George Weston Foods CEO Paul Foster, Weston Animal Nutrition general manager Ian Fairbairn and WA Minister for Agriculture and Food Jackie Jarvis at the opening of the WAN’s Hope Valley mill last month.

WESTON Animal Nutrition has officially opened its new feed mill at Hope Valley near Kwinana in Western Australia.

The mill has almost doubled the capacity of Weston’s previous facility at Bentley, in Perth’s southern suburbs, paving the way for an expansion of WA’s poultry and pig production for domestic sale and export.

Through WAN and Mauri, parent company George Weston Foods is now WA’s largest domestic buyer of grain, offering growers an alternative to established export pathways, and also operates a site at Canning Vale bakery, where about 90 percent of WA’s bread products are baked.

WAN general manger Ian Fairbairn said the $100-million state-of-the-art Hope Valley mill was helping to meet growing customer demand for pork and poultry animal feed.

“This new mill is a massive vote of confidence in the future of WA’s agriculture industry, particularly in animal production for export,” Mr Fairbairn said.

“It is also already contributing to the local economy, with more than 200 direct jobs having been created during construction, which began in early 2021.”

“Additionally, the project has created 35 ongoing full-time jobs and a further 215 indirect jobs, while the mill itself is estimated to contribute $37 million to the local economy each year.

“At capacity, the mill can process more than 430,000 tonnes of grain and produce 655,000t of feed per annum, which is a massive boost for farmers and regional WA.”

WA Minister for Agriculture and Food Jackie Jarvis welcomed the mill’s opening and said it represented a strong indication of optimism in the state’s pork and poultry industries.

“As part of Diversifying WA, the Cook Government is excited to support investment in local downstream processing and manufacturing of WA grains, which supports our local farmers through domestic processing of our grains and production of our stockfeed.

“That is why we provided $700,000 in funding through the State Government’s Value Add Investment Grant program to support more than $80M in investment by George Weston Foods.”

GWF and WAN have operated in Australia and New Zealand for more than 70 years.

Source: George Weston Foods