A recent study tour organised for Southern Queensland vegetable growers provided an opportunity to view the technology in use at Boomaroo Nurseries’ Southbrook facility and the progress and future capacity of the Toowoomba Wellcamp Trade Distribution Centre. VegNET Regional Development Officer Zara Hall reports on the tour highlights.

Growers and other vegetable industry members joined representatives from Growcom, Queensland Farmers’ Federation and the State Government on a wide-ranging study tour of two major horticultural facilities in southern Queensland.

First, attendees enjoyed breakfast in the park at Gatton’s railway station before taking the second range crossing to Southbrook’s Boomaroo Nurseries site, west of Toowoomba.

Tour participants were given a full tour of the Boomaroo Nurseries facility. This included the production shed and germination rooms, seed storage, computer/technology control centre, protected growing structures, sun-hardening outdoor growing area and the dispatch, nutrient-dosing and wash-down areas.

Tour participants pictured at the Boomaroo Nurseries’ Southbrook facility.

State-of-the-art technology

The facility is designed around a system of rolling benches to transport seedlings around the nursery and is managed by software that can either be controlled from the central technology centre or through workers’ smart phones and iPads. This automated system keeps the manual handling of product to an absolute minimum, prevents ‘shadowing’, and is used to schedule orders for dispatch to clients.

Tour participants learnt the site of the nursery – which is set on approximately 300 acres 50 kilometres west of the Lockyer Valley – was chosen for its climate, proximity to large vegetable production areas (the Lockyer, Fassifern and Granite Belt growing regions) as well as the quality and quantity of available water.

Attendees were interested to learn how Boomaroo Nurseries was able to minimise COVID-19 impacts on its business operation. This included careful forward-planning to ensure customer orders are delivered uninterrupted, maintaining healthy stockpiles of materials where freight delays were predicted, and the careful management of trucked freight between state boundaries.

Sustainability was a major theme throughout the tour. For example, participants heard about Boomaroo’s recent investment in a new reverse osmosis, micro-filtration water treatment plant. This is currently under construction, and will maximise the operation’s water recycling capabilities and the use of beneficial insectaries set up throughout the nursery as part of its pest management program.

Ingenuity was another feature of the visit. For example, shallot trimming – a technique widely used to stimulate stronger, healthier growth in shallots – is conducted using a simple machine designed in-house, which eliminates any manual handling.

Study tour participants speak with Toowoomba Wellcamp Trade Distribution Centre Business Development Manager Jonny Arkins about opportunities that are available to exporters.

Freight focus

The second stop on the tour was the recently completed Toowoomba Wellcamp Trade Distribution Centre. The international airport was built by the local Wagner family, who is known for cement operations – and now an airport that includes international cargo flights. Most recently, the Wagner family’s airport has been in the spotlight for the company’s plans to build a 1,000-bed COVID-19 quarantine facility for international passenger arrivals.

After rapidly outgrowing the original freight export building, the recently completed distribution centre has a range of features that make it potentially desirable for vegetable producers for Queensland and interstate.

The facility is designed to complement road and rail transport as part of the countries’ multimodal freight network. The site includes a plan for four kilometres of railway siding as part of the in-land rail project that is currently under construction, as well as direct access to the Toowoomba second range crossing which connects Queensland to the southern states. Flights currently out of Wellcamp include cargo flights to Hong Kong and Singapore, with more flights planned as COVID-19 restrictions ease.

Other features of the site included on-site freight forwarders and the ability to re-pack to cargo freight specifications (e.g., repacking of standard Australian pallets/CHEP pallets to PMC or AKE), as well as cold-chain management for perishable goods; for example, extensive cold rooms in close proximity to the tarmac.

The tour of the airport provided ‘food-for-thought’ for participants about the possibilities that export might provide in what is an oversupplied domestic market.

“The tour was a great opportunity to see technology being used in the seedling nursery and open our eyes to export opportunities so close to our growing region.” – Tim Logan, Glenette Produce

The Toowoomba Wellcamp Trade Distribution Centre. Image courtesy of Gary Wilkinson.

Acknowledgments

VegNET – Southern Queensland would like to thank Boomaroo Nurseries and Toowoomba Wellcamp Trade Distribution Centre staff for their contribution to this study tour. Also, thank you to the sponsors who contributed gifts for the event: Boomaroo Nurseries, Ag Requirements, Corteva, TriCal and Visy.

Find out more

Please contact VegNET – Southern Queensland Regional Development Officer Zara Hall on 0456 956 340 or email ido@lockyervalleygrowers.com.au.

VegNET 3.0 is a strategic levy investment under the Hort Innovation Vegetable Fund.

This project has been funded by Hort Innovation using the vegetable research and development levy and contributions from the Australian Government.

Project Number: VG21000

Cover image: Tour participants received a tour of the Boomaroo Nurseries’ Southbrook facility.