A $156 million expansion of innovative, commercial greenhouse Sundrop Farms in Port Augusta will create up to 300 construction and operation jobs.
This morning Premier Jay Weatherill announced $6 million of State funding for Sundrop Farms would boost to a 10-year contract from supermarket giant Coles and more than $150 million of private investments.
This investment will allow the company to secure a 20 hectare expansion.
Sundrop Farms, based at the top of the Spencer Gulf, is a sustainable clean food production site that uses predominantly natural resources – solar energy and desalinated seawater – to run its greenhouses. It produces and processes the solar power and seawater on site.
Weatherill said 100 jobs would be created during the construction phase of this “remarkable expansion” while 200 would come from operation in peak periods at the plant.
“We have identified premium food grown in a clean environment as a key economic priority for South Australia and this project is the perfect example of the benefits that can bring,” he said.
“At its heart, our economic strategy is about the creation of jobs and this multi-million dollar expansion will create 300 jobs in regional South Australia.”
He commended the company’s innovation toward the significant global problem of food and water production.
“Conventional farming practices and climate change are exerting significant pressure on food and water security in many regions of the world.
“This project is the first in SA to integrate, at a commercial scale, leading technologies across solar thermal energy, solar seawater desalination and freshwater neutrality across 20 hectares of energy efficient greenhouses.”
Coles has made a 10-year commitment to purchase and sell Sundrop Farms’ truss tomatoes.
In February, InDaily reported Australia’s profitable “green investment bank” – the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) – was providing $40 million of debt financing for expansion plans.
Now Sundrop Farms has a 0.2 hectare greenhouse area that produces 150 tonnes of tomatoes, cucumbers and capsicums per year. This expansion will take the operation from a test facility into a fully commercial site.
The food is produced with a minimal use of pesticides, relying on sterilised airflow and the isolated location in an arid region to reduce the risk of pest invasion.
Minister for Regional Development Geoff Brock said Sundrop Farms is a “cutting-edge” operation that will test the limits of sustainable production technologies in arid climates.
