Sydney Allenden and sons Trent and Clint will be expanding their business at Goovigen with a Queensland Government grant. Photo: Allenden Seeds

CENTRAL Queensland (CQ) grading facility Allenden Seeds has received a grant from the Queensland Government to help it increase capacity and better service growers in CQ and North Queensland.

Allenden Seeds director Sydney Allenden said the new infrastructure would allow the company to increase its grain throughput by 50 per cent at its Goovigen site north of Biloela.

“Allenden Seeds is currently unable to meet grower demand for storage and grain processing and our existing infrastructure limits the productivity of our company,” Mr Allenden said.

“Our limited storage means we have to turn away many growers from North and Central Queensland areas, who then have no option other than to transport their grain south.”

He said this came at a cost to the grower, and to CQ.

“In the first stage of this project we will install 10 new 180-tonne silos to increase our storage capacity by 1800t.

“The new gravity table will be capable of processing up to 15t per hour, and will completely replace the four separate gravity tables we currently have installed.”

In announcing the grants last week, Queensland Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said Allenden Seeds was one of 14 businesses to receive a Rural Economic Development (RED) Grant of up to $250,000 to fund expansions.

“Allenden Seeds is one of only two seed-grading companies between Burdekin and Dalby,” Mr Furner said.

The company primarily grades mungbeans for human consumption, and has diversified into grading and packing wheat, chickpeas, lablab, millet, cowpeas and leucaena.

“International demand allows for their mungbean and chickpea products to be exported to markets in China, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Europe and Canada.

Work at Allenden Seeds made possible by the grant is expected to create 32 jobs directly and indirectly.

The Rural Economic Development (RED) Grants program offers emerging projects up to $250,000 in co-contributions to build industry and grow employment opportunities across the agricultural sector. The $10 million grants program is being distributed via three funding rounds in the three years to 2021.

Allenden Seeds and 13 other businesses received a total of $3.34 million under the second round, and funding for the last round of RED Grants will be announced later this year.

The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority administer the RED Grant scheme on behalf of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Source: Queensland Government