A flood-affected strawberry farm is set to upgrade its facilities and employ more people after receiving a state government grant.
Oz Strawberry will expand its packing shed, build a cold room and purchase a compact track loader, paving the way to recruit more staff members.
The Beerwah enterprise was one of 24 businesses around the state to receive a Rural Economic Development (RED) Grant.
Oz Strawberry director Ray Kim said the grant would significantly bolster the business.
“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.
“The compact track loader will help us keep the farm tidy because we lost a lot of dirt after rain, which we were especially impacted by over the last couple years with flooding.”
The project is expected to be completed by mid-next year and it will create up to five direct, full-time local jobs.
RED grants are available for up to $200,000 with a 50 per cent cash contribution requirement from applicants to fund projects that generate economic and employment opportunities related to primary production value chains across rural and remote Queensland.
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.
The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority administers the RED Grant scheme on behalf of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.
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