Some people might call it a fertiliser factory, but owner Jamie McMaster describes it as more like a kitchen.
“We make food for plants; food for food, if you like,” Mr McMaster said of the place that creates the fertiliser that ends up in northern Victorian hothouses, on pastures, crops, orchards and vegetable plots.
They use their own “recipes” to create the liquid fertilisers from raw materials sourced from overseas and domestically.
And the Tongala business, SLTEC Fertilizers, is about to get a $2 million lift under an expansion and modernisation project, which has received a $1 million grant from the Federal Government.
The grant was announced by Federal Member for Nicholls Damian Drum, who toured the plant and remarked on the plan to make the factory more efficient and more prepared to break into overseas markets.
The plant produces mainly NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) fertilisers for agricultural use largely across northern Victoria and the southern Riverina, but sells to all Australian states except Western Australia.
The company has also had one foray into international sales, but Mr McMaster hopes to expand this market in the future.
He established the business in 2005 and deliberately chose to develop liquid fertilisers because of the flexibility of delivery, uniform application, plant uptake and incorporation of multiple elements.
The business has formed an alliance with an American manufacturer and the two work together in research and development.
Mr McMaster sees a part of the future in water treatment and is working on a solution to capturing phosphorus in streams, which would ordinarily be wasted or add to environmental issues.
The company also creates fertiliser from some waste products generated by other industries.
The company employs 28 people and wants to engage more agronomists and production staff but is having trouble filling the positions.
Training staff will be a part of the $2 million upgrade, which will include an extra mixing tank so that a 40 tonne fertiliser blend can be produced in one batch process, an upgraded load-out facility with extra pumps, three new stainless steel 80,000 litre fertiliser storage tanks, installation of a pallet racking in the warehouse, an extra aqua ammonia mixing tank system, a new and larger steam boiler and the upgrade of an existing mixing tank, and an extra warehouse.
One of the major improvements will be automation of the entire production process.
Mr Drum said the project was an important part of the goal to secure Australia’s supply chain resilience and he said he was proud that this was occurring in the local region.
“Not only will this project help the whole country in times of a crisis, it also shows manufacturing is alive and well in the Goulburn Valley.”