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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-29 Daily Xml
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HORTICULTURE

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Regional Development a question about support for covered horticulture.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: One of the great innovations in recent years has been the increasing availability of flavoursome tomatoes. This great resource for cooks has become available with the development of covered horticulture, or glasshouses. With the increasing sophistication and use of covered horticulture to grow this important base ingredient for so many cuisines, in glasshouses or in covered cloches, good quality tomatoes have really become readily available for the majority of the year. Can the minister advise the chamber about a recent grant to further expand the use of covered horticulture in our regions?

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) (14:39): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. I am very pleased to advise that in my capacity as both Minister for Regional Development and Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries I recently approved a grant of just under $1 million towards water infrastructure to support a significant expansion of the Como Glasshouse near Two Wells.

The project is set to add a further 10-hectare capacity to the existing 17 hectares of glasshouses run by the company (which trades under d'VineRipe) and currently produces about 10,000 tonnes of hydroponic tomatoes to supply supermarkets throughout Australia. The company has expanded its footprint and production of covered horticulture tomatoes since completing its first glasshouse in 2007 and now looks to invest further in business with a total project cost of approximately $31 million, which is set to see the production of tomatoes grow to over 15,000 tonnes per annum on completion of the staged project.

The plan looks to build on the previous developments on the site, which involves using generators to secure power supply and a reverse osmosis treatment system for water captured from the roof of the facility and from the nearby Bolivar treatment works. The grant will be used for further water augmentation on the site by constructing an evaporation pond and a 100-megalitre rainwater pond.

These facilities will add to the existing water infrastructure of two 35-megalitre dams to capture rainwater and a reverse osmosis plant to treat rainwater and reclaimed water from the Bolivar Wastewater Treatment Plant. The sum of $372,500 is expected to be devoted to a rainwater pond, which will collect roof water to be used for tomato production instead of using mains water for the plant. In addition, the evaporation pond is to be used to settle out saline water which has been treated using reverse osmosis so that potable water will not be needed.

As part of the $31 million project, an additional gas pipeline will be constructed and a new gas turbine generator installed to provide additional power. This is to generate heat to warm up the glasshouse through winter and absorb excess CO2 gases. This, combined with high-voltage generators, will enable the applicant to even out energy costs and ensure continuity of supply. Of course, a development of this size requires roadworks to link stage 1 and stage 2 glasshouses to the new construction.

I am advised that fresh tomatoes, such as those produced by the facility, are one of the areas of horticulture which are showing strong growth in value on the domestic market and it now comprises the largest category of sales in the fruit and vegetable area of supermarkets. The controlled covered production methods used enable the tomatoes to be differentiated, with a number of varieties grown, and to specialised sizes, from the cherry tomato size to the tomato size most favoured by consumers for salads.

One of the key benefits of this type of climate control technology with measured application of nutrients is that it allows the grower to consistently produce the high quality product demanded by markets and consumers. I understand that the project, which is expected to be completed later this year in time for the summer growing season, will enable up to a further 100 FTE jobs to add to the approximately 200 existing FTEs provided at the site. I also understand that the expansion will allow Como to export about 12.6 million kilograms or 84 per cent of its product interstate. I congratulate Como on their work to date and look forward to tasting the produce from this expansion project.

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