The Lockyer Valley Fruit & Vegetable Processing Company was a long time away from being a reality, however the process is beginning to form by purchasing the 55-hectare plot that will serve as the location for the processing plant that will be full-scale. The person behind this venture is Colin Dorber

“We will produce the canned, juiced frozen, and powered items at the plant, which is the first that is of this type in Queensland and is the only third in Australia. It will begin with pineapples and beetroots, two of Australian staples. We will then move towards onions, carrots, beans and more.” Colin explains. Colin.

It took Colin 13 years getting to this point and his objective is to create Australian processed goods the same as imports, “We will do this with the most advanced technologies from all over the world. The plant will be 1/3 of the size of similar processing plants within Australia and will employ 55% of the employees. The facility is located within the bowl of salad in Australia, Lockyer Valley which offers two cycles of crop each year.”

First stage is the cannery that will begin operating in 2026 the profits generated from it will go towards the finalization of the construction.

“We are planning to combine the selection of crops with the cropping calendars in order to ensure that produce is of top quantity and quality, resulting in greater ROI for growers as well as the ability to supply a constant flow of premium product in a controlled and controlled way to be able to accommodate the capabilities of processing at the plant and the size of buffering storage at the site. The integrated bulk handling system are being implemented to facilitate rapid discharge of the produce from the processing plant into the water in order to minimize damage from handling within 5 minutes or less, and also fast reloading of cleaned and empty large bins.”

Metal pallets and plastic containers are manufactured on site in order to reduce the amount of transport. Manufacturing these items on site will allow for more efficient just-in time manufacturing process, which will exactly match the production schedule as well as the orders of customers. Print shops is planned on the site to produce labels and cartons which will allow the seamless integration of printing needs along with orders from customers so that there’s an absence of unsuitable packaging that is not suitable for the location.

The processing equipment and receivals are chosen to be placed within systems that allow for produce which require similar processing requirements could be placed. This group of equipment are used for processing various types of produce during the year, to maximize the efficiency of the systems along with a thermal energy systems (TES) is to be put in place in order to create Ice slurry. Two hundred tonnes of ice slurry, at temperatures of -50oC will be kept in a 200-tonne, insulated silo.

There’s a lot in the media these days about the unfair treatment of growers by the retail stores, and this week was the time when it was said that farmers are being enticed to plant too many crops and 40% of that simply goes to waste. “We believe that farmers will desire to cultivate their crops for us because it offers the farmers a second 52 weeks a year to sell their produce. We’ll buy all of their produce regardless of its how good it is. Anything that isn’t processed is used as fuel for the bio-mass power plant that runs the power plant.

“We would like to take over canned imports and processed vegetables with Australian produced products. We’re not just considering supplying retailers and schools, but also the prisons, hospitals etc. There may eventually be an possibility of exporting as the global the demand for this product is increasing.”

For further information:

Colin Dorber

Lockyer Valley Foods

+61 410447000

Colin@lvfvco.com.au