Tasmania is the French fries capital of Australia. Six out of every ten of the tasty, golden-brown chips are grown and processed in this state.
Water Minister Guy Barnett and Harvest Moon’s Mark Kable, recently finished a tour of Simplot’s French fry processing facility in Ulverstone. This more or less coincided with the federal government’s announcement on Thursday that the state had been listed as a national priority project for water and irrigation investment.
“That takes Tasmania to the next level,” Barnett said. “Through Tasmanian Irrigation, we will make another submission [to the federal government] and the benefits could be very significant. We’re talking a $500 million investment over 15 years, with nearly 4000 jobs and more than $100 million coming into the economy every year. This is very encouraging. It confirms the confidence the community and the federal government have in the government’s plan to grow the agricultural sector to $10 billion by 2050.”
Barnett also told theadvocate.com.au that being on the national infrastructure priority list put the state in a good position for being considered at the next step, which was applying for funds.
Source: Fresh Plaza
