A NEW manufacturing plant in Horsham is expected to create 35 jobs and value-add to Wimmera farmers' crops.
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Phil McFarlane, chief executive of Melbourne-based investment company Evans Agribusiness Trading Group, said the company was preparing to start extracting protein powder from pulses such as lentils and fava beans on the southern outskirts of Horsham in the second half of 2019.
“The $20 million investment in phase one development is targeting production of around 2500 tonnes of protein powder per annum and will lead to 20 new jobs,” Mr McFarlane said.
“An additional $15 million will be invested into the second phase of development to double production to 5000 tonnes per annum by the first quarter of 2021. It is expected an additional 15 direct jobs will be created with the increase in capacity."
Wimmera Development Association executive director Ralph Kenyon said the project was the result of years of work on his organisation's part.
"We met with a members of the Wimmera farming community probably seven years ago to look at opportunities to value-add to crops," he said.
"One of the issues we found was that if pulses they didn't make export grade, which is where they get their best price, they would become stock feed. We felt there was an opportunity to find another way to use that surplus product.
"The idea emerged that there was a lot of protein in them - so was there a way we could extract that protein and turn it into a powder that might be marketable?"
Mr Kenyon said the organisation engaged researchers to develop an extraction process.
He said the development association then set about developing a business plan that included a large-scale manufacturing plant and recruiting investors.
"We made contact with Evans Agribusiness Trading Group, who own Australian Plant Proteins, and they believed there was potential in this project to take that further," he said.
Mr Kenyon said EAT Group's initial $20 million investment could see returns of at least one-and-a-half times that amount.
He said he hoped the development association would eventually receive a regular income stream from other groups paying royalties to use the intellectual property it developed during the research phase.
Grain Producers Australia chairman Andrew Weidemann, of Rupanyup, said the plant could generate ongoing opportunities for grain growers to get the most value out of their product.
"The byproducts of this extraction process could make good feed for stock," Mr Weidemann said.