LIVESTOCK FEED INDUSTRY

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about development to support agricultural production.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS: Driving through South Australia's landscape, you get a sense that we have had a reasonable harvest, and it has been a good season for a number of important agricultural industries. I understand that in addition to the direct work of growing livestock and broadacre crops, South Australia produces both fodder and feed grain, which is transported interstate and overseas. Can the minister inform the chamber about the recent boost to the livestock feed industry in South Australia?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (14:23): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The member is correct that this is a great time of the year to be getting out into the regional areas and seeing the countryside. Broadacre crops and hay harvests are complete and farmers can assess how they have fared financially. Feed crops, such as hay, are often cut and left baled in the paddock from spring onwards, and cutting and baling the hay, while very hard work, seems to be one of the tasks on many properties that would provide a tangible, visible result of the year's work, and bringing bales under shelter before the rains also marks the turning of the season.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: The honourable member opposite me indicates that hay baling and carting is not hard work. I want that to go on the record: that the Hon. David Ridgway does not believe that hay carting and baling is in fact hard work. He said that—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: All farming is hard work.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: That is exactly right. The interjection—which I won't acknowledge—by the Hon. Robert Brokenshire indicates that most farming is really hard work. The Hon. David Ridgway is completely out of touch. He is completely out of touch with farmers, completely out of touch. His aside remark was to say, 'It's all done in an air conditioned tractor'. That was his comment; that is what he thinks the hay carting season involves. He is a disgrace, and he is completely out of touch.

One of the industries in our region that is perhaps less known or celebrated is the livestock feed industry. Members may recall that I spoke last year of visiting a company in the Mid North which had new baling equipment for stock feed. I understand that in the 2011-12 financial year South Australia produced up to 2 million tonnes of the feed grains and almost 770,000 tonnes of the fodder that are destined for the mouths of livestock here in South Australia as well as interstate and overseas.

The growth in the pork and poultry industries in South Australia has also led to a significant increase in demand for manufactured livestock feed, and a number of our feed mills are running around the clock to help maintain the supply. Members will recall that in 2009-10 the SA government contributed $87,000 to the Regional Infrastructure Development Fund for a new feed mill in the Murraylands. A recent fire at one of these mills in the Mid North will no doubt put more pressure on the capacity of this growing sector in South Australia.

Today I am very pleased to inform members of the success of an application to the Regional Development Infrastructure Fund by Nitschke Chaff and Freight of just over $50,000 to assist with the cost of a power connection and augmentation as part of an expansion and automation of the existing chaff mill. This family owned and operated a business based at Greenock in the Barossa Valley and sought assistance as part of an over $800,000 project to automate the packing and palletising process, with the aim of nearly doubling the number of chaff bags that can be packed on a pallet and removing the need for manual handling of 25 kilogram bags.

The project, when complete, would include the building of a new shed to house automated production equipment and is expected to be complete by the end of 2012. The grant is directed to assist with the cost of the installation of an 11 kilovolt overhead mains, a 500 kilovolt amperes pad mount distribution transformer, and an 11 kilovolt underground main, as well as augmenting the electricity network to power the new baling and packing equipment.

Feed such as that provided by Nitschke's is an important element of the value chain for stock feed. The business manufactures and freights chaff products to local interstate customers, predominantly in the horseracing industry. The hay is grown on the family-owned 440-hectare property, with additional hay sourced from local farmers. The company runs its own deliveries of chaff to local and interstate customers.

The business helps to add value to the hay which it processes into chaff and which is sourced from many local farms, and its expanded capacity will require more raw hay for processing and shipping to clients. I am advised that the broader stock feed industry is currently expanding in South Australia following investment in intensive animal industries. This 100 year old business is in the process of expanding its export markets both nationally and overseas, and the move into new markets is underpinned by greater reliability and quality assurance to be offered by its expanded processing facility.

As well as providing a broader range of chaff products to customers, this is obviously a positive and welcome initiative. The growth of the business is expected to result in the employment of three full-time equivalent positions over the next couple of years as well as creating an increased demand for hay product from local producers.