South Australia’s City of Playford is working with local producers to look at the pros and cons of declaring the Virginia area a Horticultural Precinct. Situated on Adelaide’s fringe, its rich food producing area of Virginia has outstanding features that can match anything elsewhere in Australia.
The Bolivar pipeline, recognised as a best practice initiative, is an excellent example of a Commonwealth, State and Local Government shared funding arrangement.
Once in operation, this has the potential to double current crop values.
The area already boasts numerous examples of best practice farming and food processing technology.
Ron Watts, a former Councillor with the City of Playford, is confident that creating a cluster arrangement based on horticulture would enhance the competitiveness of this area and provide additional employment.
As the principal of an employment agency based in the region, he said that currently there are 2,000 jobs in Virginia, 1,000 of which are filled by farm family members.
His company is currently placing 70-100 people per month with some 30 growers.
The recent establishment of a pool of casual workers to fill temporary employment gaps is assisting to prevent slow downs during peak production runs.
Ron Watts believes that it would be in local growers’ interest to focus on export markets through a cluster arrangement to ensure that they are not totally captive to the big supermarkets.
The City of Playford and Virginia growers are currently testing the level of interest for declaring Virginia a Horticultural Precinct.
It is envisaged that a Development Agreement involving Council, the State Government and local businesses would see all parties working together to build the competitiveness and attractiveness of Virginia as a great place to do business in the horticulture field.
Late last year, the Virginia Horticultural Centre held industry consultation forums. This identified the following issues a cluster arrangement might address.
- M arketing, including regional branding
- Skilling and sustainable horticulture
- Collaborative regional planning
- Regional communication and networking
- Competitive business and production systems
- Sustainable resource management.
For further information contact Terry Bell, Manager Development Services, at the City of Playford, telephone (08) 8254 0128.
