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INTRODUCTION TO TOOWOOMBA REGION’S AGRICULTURE AND FOOD MANUFACTURING
Introduction to toowoomba region’s agriculture and food product manufacturing profiles for 2020
The Toowoomba Region has long been an agriculture hub, leveraging off its extremely fertile farming land. In addition, Food Product Manufacturing makes a major contribution to the Region’s economy adding significant value to the agriculture industry by turning raw ingredients into a range of value-added products.
Many Queenslanders probably don’t fully appreciate the scale and success of production in our region. For example, some of the highvalue food commodities produced in Toowoomba (2018/19) include: • Eggs - $187.6million 84% of Qld production • Horticulture - $125million 2.7% Qld Production • Avocados - $21million 8% of Qld production • Lettuce - $11.7million 23.4% of Qld production • Onions - $1.2million 5% of Qld production • Poultry - $93.8million 17% of Qld production • Milk - $42.1 million 21% of Qld production
• Cattle and carves
$115.8 million 3% of Qld production
Leverage Opportunities
According to Toowoomba Regional Council, the Agriculture industry’s importance goes beyond its own sector with significant flow-on benefits to the broader economy including food processing, machine manufacturing and freight logistics industries. The agriculture supply chain is being enhanced by major investment and research innovation including: • TSBE Food Leaders Australia • Agriculture Science and
Engineering Precinct • Rural Economics Centre of Excellence • The Rural Centre of Excellence • The Centre for Agricultural
Engineering • The Centre for Sustainable
Agricultural Systems • USQ’s Centre for Crop Health
Manufacturing:
Toowoomba produces a diverse range of food products including meat, bakery, dairy and grain mill products. There’s Toowoomba Premium Milk (TPM), Stahmann Farms pecan and macadamia processing, CF Oats, Kialla Pure Foods flours, Jim’s Jerky, Story Fresh, Mother Meg’s baked goods, Oakey Beef Exports and so many more. We have gathered a small selection of growers, bakers and various makers across a variety of fields in this “foodie” edition of Chamber’s Business Journal.
Agriculture is a major economic driver for the region generating $754 million in value added/ ..................................................... Agriculture employs 5,222 people accounting for 6.1% of the total employment which is well above the Queensland benchmark of 2.4%. ..................................................... The Region exports $1,051 million in agricultural product which is an increase of 83% over the past ten years. .....................................................
According to figures from 2019
All data sourced from TRC's industry profiles.
