food-labelling expert directly to improve our product and would recommend the program to others starting out in this industry," Mr Peacock said.
"The sessions really helped us put some polish on our honey products and understand the legal requirements for labelling too. We went away after the workshop and updated our labels and also rebranded from 'Peacock Honey' to 'Bakehouse Farm'.
"Ever since then things have gone really well for us."
The 2020 program launched during August with an RDAMR-hosted Insights and Innovations webinar.
The webinar provided participants with the opportunity to meet the first round of experts joining the 2020 program and hear their advice on the biggest challenges facing businesses and how they could help businesses to survive, adapt and thrive.
The first round of experts involved in the 2020 program are: .
- Angela Grogan, of Best Business Results (growth and succession)
- Belinda Hansen-Kenny, of Food. Labelling and Safety (market access and development) .
- Antonio Piscitelli, Business Development Manager at SAGE Automation (agtech insights and adoption)
- Randall Poole and David Scott, of Tangram Collective (brand and marketing)
- Ralph Moyle and Keith Chessell, from the Australian Institute of Packaging (market access and development).
A newly launched website provides access to free virtual (one-hour) appointments, making it easy to be engaged and stay informed.
Participants simply register and book an appointment with their expert of choice.
- Details: For more information on the program, to register, book an appointment, and watch the webinar, visit eir.rdamr.com.au
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