Western Australian Premium Food Centre update
The Western Australian Premium Food Centre (WAPFC) team has been busy working on several exciting project opportunities and attending key conferences and events over the past four months that are helping shape the direction of the centre.
The team continues to engage with local, domestic and international agrifood stakeholders. WAPFC manager Phil May was invited to speak at the Australia-China Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation in early February. His presentation covered opportunities and challenges for WA’s premium agrifood sector, with a focus on Asian export markets.
The FII project was also represented at Gourmet Escape where Phil was able to engage with growers and premium food businesses at the Gourmet Village stalls. “I chatted and met with many people who will become important to the WAPFC from a networking point of view,” he said.
Although Phil was able to see the effervescent Nigella Lawson live on stage as part of Gourmet Escape he wasn’t able to get close enough for a photo. Maybe another time Phil!
During the lead up to the event Phil was also able to engage with a Singapore-Malaysian delegation of chefs and journalists, invited to Western Australia by Tourism WA, to attend Gourmet Escape. The delegation visited the Swan Valley, Great Southern, Southern Forests and Margaret River regions and the WAPFC was able to meet with them on several occasions including a dinner hosted by the Southern Forest Food Council, at a site inspection of Fresh Produce Alliance and at the Gourmet Escape event itself. Phil said from discussions with the Malaysian and Singaporean delegates, it was confirmed that WA offered benefits to those countries primarily based on food quality and safety.
A delegation from Gascoyne Development Commission (GDC) visited the WAPFC in Manjimup, where Phil was able to discuss the strong alignments between what GDC is trying to implement within their region to what the Food Industry Innovation project is trying to achieve, which is value adding to raw material.
Part of GDC’s due diligence was to visit the WAPFC office to understand which businesses were already working in the value-add space and the commitment needed in terms of personnel. A team highlight was inspecting the Fresh Produce Alliance (FPA) facilities in Manjimup. The delegation met with managers Wayne and Jennie Franceschi and had the opportunity to taste some of their wonderful products.
The possibility of replicating FPA’s successes in HPP and value-add products was discussed for other parts of WA. A take-home message for GDC was confirmation about the high level of investment in infrastructure and personnel required.
“Since their visit I have been involved in subsequent meetings with GDC, Gascoyne Food Council, Sweeter Banana and Curtin University because they have an ongoing interest in developing a facility that can result in value-add agrifoods from the Gascoyne,” Phil said.
Phil also travelled to South Australia to meet with Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA), industry bodies and business leaders. He said it was a highly productive trip aimed at establishing mutually beneficial working relationships and shared learnings.
“South Australia and WA have similarities in our agrifood markets, we are both looking to increase value-add opportunities, we both have grain dominant agricultural industries and the challenges we face are quite similar,” he said.
“Both states seek to export more, both need to value add, and we are both trying to grow local markets where we compete within and between states to then enter an international market competing against well-established global brands. We share the skill development requirements associated with becoming competitive in the global arena. What we are looking at is where we can more efficiently align resources with South Australia to achieve desired outcomes.”
The WAPFC was also represented at the RSM Timber Towns Wine Show in Manjimup to witness Peos Estate’s 2014 Shiraz take out the coveted Wine of the Show and Silkwood Wines win Most Successful Exhibitor.
The Premium Agrifood Market Opportunity (PMO) report, commissioned by DAFWA’s Food Industry Innovation project, was completed by Coriolis in December last year. As the report is yet to be presented to the Minister for Agriculture and Food WA, it cannot be shared at this time. Once the report release process has been completed, access will be provided to the public.
For more information about any of these updates, please email FoodIndustryInnovation@agric.wa.gov.au or phone +61 (0)8 9777 0162.