A Lameroo farming business will use a grant of almost half a million dollars to help drive sustainability in its pig farming operation.
Fourth-generation farming family business McMahon Family Enterprises, also known as McPiggery, received $490,000 from the latest round of the Coles Nurture Fund.
The fund aims to assist small to medium Australian producers, farmers and manufacturers to advance innovation in their businesses and grow.
McPiggery plans to use the grant to construct covered effluent ponds at its new sheds and a novel biogas micro-turbine generator.
This will enable the management of waste, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the creation of sustainable energy by capturing methane produced.
The captured methane will be used as biogas to be transported via an underground pipe to the 'home breeder' piggery site one kilometre away, where the micro turbine technology, partnered with a biogas-fired hot water system, will be used to take the piggery site off the electricity grid.
McPiggery's Kim Thorpe welcomed the $490,000 grant her business has been awarded.
"Being awarded the Coles Nurture Fund means a lot to our business and family," she said.
"It means we can operate sustainably, and sustainability means many things to us.
"It means we can ensure we are more resilient for the future, not just from a financial perspective, but also from a social and environmental perspective.
"We are custodians of the land and with this comes responsibility.
"We are excited to be implementing new systems and technologies that allows us to be at the forefront of environmental accountability and leave our business and our land in the best possible state to allow future generations to continue our farming legacy."
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Australian Pork Limited chief executive officer Margo Andrae said she was thrilled to hear the Coles Nurture Fund had recognised the innovative farming processes the McMahon family were employing at McPiggery.
"The new technologies that the grant will bring to farm will further enhance the sustainability focus that these and all Aussie pork farmers have front of mind now, and into the future," she said.
McPiggery is the fourth pig farmer to be awarded financial support from the Coles Nurture Fund in the past three years.
Previous grant recipients in the pork industry include Mt Boothby Pastoral, Culburra, Braebrook Pastoral, Willaura, Vic, and Edson Piggery, Tepko, which used a $450,000 grant to install a solar system to fully power their piggery.