Adding value to the Great Southern’s agricultural produce shaping as a key election issue

With both major parties’ regional development portfolio holders vying for Albany votes, getting the most out of Great Southern agricultural produce is shaping as a key issue ahead of March’s State Election. A Legislative Council South West showdown is intensifying between Labor’s Alannah MacTiernan and the Liberal Party’s Steve Thomas. Despite this, the McGowan Government’s Regional Development Minister and her Opposition counterpart have found common ground on their intentions to diversify the local agricultural sector. Value-adding is about turning our local raw produce into a higher-value product locally, rather than selling it unprocessed, according to Ms MacTiernan. “WA agriculture punches well above its weight as a bulk commodity exporter, leading the nation in grains exports and selling up to 80 per cent of our agricultural production into overseas markets,” Ms MacTiernan said. “We don’t perform as well in value-adding — our food and beverage manufacturing industry is the second-smallest in Australia, comprising 8 per cent of a $127 million market. “Ideally we’ve got to see us diversifying the agriculture sector as much as possible. It’s always been one of the issues in WA — we’re a big producer of a fairly small number of products.” Since coming to power in 2017, the McGowan Government has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into stimulating the food and beverage manufacturing industry locally. Recently, that investment has seen Great Southern chicken feet turned into a premium product for Asian markets and Great Southern bees being used to create medicinal honey. The Shire of Plantagenet has also been flagged as a major value-adding hub for the region, with $300,000 of State investment going into planning for an agribusiness precinct south of Mt Barker earlier this year. “I agree with the Government on this one — diversification and processing is absolutely critical to the future of agriculture,” Dr Thomas said. The shadow regional development minister sees a role for public funds being used to develop relationships with international markets, especially in Asia.