Freshzest about to sprout

POUND Creek herb producer Freshzest has a planning application before the South Gippsland Shire Council to develop two large glasshouses at Leongatha North.
The company purchased a 44 hectare block on the Strzelecki Highway in 2014, with the view to increase its current culinary herb production.
The construction of the two glasshouses, each one hectare in size, is expected to cost around $8 million.
Freshzest general manager Greg Dell said the company submitted its original application in March 2015.
“Council has been supportive of the project, but because the site is located in an area with a once in 100 year flood risk, it triggered a hydrological study,” he said.
“We have had to demonstrate that once developed it would not bank water up and that it would drain at the same rate as the undeveloped block.
“The study has just finished and the application will go back before council shortly.”
If approved the project would be built in two stages and begin in 2017. The expansion would allow the company to employ 30 additional full time staff.
Mr Dell said the Leongatha North site would initially be a growing site and the herbs would be transported back to Pound Creek for packaging.
“Pound Creek has a good packing facility, which will be retained. However due to space restrictions at the site, all future expansion will take place at the Leongatha North property,” he said.
The Leongatha North site would grow 30 different culinary herbs, which is what is currently produced at the company’s Pound Creek Site.
“We have outgrown the original site; we don’t have the power, land or water to keep developing out there,” Mr Dell said.
“We purchased the Leongatha North block because it has flat land, water and power. We do not use a lot of water, but it is nice to have that security.”
Mr Dell said Freshzest currently grows at a rate of 10 per cent annually and the move to Leongatha North will allow the business to maintain that growth.
“The new facility, once complete would double the company’s current growing rate,” he said.
The business is about to expand into microherbs, which it will be supplying to Woolworths supermarkets nationally.
“We will launch that in the next couple of months,” Mr Dell said.
Last year, Freshzest produced 6.7 million units of culinary herbs, with a staff of 95 people. The company also has a large glasshouse at Lismore, which supplies supermarkets in Queensland.
The Pound Creek facility currently supplies Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT and Tasmania, while the microherbs will be distributed nationally.
Already growing at the Leongatha North site is 500 bay trees, 300 curry trees and 250 Kaffir lime trees. Mr Dell said the trees take around four years to mature before they can be readily harvested.

Herb nation: Freshzest general manager Greg Dell, with some of the trees already planted at the company’s new Leongatha North site. More than 1000 Kaffir lime, bay and curry trees are maturing on the site now and will be ready for harvest in about four years.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Mar 16 2016. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry