Flavorite takes top agribusiness award
Hydroponic tomato grower Flavorite has won the inaugural Gippsland Agribusiness of the Year award.
Three West Gippsland agricultural businesses took out major awards in the Food and Fibre Gippsland, Excellence in Agribusiness Awards.
Blackwood Piggery at Trafalgar won the Excellence in Sustainability award, while Soilkee at Athlone won the Excellence in Adaption to Change award.
The Gippsland-based awards program has been designed to recognise, celebrate and reward collaboration and innovation across agribusiness in the region.
Almost 200 people attended the gala dinner and awards presentation held at Sale on August 16.
The judging panel included Paul Ford of Neerim South and Stuart Quigley from Drouin.
Mr Ford said it was a privilege to judge the awards which included 70 nominations, shortlisted to 25 finalists.
There were entries from all sectors, dairy, meat, fibre products, horticulture and fishing.
“We kicked dirt in paddocks, had amazing conversations in dairy sheds and across kitchen tables.
“Consistently what we saw was that leaders across the region had passion, drive, courage, a very clear objective, international networks to benchmark their operations and foresee emerging issues in a global context and the ability to unite their team with a common purpose,” Mr Ford said.
Flavorite was crowned the Gippsland Agribusiness of the Year and was described by the judging panel as an outstanding Gippsland success story, with the Nichols and Millis families revolutionising the tomato business in Australia.
Flavorite’s investment in glasshouse technology has taken them from a cottage industry to a major supermarket supplier and one of the top four players in the country in their category.
Currently employing 350 staff and growing, Flavorite has strategic future plans for expansion into other products.
As part of the award, Flavorite received a scholarship valued at $15,000 to attend KPMG’S Agri-Food Tech Traction Tour – a 7-day international immersion in leading agri-food locations around the world.
Commenting on the winners, Mr Ford said to improve the sustainability of production, Blackwood Piggery had invested in a $500,000 bio-gas plant resulting in an 80 per cent reduction in odours.
Methane captured is used to fuel a generator that replaces the piggery’s power needs with excess power sold back into the grid. Mr Ford said the bio-gas generator radiator also provided climate control in the farrowing shed.
“Australian Pork Limited are developing a case study and view the work done by Rob Bayley as an exemplar project for the piggery industry at this scale,” he said.
Neils Olsen of Soilkee accepted the Award for Adaption to Change. Soilkee has developed technology that reverses soil depletion, sequesters soil carbon, enhances soil fertility and increases productivity.
An ‘international first’ was achieved on the Soilkee farm earning the first carbon credits to contribute towards Australia’s national target under the Paris Agreement and the first soil carbon credits worldwide.
Daniel Johnson, 32 from Johnson Poultry was named Young Agribusiness Leader of the Year, recognising his efforts in establishing the first broiler farm in the Wellington and Latrobe region, that is now potentially one of the leading poultry farms in Australia – and the only one owned by someone under 45.
By winning this award, Daniel will have the opportunity to complete a Training Rural Australians in Leadership (TRAIL) Course, run by the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation.
Other award winners included:
Excellence in Service to the Food and Fibre Industry - Full Circle Nutrition;
Excellence in Capability - Farming Co;
Excellence in Exporting ViPlus Dairy;
Excellence in Research and Development - Macalister Demonstration Farm;
Excellence in Manufacturing - Foods; and,
Excellence in Innovation Hussey & Co.
Food and Fibre Gippsland chairperson Joanne Butterworth-Gray said the quality of the entries was fantastic in the first year.
She said the finalists were all very impressive and passionate about their Gippsland food and fibre business.
In collaboration with Food and Fibre Gippsland, creation of the awards program was made possible when Wellington Shire Council with support from Latrobe City and Baw Baw Shire, presented a compelling case to the Latrobe Valley Authority about the need to raise the profile of Gippsland agribusinesses to the broader region.
Through the support of LVA, the three municipalities secured funding to employ agribusiness promotions and strategy coordinator Kate Gunn who has worked out of Wellington Shire to bring the awards program together. Workforce Mulgowie Food Patties