Rationale – Food Hubs Artisan food and beverage rely on achieving economies of scale through shared marketing, distribution and other production costs. Individually, it can be difficult for producers at this scale to justify capital expenditure in such as kitchens, drying facilities, bottling, packaging and storage facilities that will be underutilised much of the year. Co-operative food hubs or common user approaches are typical among artisan producers globally. There is an opportunity across regional WA to work with artisan producers to identify specific needs for common user approaches that could assist in business growth. Food hubs can be privately, co-operatively, publicly funded or in a combination of public seed funding and matching contributions. Investment models focus on developing a mix of infrastructure that meets the needs of artisan food producers and leasing facilities on a user pays basis. Demand and conditions vary by locality and region, requiring market analyses. The Perth Region can play a significant role in supporting the development of food hubs, through providing a hub for local, domestic and international marketing of regional food products. The City of Canning is exploring the potential of adding a new facility adjacent to the Canning Markets (WA’s primary fresh food market) to showcase regional value-added food products. The opportunities and considerations that go into establishing a successful food hub include: • Producer-led, incremental expansion of markets and shared infrastructure to coordinate and consolidate volumes and open export potential. • Market and supply chain co-ordination promotes knowledge and data sharing, managing regulatory processes and reducing costs; • Industry and/or Government co-investment leading to industry ownership and operation. • Regional development multipliers, such as: A Creating jobs and facilitating skills training programs; A Community benefits; Rationale – Aquaculture Developing new offshore aquaculture species/location combinations involves significant capital and time to determine effective practices that are ecologically and commercially sustainable. Government has taken steps to support this process including: • Investments in research and development programs across the value chain. • An investment attraction strategy. • An aquaculture policy framework. • Establishing a germination facility to generate affordable biomass for aquaculture operations and investigations into the potential of a WA feed mill to support growth of the industry and reduce dependency on Tasmanian supplied feed. • The potential of seaweed and algal aquaculture crops to deliver a carbon sequestration benefit through mitigating cattle methane production. A Innovating to improve sustainability; and A Aboriginal co-investment and participation. A hub and spoke training program co-ordinated centrally and delivered regionally is considered essential to establishing industry traineeships at regional facilities. Key skills sought include – dive training, boat handling, biosecurity and other regulations, animal husbandry, block chain traceability requirements and branding and marketing. Efforts are already under way to develop skills programs in the regions, particularly with Aboriginal job creation in mind. Joint ventures with Aboriginal Corporations are under development – for example with the Bardi-Jawi People on the Dampier Peninsula.
24 | WA Investment Prospectus
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