Leongatha hosts future talks

THE Committee for Gippsland hosted a Future Gippsland Group discussion in Leongatha last Wednesday about food production and agribusiness for the region’s future.
Participants discussed what they saw as the major challenges, opportunities and issues for everything from farm gate and primary production, through to food processing and manufacturing, and pursuing international export markets for Gippsland.
Future Gippsland Group is a collection of major businesses and peak bodies in Gippsland, such as Agribusiness Gippsland.
It is facilitated by the Committee for Gippsland, with some funding provided through Regional Development Australia Gippsland.
Three forums were held in October, starting in Traralgon on the topic of energy and resources, then in Bairnsdale on business and industry investment, and then Leongatha on food production and agribusiness. The findings and key areas of feedback from each session will be compiled by the Committee for Gippsland and used as a piece of advocacy back to all levels of government.
Committee for Gippsland CEO Mary Aldred said key areas of feedback from the Leongatha session in the food production and agribusiness sector included the need to have a better strategy around marketing the Made in Gippsland brand, similar to King Island, and viewing Gippsland in a whole of region way.
“In addition, the importance of Gippsland having a strong infrastructure capacity, which included efficient freight resources, local road maintenance, and port access both within Gippsland and at the Port of Hastings,” she added.
“Skills and workforce issues were also prominently raised, both at the skilled end, and the region being able to consistently source an available workforce.
“Export opportunities and international engagement for agribusiness, particularly throughout Asia and the Middle East were seen as key opportunities, and red tape and over regulation were brought up several times as one of the biggest blockages to investment and innovation.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the Future Gippsland Group or contributing further feedback on the food production and agribusiness area can contact the Committee for Gippsland on 5623 3219 or via [email protected]

Thinking ahead: from left, Julia McCartan from Latrobe Community Health Service, Paul Griffin from Suncorp Bank, agricultural consultant Richard Jackson from Leongatha, Paul Smith from Commonwealth Bank, Committee for Gippsland CEO Mary Aldred, Alex Aeschlimann from Business Insight Group in Leongatha, chairman of Agribusiness Gippsland Alex Arbuthnot, and Agribusiness Gippsland board member Paul Ford.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Nov 5 2013. 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