Tag / SA Produce Market

by brandsa2018

30 years of paddock to pallet at the SA Produce Market

The champion of South Australia’s horticultural sector – the South Australian Produce Market (SAPM) – is celebrating 30 years in the field.

It’s a time over which the state’s only wholesale market has achieved a self-sufficient energy supply and a continued reputation for supporting local growers who attribute much of their livelihoods to the fruit and veg hub.

SAPM trades 250,000 tonnes of fresh produce between 45 wholesalers, 60 growers and hundreds of retail operators each year, worth an estimated wholesale value of $550 million.

Although the SAPM is celebrating its 30th anniversary in northern Adelaide this month, its extended history dates back to the days of the East End Market on East Terrace in Adelaide’s CBD.

The East End Market operated for more than a century until its closure in 1988.

SAPM CEO Angelo Demasi says three decades of innovation, growth and business philosophies have led to the special milestone for the market’s Pooraka home.

The SA Produce Market is celebrating 30 years of supporting the state’s food and agricultural industry.

“We recognise how important the grower, wholesaler and retailer supply chain are to the public and the efforts that they go to, to provide fresh fruit and vegetables to the public,” he says.

“We are undertaking many projects to ensure the sustainability of the market, and the businesses that rely on it for many more years to come.”

Many of the market’s growers and wholesalers are long standing or multi-generational fruit and vegetable growers including Mercurio Bros, Parker and Sons, and Ceravolo Orchards.

The market is renowned for its early morning activity, with growers rising in the wee hours to transport their goods from farm to pallet. Buyers include IGA, Foodland, independent retailers and greengrocers.

The SAPM has continued to transition over the past 12 months, with an expansion project set to open the market to the general public for the first time.

“The development will include a retail component which will include a factory or more like a farm-gate outlet for consumers to purchase fresh food and affordable produce direct from market,” Angelo says.

The food precinct expansion will also allow food processors an opportunity to take their business “to the next level” with shared infrastructure including loading docks, and education and cooking areas.

The market is also home to the state’s first onsite energy microgrid, comprising a 4.2MWh lithium-ion battery, a 2.5MW solar PV system comprising 8500 solar panels, and a 2.5MW onsite generator.

It will supply the site’s entire energy demand and also export power to the National Electricity Market.

A forklift whizzing by with pallets of fresh fruit or veggies is not an uncommon sight at the market. Photo by SA Mushrooms.

“This will enable all of our growers and wholesalers to enjoy cheap reliable power to ensure they continue to be cost competitive both on a local, national and international level,” Angelo says.

The market holds the interests of the horticultural industry at heart, often playing an advocacy role in tough times such as major flood events that affect growers.

In more recent times, SAPM has backed the strawberry industry by installing a metal detector to help boost consumer confidence following the national strawberry needle crisis.

In September 2018 a number of needles were found deliberately planted inside strawberries sold across the country.

SA is on the cusp of its strawberry season which typically runs between October and May.

The metal detector – supported by $50,000 from the State Government – will be communal, so it can be used by all local strawberry growers as well as other horticulture-related commodities.

The state produced about 6000 tonnes of strawberries with a farmgate value of $42 million in 2016/17.

Angelo admits the running of the market isn’t without its challenges, but SA’s food industry is ramping up.

“The optimism is good and we have started to see a surge in exports,” he adds.

Header photo is SA Produce Market’s Greg Pattinson, left, and Angelo Demasi.

Industry in focus: Agribusiness

Throughout the month of October, the state’s agribusiness industry will be under the magnifying glass as part of I Choose SA.

South Australian farmers, producers, agricultural researchers and biosecurity workers are the lifeblood of our country communities and are big players in the state’s overall economic welfare. Read more stories here.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

[logooos_saved id=”13411″]

Advertisement
by brandsa2018

South Australia’s mushroom men in the market for expansion

Growing up in the family’s fruit and veg shop must have rubbed off on South Australian brothers Nick and Nat Femia.

For almost half a century their father Sam worked as a greengrocer, with 36 of those years spent at Sam’s Fruit Market in St Agnes Shopping Centre in Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

But it seems one vegetable in particular stuck with the Femia brothers – mushrooms.

Nick and Nat, together with Sam, are behind family business SA Mushrooms, based at Waterloo Corner on the Adelaide Plains.

Every week 20 tonnes of Swiss brown, white button, field mushrooms – and a special Vitamin D rich variety – are grown in a humid climate controlled facility.

The mushrooms are grown in a climate controlled facility at Waterloo Corner before being harvested and transported to the SA Produce Markets.

But it’s when they hit South Australia’s biggest fruit and veg wholesale markets, the SA Produce Markets at Pooraka, that the real action begins.

“The farm is located 15km from the SA Produce Market – we’re the closest mushroom farm to a wholesale market in the country,” says Nick, CEO of SA Mushrooms.

“It’s good for our carbon footprint.”

The SA Produce Market is the biggest of its kind in the state, selling 250,000 tonnes of produce, worth a combined $550m, between wholesalers, growers and retail operators every year.

It’s the only wholesale market that supplies to independent fruit and veg retailers in SA such as IGA, Foodland and independent retailers.

“Every mushroom that we grow ends up at the produce market,” Nick says.

“From here our mushrooms are trucked to independent supermarkets including 110 Foodland stores across the state.

“Our mushrooms also end up in pizza bars and restaurants, and we are heavily dedicated to the greengrocers, after all, my dad was a greengrocer.”

SA Mushrooms is one of many traders at the market, the state’s primary fresh produce wholesale market.

The SA Produce Market is pivotal to the northern food bowl area, as almost half of SA Produce Market traders are growers from the Northern Plains, in particular Virginia.

Nicol Carrots, IG Fresh Produce, and T Musolino and Co are all said to have undergone farm expansions or celebrate innovations in recent years – achievements reflective of SA’s strong agribusiness sector.

SA Mushrooms isn’t exempt from growth either.

Nick says the business has experienced significant growth across production, staff numbers and turnover and that an expansion is on the horizon.

“We’re in the process of planning for an expansion in the next year-and-a-half across our composting and production facility,” he says.

“Our staff will increase from 50 to 100.”

The SA Produce Market is also set to undergo a new chapter by way of a $25m expansion.

The project includes new food processing, packing and warehousing facilities, export consolidation, and retail tenancies.

The SA Produce Market is will undergo an expansion that is expected to significantly benefit local businesses.

SA Produce Market CEO Angelo Demasi says the growth will allow businesses to consolidate their manufacturing processes and have direct access to the market.

“The opportunity to work so closely to the market and have their operations in a similar place is a huge benefit to businesses that are looking to expand,” he says.

“The project is currently in the early stages with businesses in discussions that would benefit significantly from the project.”

Angelo says the market plays an important part in the SA economy, with more than 1500 people employed on site.

“ … 13,500 permanent and an additional 24,000 seasonal staff all rely at different levels on the SA Produce Market on a daily basis,” he says.

“Horticulture contributes $3.232 billion to the SA economy on gross food revenue of which $1.65 billion is attributed to the markets.”

Visit the I Choose SA for Industry website to read more stories about key industry leaders, why they’ve chosen SA as a base and how the state is enabling them to succeed.