Canning Industry in Australia
The contents herein include many sections taken from bulletins, articles, etc. and the like found on the internet together with my own wording and views. The use of extracted portions from the websites is to paint a picture of and presentation of the topic “Canning Industry in Australia”.
Reason
The object of this paper is to present an overall view of how self- sufficient Australia once was and specifically in regard to the countries cannery industries.
Australia was once in the forefront of the world in the development, establishment and operation of Canneries.
Opening
Due to the effects of the Cona Virus on movement of people and goods around the globe, Australia has been made aware of deficiencies in our self-supply capabilities and food security.
The principal area of concern is in the processed food items such as seafood, fruit and vegetables.
Although there has not been any dramatic shortage of canned foods other than perhaps canned tomatoes, there is a huge concern about the country of origin of most items on the shelves.
Any brief assessment (label reading on products) quickly proves there is actually very little on the shelves that is produced in Australia.
Clearly this is because in reality Australia does not have a true canning industry. There are bits and pieces around the country but no significant hub as there once was in several states.
In other words Australia does not have a canning industry
Discussion
The average Australian would have no understanding of this statement, that there is no Canning Industry as such, in Australia.
In disagreement with this statement many will say, what about the group of Simplot Companies.
Well Simplot is an American family conglomerate that has over time sponged up previous good Australian owned concerns including:
Birds Eye, Lego’s, Chiko, Edgell and John West
Simplot started as a one man farming operation, founded in 1929 by ic J.R. (Jack) Simplot in Boise, Idaho, where the companies global head office remains today. Since then the J.R. Simplot Company has grown to become a multinational agricultural business with annual sales of more than $US 5 billion.
The Simplot Australia story began in 1995 when the J.R. Simplot Company expanded into Australia, acquiring iconic brands like those listed above.
Today Simplot is a diverse business including vegetable and seafood manufacturing operations that supply chilled, frozen and shelf stable products to retailers and foodservice customers. In this growth process other brands either started or taken over by Simplot include:
Seakist, Harvest, Chiko, I&J, Ally, Fine Tastes, Chicken Tonight, Raguletto, Five Brothers, Simply Great Meals,
A sample extract of advertising language espoused and promoted by Simplot is as follows:
We are driven by our purpose: “We Contribute to Feeding Our World by Bringing Earth’s Resources to Life“.
Simplot Australia is a family owned company, employing over 2,000 people across Australia and New Zealand and operates six manufacturing facilities. We are trusted as a leading provider of quality, sustainable and nourishing food for the ever-changing needs of consumers and customers in Australia, New Zealand and chosen Asia pacific growth markets.
We pride ourselves on building long term partnerships with Australian farmers and our supply chain, investing in our people, and committing to the long term sustainability of earth’s natural resources. Underlying all we do is a spirit of innovation.
Simplot can paint their picture as bright as they like but the fact is the company has no Australian ownership, it is not a public company, its HQ is in Boise, Idaho, USA and it probably does not pay an appropriate tax rate in Australia.
Simplot can never be recognised or promoted as an Australian company. Most of its assets here were once Australian owned and operated and now the closest an Australian may get that is perhaps being a manager.
If and when the going gets tuff the family behing Simplot will sell out or close down at the drop of a hat.
Already Simplot management is crying poor and requesting Government support for their facility near Bathurst NSW, which is finding it hard to conform to Environmental Standards and Requirements.
Our Governments both Federal and State need to be very clear from this point in time on that Australia cannot afford to be complacent and pathetic with our view and dealings with foreign / multinational companies.
Australian needs to get up and claw back what were once great Australian companies and regenerate and/or establish new food manufacturing industries across the country.
The establishment of new canneries and the like must also be with a view to enable each state to be self-sufficient to some degree. This could help eliminate any supply problems across state borders, should the country have a similar event as the recent CV pandemic.
Back in the Day
The following are snap shot extracts from historical accounts sourced from the internet:
The first established being a meat canning works opened in Sydney by Sizar Elliot in the early 1800’s.
Canning plants were established around Australia, initially canning beef and mutton.
Later in the 1840s other canneries were established at Camperdown, Victoria and Newcastle, New South Wales. The Newcastle New South Wales Fresh Provision Preserving Company, was a venture by William and Henry Dangar. The company produced soups, beef and mutton packs and mock turtle, in cans that ranged from one to 12 lbs.
Canned Fruit and Vegetable Production:
Past, Present, Future? by John Wilkinson
NSW Parliamentary Research Service September 2013 e-brief 10/20131.
History of fruit and vegetable canning in Australia and fruit and vegetable canning in NSW
In March 2013 Windsor Farm closed its canning operations at Cowra, with the loss of 70 jobs.
Apart from Billabong Produce’s relatively small tomato canning operations at Jerilderie, the only major producer of canned vegetables remaining in NSW is Simplot at Bathurst (principally processing sweet corn).
Simplot, in turn, has stated that it too might consider closing its operations because of the current “very competitive food industry environment”.
This e-brief looks at the emergence of the canned fruit and vegetable industry in NSW, and at its progress in recent years. It is part of the wider industry of fruit and vegetable processing which, in turn, is part of the food manufacturing sector.
Food manufacturing is the largest single component of the manufacturing sector. The broad issues around food production and manufacturing can be considered in light of the National Food Plan (NFP), the text of which can be found here.
The Emergence of Fruit and Vegetable Canning Canned fruit production, in NSW, began in tandem with the inauguration of irrigated agriculture in the Murrumbidgee-Murray area in the early 1900s.
A cannery was opened at Leeton in 1914(with the produce sold under the “Letona” brand).
Letona Cannery
The original cannery which formed Letona was built in 1914 by the New South Wales Government as part of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Project-an initiative that focused on the management of water resources in Leeton and the surrounding district.
State Cannery (Sale) Act 1935, which became effective from 11 April 1935. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was drafted and signed between the Leeton, Griffith and Yenda Fruit growers’ Co-operatives and the Leeton Co-operative Cannery Ltd. on 21 June 1935. In its first ten years, the Board of
Directors insisted that expenditure be outlaid on modernising and improving the layout of the plant so as to maintain supply and remain competitive with foreign markets.
During World War Two, Letona adapted to wartime conditions and commenced processing vegetables in preference to fruit. With so many Letona processors enlisted in the war, Land Army Girls and even children as young as eleven were employed extensively throughout the cannery to keep up with demand. After the war, the cannery returned to processing fruit when vegetable production was diminishing.
Until the 1970s, Letona maintained a policy of accepting and processing all types of fruit, despite an oversupply in canned fruit in markets overseas. Oblivious to global and domestic competition, Letona continued to modernise and expand, employing a large number of full-time and seasonal workers.
The cannery’s financial difficulties continued throughout much of the eighties, as Directors were adamant about curing the ailing cannery industry with high expenditure. Unfortunately, shareholders were unable to recognise the declining state of the Co-operative. By 1993, the financial situation at Letona had deteriorated drastically. Despite efforts of public rallying by local citizens, Co-operative members, employees and politicians, Letona finally sunk into receivership on 27 August 1993 and ceased operation on 29 July 1994.
The history of one early industry has been clarified – the Canneries of the Pumicestone Passage. The first cannery was in 1897, owned by James Clark and Reginald Hocking, trading as the Toorbul Fish Company. They sold canned fish from their factory situated on the bay-side of Toorbul Point. The business was sold to Charlie Godwin for 160 cases of canned mullet in ca1900. Godwin, an early settler, had bought 250 acres of land in the 1890s, in the area now known as Godwin Beach. In 1901 the supplies of locally caught fish were so erratic that Godwin moved the cannery to the northern end of Bribie Island opposite Golden Beach. Godwin’s fish was marketed under the name of “Anchor Brand Sea-Mullet”.