Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall and Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton visited Stahmann Farm on Friday, November 3 to announce the funding as part of the Murray Darling Basin Regional Economic Diversification Program, which funds economic projects in communities that are affected by the implentation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

The funding will allow Stahmann Farm, which supplies 95 per cent of Australia’s pecan consumption, to expand its current drip irrigation system to increase production by being more water efficient.

“This is part of a program that was an agreement between the basin states and the commonwealth, with the implementation of the Basin Plan, to help communities and businesses adjust to the fact that there’ll be less water for production and more water going down the river for environmental flows,” Mr Coulton said.

“This will allow more production for less water, it’s a very valuable resource, and I think this could be a taste of things to come with horticulture.”

Mr Marshall said the funding for Stahmann Farm Enterprises comes off the back of a $51,000 grant last year.

“This will allow the company to continue the work that it’s been doing to convert its old flood irrigation areas, which are largely in the older parts of the farm which was planted in the ‘60s and ‘70s to convert that across to the more modern drip irrigation,” he said.

“What that means is, here at the farm they can use the water that they have access to more efficiently and that allows them to expand the farm, to plant more trees, create extra prdocution which will ultimately result in an extra 20 jobs being created.”

Stahmann Farms CEO Ross Burling said the funding will allow the business to grow from 60,000 trees to their goal of 200,000, which would go a long way to tapping into the international pecan market.

“We are effectively half a per cent of the global supply, so we need to get that number to two, three per cent to wield some sort of marketing power inside of the pecan industry globally,” he said.

“The more we can grow and the quicker we can get them, the quicker we can get them to market, the stronger our story’s going to be.

“We’ve been marketing direct to China now for two years with an e-commerce platform so this is going to feed up the back of a pipeline which goes directly to consumers rather than commodity trading so this is a very strong play on a market’s positioning.”

Mr Burling said 12,000 trees were planted with the first grant and a further 22,000 will be planted off the back of this latest grant, bringing the total to more than 90,000 trees.

Pecan trees are productive for more than 100 years and with the original 60,000 trees planted back in the 1970s, Mr Burling said it’s particularly special for most current employees to be part of the process right from the start.

“The significance is that most of us here now have never planted a tree, so it’s the skills base that we develop to make this happen – we start with a seed and it takes three years to grow in a nursery and then six years in a paddock before they start producing nuts,” he said.

“Every year goes past and you see something grow, it’s like having children.”

Mr Burling said they’re very grateful for this funding which will significantly help water efficiency across the whole farm, allowing them to continue to expand.

“We appreciate all the help we’ve had from all levels of local council, state government and federal government to push these projects along,” he said.

“It’s an endorsement on our product and people. It’s really the people that make these sorts of projects a success.

“We have 20 staff for 700 hectares. We’re looking to double the size of our business here in Moree in the next seven to eight years and we’re driven to use the resources that we have more effectively. This is about the most efficient use of the water we have.”

Mr Coulton said the funding won’t only create new jobs but it will help to stimulate the economy at Pallamallawa and across the North West.

“They’re permanent local jobs, they’re jobs that go for 12 months of the year and they mean a lot not just to Moree but the villages of Biniguy, Gravesend, Warialda, all those towns supply people to work her every day and a doubling of the workforce over the next couple of years will be good permanent jobs,” he said.

“That flows through to the local schools, communities and everything so it’s a very good business for this area, it’s a great contributor to the economy and also the world supply of such a valuable commodity.”

If Stahmann Farms continues to expand, there’s a chance they may relocate their production and processing facility from Toowoomba to Moree, which would mean more jobs for the district.