The development of an almond project at Eneabba has been in the pipeline for several years. Initially there was interest and concern about the size of the water licence – 13.9 GL was under consideration in late 2007 (though I am not sure how much they eventually got) – The original plan was for 1.6m trees on 5000 ha but it may be smaller than that – Council minutes of Sep 2008 approved a 1000ha orchard on Chatfield-Clarke Rd (between Carnamah & Eneabba) We have known for some time that there are considerable water resources under the Eneabba region – but transport, distance from markets, lack of staff and to a certain extent the poor soil, have delayed water-dependant development. Select Harvest is a major almond producer in Australia, with interests in Victoria, NSW, WA …. It owns, or manages for other investors, 16,000ha of almonds in Austalia, with its main orchard in NW Victoria, and also produces packaged nuts and friut products that are distributed via major supermarkets; some of its brands are Lucky, Sunsol, Nu-Vit, Meriram and Soland. See www.selectharvests.com.au
This article is courtesy of NARNEWS. narnews@westnet.com.au