Kalfresh Vegetables to establish $291m bioenergy plant in Scenic Rim after green light from state gov

The Courier Mail

One of Queensland’s biggest vegetable growers has been given the State Government green light for a $291m project that will turn food waste into power, gas and biofertilizer.

In what is being billed as Australian first, Kalfresh Vegetables will establish the Scenic Rim Agricultural Industrial Precinct (SRAIP) in the Fassifern Valley.

Queensland’s Coordinator General Gerard Coggan this week recommended the project proceed after a five-year evaluation.

It will feature a bioenergy plant capable of processing up to 388,000 tonnes of waste - creating enough natural gas to fuel 26,000 truck trips from Brisbane to Sydney and reducing carbon emissions by the equivalent of planting 7 million trees a year.

Kalfresh is the state’s biggest grower of carrots and also farms pumpkins, beans, corn, capsicum and onions.

The company’s CEO, Richard Gorman, said Mr Coggan’s tick of approval for the precinct was a “significant milestone” for the project that would create 1000 new jobs.

“This is about future-proofing agriculture in South East Queensland by creating new diversified markets for value-added food, beverage and fibre products and returning manufacturing to the region,” Mr Gorman said.

“The Scenic Rim will transition from a place that grows the raw ingredients back to a place that value- adds those ingredients and converts them into a range of high-value products, including energy.”

Mr Gorman said the renewable energy plant would use anaerobic digestion to convert agricultural waste, food waste and dedicated feedstock crops into electricity, natural gas and biofertilizer.

“In every crop we grow, 30 per cent of the plants don’t make the specification for retail sales,” he said.

“In addition to this there is waste generated during our processing and packing system. Instead of feeding this waste to cattle and returning nothing to the farm, we can use it to generate electricity and renewable natural gas, and return the by-product of anaerobic digestion, digestate, to farms.

“We will use the nutrient-dense digestate as a biofertilizer on farms, reducing our reliance on synthetic fertilisers. People talk about closed loop systems – this is the real deal. Nothing goes to waste.

“Overseas systems like the one we plan to build are being fed with urban food waste, grease trap waste and agricultural waste. The beauty of this co-digestion technology compared to solar and wind is that it can generate energy 24/7 and is not impacted by weather.”