Flavorite Hydroponic Tomatoes -

20 March 2006

Flavorite Updated March 2006  

In late 2003 a 2HA greenhouse was constructed in Bundaberg with marketing partners, HMG to expand the southern winter markets and keep tomatoes more affordable in the cooler months.

 

 

At the same time Flavorite completed a $500,000 renovation of their packing shed with capacity increasing three fold. A new grading line incorporating an automatic conveyor belt system with automatic recording facilities, date stamping and grower coding, is backed up by state of the art label application, specially imported from the UK.

 

Flavorite are innovative farmers. That year we installed raised gutters in all greenhouses for our crop inter planting methods and believe this technology is closely related to the strength and viability of the industry. The development of this system was a first in Australia.

 

Flavorite's building program on their original site was culminated in May 2005 with the completion of a 4HA Faber glasshouse. The glasshouse incorporated all the latest greenhouse technology and consolidated years of careful planning and marketing to meet the ever increasing demand for Flavorite premium bunches of red tomatoes.

 

Flavorite is now advancing the business on several fronts:

 

1. Growers in three states are constructing hi-tech greenhouses to produce tomatoes for the Flavorite tomato BRAND. Greenhouses are nearing completion in South Australia and Queensland.

 

2. The Sydney packing facility will be supported by over 6HA of top quality tomatoes which will induce a major effect on the supply quality of hydroponic tomatoes in the Sydney area.

 

3. New monitoring, labelling and conveying equipment is supporting the packing line in Sydney. The customised crate cleaning machine ensures their is no disease risk to be spread from farm to farm.

 

4. There is a major upgrade of packing equipment about to take place at Warragul, as automatic grading machines are put in place and the truss line becomes mechanised for the first time. January 2006 has seen the installation of the first "xmas trees" in the truss packing lines. These creative "trees" which take the guess work out of poacking 5kg trays to the correct weight have an enormous amount of time and mean there is no excess fruit in the trays - double savings!

 

5. The packing line will also become much more flexible in its offer so that the highly successful pre-packs can be supported with other more variable and innovative concepts and new products. Prepacks have been the sucess story of 2005-06 with colourful Flavorite packaging, great fruit and good support from Coles Supermarkets.

 

6. The heat storage tank has been completed and is operational (Jan 2006). Co2 extraction units have been added to all the existing boiler systems.

7. Flavorite have installed the Flavorfind Registration system throughout the farm. This extensive monitoring system will be invaluable to increase productivity.

8. The storage shed which has been relocated from the farm next door is near completion and compliments the repairs and maintenance shed and the new office complex.

9. The new farm 100acres next door to the existing Flavorite farm, has seen extensive earthowrks since November 2005, when the permit to build 23HA of greenhouses was approved. Two pads of 12HA approx are nearly completed - 8,000 truckloads of dirt and many dollars later. The first stage of the project to build 23HA of new 6m high glasshouses is due for tender with a construction date to begin October 1st 2006.

 

10. New training courses have been introduced for management and staff as the emphasis continues to focus on growth and the ability of the business to handle growth. The importance of retaining staff and creating programs and systems that encourage people to stay and work at Flavorite are of prime concern to Management, and are central to Management Strategies at this time.

 

 

11. Flavorite is a quality business focussed on delivering a quality premium product. We are developing the systems for sustainable agriculture, strongly biased towards biological growing with low (OR ZERO) pesticide use. Flavorite use natural enemies (insect predators) to control pests.

 

This approach is also called bio-control, which means using living organisms as control agents. Bio-control is becoming a popular tool for integrated pest management with a global trend toward using effective but environmentally friendly controls, to reduce reliance on pesticide use and give producers more options for safe, cost effective and sustainable control. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) research is part of Flavorite's mandate to promote innovation for growth, maintain security of the food system and protect the health of the environment.

 

Flavorite is constantly reviewing our product to ensure we deliver CONSISTENTLY a RED JUICY TASTY TOMATO to our customer.

 

Current status: Notice of decision has been received and by the end of August 2005 these plans will be approved. Earthworks will begin in December 2005 to prepare for construction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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