A Sunshine Coast strawberry farm is creating up to five local jobs through equipment and infrastructure upgrades thanks to a Rural Economic Development (RED) Grant.
Oz Strawberry director Ray Kim said the operation would expand its packing shed and build a cold room to help pack more fruit more efficiently and preserve fruit quality.
“We produce more than 50 palettes a day and because the shed we had was so small, a lot of fruit had to sit outside until it could be packed which caused some strawberries to become soft and bruised," he said.
“The expanded packing shed and new cold room will help keep fruit fresh and mean we can supply more strawberries to retailers and employ more people."
Ray said the farm operation, impacted by flooding in 2022, would also purchase a compact track loader to help move dirt following rain. “The compact track loader will help us keep the farm tidy because we lose a lot of dirt after rain which we were especially impacted by over the last couple years with flooding," he said.
The project is expected to be completed by mid-next year and will create up to five direct, full-time local jobs.
Oz Strawberry is one of 24 businesses approved for the fifth round of the competitive RED grants program with a total funding of $3.9 million. Overall, the fifth round of the RED Grants program is expected to create up to 215 direct, long-term jobs.
Grants are available for up to $200,000 with a 50 percent cash contribution requirement from applicants to fund projects which generate economic and employment opportunities related to primary production value chains across rural and remote Queensland.
Over five years, the Palaszczuk Government’s RED Grants program has provided a total of $13.3 million in funding to support 59 successful regional agribusiness projects, worth more than $52.4 million and estimated to create over 2,500 new direct and indirect jobs.
A sixth round of RED Grants, supporting Indigenous-owned agribusinesses and projects aimed at low-emissions agriculture, has been allocated for the 2023-24 financial year, with applications to open later this year.
For more information: qrida.qld.gov.au