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VGA President Luis Gazzola and IDO East Slobodan Vujovic visited vegetable growers in the East Gippsland area during April. This visit was the initiative of young local grower Andrew Bulmer, who has recently been appointed Victorian representative for vegetable production to the National Industry Advisory Group. Over two days Luis and Slobodan held discussions with a number of vegetable growers. The first call was to the property of Alan Condron from Stratford. Alan has been farming here on the flats of Avon River since he moved from Somerville in 1974, today Alan, is growing for seeds sweet corn and seed potatoes. The next stop was Cox farms at Lindenow followed by a lunch meeting with local vegetable growers at the Lindenow Hotel. Mr Gazzola and Mr Vujovic held informative discussions with growers about local issues including area representation, Melbourne Markets move to Epping and Horticultural Industry award. This enabled the VGA IDO to be aware of grower concerns in the area especially security of water for future farming. The final day commenced with a visit to the VEGCO processing plant in Bairnsdale. VEGCO operates a 100,000 sq foot factory the largest fresh cut factory in Australia, 230 employees 6 days a week production. The tour continued with visits to Mulgowie and Ruffo’s farms at Boisdale and Covino’s at Longford. Outcomes: The positive outcomes from this tour include :
Invitations and agenda to be circulated later this month. Please contact Slobodan Vujovic Mobile : 0422 583 784 Email : idoeast@vgavioc.org.au |
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