Grain industry production localised with facility upgrade

Allenden Seeds, a Central Queensland grain storage and processing facility, was one of 14 businesses to receive a Rural Economic Development (RED) Grant of up to $250,000 to upgrade their grain storage infrastructure.

Company director Sydney Allenden (pictured above left with Client Allenden) said the funding would play a big role in allowing the facility to keep supporting Queensland’s grain growers.

“Allenden Seeds is currently unable to meet grower demand for storage and grain processing and our existing infrastructure limits the productivity of our company,” Mr Allenden said.

“Our limited storage means we have to turn away many growers from North and Central Queensland areas, who then have no option other than to transport their grain south, which is considerable financial burden to them and also a significant economic loss for this demographic.”

The company expects an increase in production by 30% after the first stage of upgrades is complete which will include the installation of additional grain storage silos and the purchase of a new gravity table.

“In the first stage of this project we will install 10 new 180 tonne silos to increase our storage capacity by 1800 tonnes,” Mr Allenden said.

“The new gravity table will be capable of processing up to 15 tonne per hour and will completely replace the four separate gravity tables we currently have installed.

“The new table will use half the power of the existing four tables, reducing our carbon footprint and increasing our grain throughput by 50%.” 

Mr Allenden said up to 30 jobs would be created directly and indirectly through the project.  

“The growth in production generated by this project will mean the creation of further jobs and work at our facility which we hope to fill with local people,” he said. 

“We have a grower base of approximately 70 producers located in the Central and Northern Queensland farming region.” 

The family owned and operated facility has been running for 40 years and is one of only two facilities between Burdekin and Dalby.  

Primarily producing mungbean for human consumption, Allenden Seeds diversify their facility to grade and pack wheat, chickpea, lablab, millet, cowpea and Leucaena. 

International demand allows for their mungbean and chickpea products to be exported to markets in China, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Europe and Canada. 

“The mungbean and chickpea industry is consistently growing, it is an ever-growing marketing with the potential to grow exponentially,” Mr Allenden said.  

“These grains are a stable and affordable protein source with local and international demand for these commodities.” 

The Rural Economic Development (RED) Grants program offers emerging projects up to $250,000 in co-contributions to build industry and grow employment opportunities across the agricultural sector. The $10 million grants program provides for three funding rounds over a three-year period ending 2021. 

A total of 14 businesses have received $3.34 million under the second round of funding for the RED Grants program. Overall these 14 projects are expected to create more than 600 jobs across the agricultural sector in regional Queensland. 

QRIDA offers a range of assistance to primary producers, small business and non-profit organisations. To find out what’s available visit Programs and Services.

The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) administer the RED Grant scheme on behalf of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.