New centre in Adelaide to inspect and treat fresh produce
It's hoped a new biosecurity facility in Adelaide’s north will help South Australian growers tackle ongoing fruit fly outbreaks. The 50-million-dollar project will be able to inspect, quarantine and treat produce locally instead of time-consuming checks interstate.
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TVTranscript
00:00 There will soon be a transformation at the South Australian produce market in Paraka
00:07 to create the state's first biosecurity facility for local growers.
00:11 It can come to this facility, get treated here and then basically off to markets in
00:16 South Australia so our consumers can get a fresher product faster.
00:20 Their nearest facilities are currently in Victoria and Queensland, reducing the quality
00:25 of products while they're in transit and at the same time battering their profit margins.
00:30 In excess of two to three dollars a carton to actually transport the produce over there
00:34 and a lot of the time depending on the season and the variation that's the difference between
00:39 growers either making or not making money.
00:41 Services at the state of the art facility are expected to take just two hours, opening
00:47 up new opportunities for businesses to export overseas and hopefully passing on the benefits
00:53 to consumers.
00:54 At lower cost to producers through the treatment being able to happen right here in South Australia
00:59 then we would expect that to flow through to cheaper prices at the checkout.
01:03 Works for the first stage of the facility are expected to begin next year for producers
01:08 to begin using by 2025.
01:10 By the time the second stage is finished in 2027 the facility will be able to process
01:16 about 145,000 pallets of produce a year.
01:20 But some producers in the fruit fly plagued riverland are worried the precinct will take
01:25 too long to come into fruition.
01:27 The cost of fumigating their products interstate so they can sell to sensitive markets is adding
01:32 up quickly.
01:33 We are not allowed to send the idler for fumigation so where we can go for fumigation.
01:40 So this facility we need now not after two years.
01:44 The facility is expected to create over 170 direct and indirect jobs.
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