South Australian 'food park' opens another door to China

A 40-hectare food manufacturing hub that will bring packaging, distribution and transport to a single location will be opened in South Australia.

The South Australian Government will spend $7 million to attract anchor tenants to the Northern Adelaide Food Park and promote the use of renewable energy and energy storage solutions at the hub.

The park will be built in the Parafield Airport precinct and provide food manufacturers, food packaging specialists, cold-chain suppliers and transport companies the opportunity to co-locate on the one site, with access to common infrastructure and services.

South Australia's food and wine industries generated a record $18.2 billion in revenue in 2014-2015, and finished food and wine exports increased by 17 per cent in the past financial year.

The food hub site is located next to an airport and major road and rail freight routes.

Professor John Spoehr, director of Flinders University’s Australian Industrial Transformation Institute in Adelaide, said there was exponential growth in demand for clean, green food, particularly in China.

“We’re wanting as much as possible to export not just the raw produce but also food that has a significant value-add associated with it, that’s where we can build a sustainable food industry and a manufacturing industry around a horticulture industry,” Spoehr said.

“South Australia is respected as a place that is producing clean green food but the challenge is to scale up and improve quality and readiness for export in a way that also transforms the clean green food into manufactured food goods.”

Spoehr said the government would be looking to secure an anchor company with “deep market connections into Asia and one that is also capable of working to the international food standards that are necessary to do that successfully”.

Food SA Chief Executive Officer Catherine Sayer said the hub would encourage world’s best practice, collaboration and the opportunity to reduce manufacturing costs through new, efficient facilities and shared services.

“The South Australian food industry is very well networked and a hub, such as the food park, will continue to bring the industry together and will benefit those inside the precinct and other industry players who will want to use the facilities,” she said.

The $7 million government funding is part of a broader $24 million investment in new initiatives for northern Adelaide to drive economic and social transformation in the region.