The Wheatbelt Development Commission and AgriStart hosted the Innovative Food and Agribusiness Day in the Shire of Chittering on Wednesday 7th July. The purpose of the day was to host a workshop on strategies for agribusinesses looking to take their business to the next level and visit some local agribusinesses to hear their stories.
The businesses that attended produced a diverse range of products including honey, camels milk and kombucha. A lunch and workshop was held at Orchid Glory where Dr Natasha Teakle from AgriStart held a workshop on strategies for funding business growth and tools to help businesses achieve their goals.
Representatives from the Shire of Chittering, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and Regional Development Australia also attended to discuss opportunities for businesses from the perspective of Local, State and Federal Governments.
The group visited local agribusinesses at different levels of development to hear their stories and lessons they had learnt. The Northern Valleys Packers was the first visit with a tour of their state of the art processing and packaging facility and the challenges they face navigating complicated export protocols and regulations and maintaining export markets.
The rain held off long enough to tour the neighbouring citrus orchid where the group learnt about some of the emerging challenges in citrus production in the area and how new technology and practices are mitigating these. This included some of the trials that DPIRD and Citrus WA are undertaking in partnership with local growers, such as breeding salt tolerant citrus rootstocks.
Some spare time in the schedule allowed an impromptu visit to Little Eeden Farm Apiary where the group got to try some of the interesting local flavoured honeys and purchase a few jars to take home.
At the end of the day the group visited the Northern Valleys Locavore Store to hear about their story of growth and how they utilised government funding through the Wheatbelt Development Commission to help expand their business. This also gave the group the opportunity to purchase some fresh local produce before departing. A great outcome from the day was the connections made between businesses and with government representatives.
Thank you to Wheatbelt Development Commission for their report.
