NEWS

Marc Dobson to represent Hills at SATC

COMMITTEE NOTES

ABSOLUTELY BARKING

FIDO position axed

GRANTS

Updates and contacts

NEW MEMBERS

Magdalena and Gilbert v. d. Aue

EVENTS

Solupak 2007

CALENDAR

NOTICES

CONTACTS

ADVERTISE

The Adelaide Hills Food Chain

Wine festival visitors say Hills
food is a major drawcard

Adelaide Hills Crush Wine Festival 07

Figures collected during the Crush wine festival, held in the Adelaide Hills during March, showed that more than two in five visitors considered local food experiences and produce a major attraction.

Dr Johan Bruwer of the University of Adelaide and a leading researcher in wine marketing presented the survey results at a debrief of the festival last Monday.

Much of the information could be applied to food including figures which showed that the main attractions for visitors to the Hills other than Crush were:

• Wineries 46.9%
• Food experiences/local produce 41.5%
• Spectacular scenery/rural/natural environment 39.2%

Bearing in mind that those being asked had come to a wine festival, this is a very good result for food and a strong indication of how keen interest is in regional produce. The demographics were also interesting, showing that over a third of those attending were in the 18-34 years age group.

Those of you who partnered with wineries to provide food may be interested to know that that there was some dissatisfaction with the time people had to queue for food and a little with type and portion size (7.2%). Some of the wineries participating had run out of food as it was so difficult to anticipate numbers. The estimated turnout was a record 10,000.

The interest in local produce combined with the difficulty the wineries have in gauging demand would seem to present a good opportunity for food producers to pair with wineries and offer produce that is shelf stable on consignment or perishable on a literally just-in-time basis. So they could order, for example, 50 kg of venison sausages in advance but have the option of ordering another 20, 50 or however many on the day and having them delivered within half an hour.

Wineries would still have to over order on bread, veggies etc but at least it gives them options on their most expensive items. Wrecks your long weekend of course, but 10,000 is a lot of people and a lot of promotion of your food to those who are really interested, have a high disposable income and have many years of eating ahead of them.

Denise Manson

In the News

A local champion

Congratulations to Marc Dobson of Hahndorf Hill Winery, very active member of the AHF executive committee and member of Adelaide Hills Tourism marketing committee on his appointment as the representative for the Adelaide Hills on the new Minister's Tourism Round Table Wine & Food Tourism Working Group.

This group will represent a new era of wine and food tourism industry consultation for the SATC.

It is wonderful that someone with such a clear understanding of the potential and current links between food, wine and tourism will be representing our region.

Japanese distributor seeking Adelaide Hills Food

A reminder that there will be a presentation of food (with a shelf life of at least 9 months) at Glen Ewin on Monday 5th June to a representative of kp Orchard Co along with an Austrade rep from 11.30 to 1.00pm. Contact Denise at once if you are interested.

Olive growers take on the world

Adelaide Hills olive growers are being urged to take part in a scheme to market their oil on an international stage.

Hills newspaper The Courier reported in May that growers’ group Olives SA wants to form Encounter Olives Australia to market SA olive oil to an export market.

The venture plan is to support about 70 small to medium volume Hills producers and sell their pooled oil in larger volumes.

Balhannah grower and Olives SA committee member Steve Harding, who currently sells his oil through the Highgrove brand with 10 other producers, said he hoped many of SA’s growers would join the venture.

“In two to three years time there is going to be a lot of extra virgin olive oil produced that won’t have a market, so we are trying to get everyone under one umbrella to export together.”

Encounter Olives was being formed to market and export SA olive oil to the world as a premium product, Mr Harding said.

According to the report, growers could have a stake in the company structure of up to 19 individual shareholders and a unit trust. That trust can have an unlimited number of unit holders, allowing as many producers as possible to be involved in the venture.There are about 200 small to medium olive oil producers in SA, with about 70 growers in the Hills.

Transition to organics group

TM Organics is starting another Transition to Organics Group in the Adelaide Hills. Anyone interested, contact Tim Marshall on 0412 473 230.

Feast for the Senses

Feast for the Senses is Tasting Australia's premier public event, and on 13-14th October 2007 it will kick off the week of fantastic events that is Tasting Australia. Together with Adelaide Hills Wine Region representatives, we are assessing the feasibility of pulling together an "Adelaide Hills Destination" stand/marquee comprising several wineries and some regional food producers.

Early indications suggest cost would be approximately $900 per exhibitor. Contact Denise if you would be interested in participating?

E Commerce update

Beeworks gave a presentation to AHF members on Wednesday 23 May at Longview and their offer of a 6 month free trial for anyone signing up before 1 July still stands.

There was a lot of interest and discussion about the potential of this from everyone there. Many thanks to Georgie at Longview for staying late and looking after us so well while we all talked.

Effective Marketing on the Internet for the Food and Wine Sectors

Regional Development Board, Mt Barker, 9am-4pm, Thursday June 21, 2007.

This is a workshop led by Ivor Hay, the State Government's E Business manager for the past 5 years, at the Regional Development Board, Mt Barker.

A one-day workshop, especially aimed at micro and small food and wine businesses, focuses on how small businesses can get the most from the internet to increase sales.

Particular focus is on increasing your ranking on Google and how online ordering and logistics systems increase your sales.

The same workshop recently held on the Fleurieu attracted 40 producers.

Workshop presenter Ivor Hay

For the past five years, Ivor Hay was the State Government's E-Business Manager. This role allowed him to work closely with a wide range of small businesses to help them develop and implement their online strategies.

Free entry: The Business Management Skills Development (BMSD) workshop is FREE compliments of the South Australian Department of Trade & Economic Development. For further details please contact Ivor Hay . Phone: 08 8326 7676; Email: idhay@bigpond.net.au

Download the flyer [PDF 88k]

Committee notes

Have your say

The Adelaide Hills Food Chain is produced by Adelaide Hills Food for its members and friends and associated industries.
Your contribution as a member of the food industry is welcome and we encourage anyone who has something to share to send any news and pictures to…
Mary Fowler
PO Box 66
Basket Range SA 5138
Tel 08 8390 0415, Mobile 0408 882 623.
Email: mary_fowler@bigpond.com

Website progress

The re-design of the AHF website is almost completed and ready for launch. Work on the final look and feel of the site plus the Members-only area facilities is in final stages and should be on-line before the next issue of the Adelaide Hills Food Chain.

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Advertising

Adelaide Hills Food Chain newsletter offers excellent exposure

The Adelaide Hills Food Chain is a great place for members and associated businesses to advertise products, services, opportunities and events - in fact, anything that relates to our food industry.

Reaching Adelaide Hills Food Members and Friends, local and interstate food media, Adelaide Hills Tourism Marketing Committee members and members of the Adelaide Hills Wine Region, advertising in the Adelaide Hills Food Chain represents fantastic value at $40 plus GST per standard supplied ad.

If you would like to advertise in the next issue of the Adelaide Hills Food Chain visit www.adelaidehillsfood.com.au/news/advert/ or contact Denise Manson on 08 8131 0133 or 0417 085 684.

Regional campaign

The Independently Weekly is running an advertising campaign featuring the food and wine regions of South Australia. Anyone interested in advertising contact Debbie Kemp on 8224 1613.

Download an example of the two-page spread [PDF 280kb]

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Absolutely Barking

Denise Manson

Adelaide Hills Food Industry Development Officer

Hills FIDO position cut

Last month when I wrote this column we were still awaiting the outcome of the Premier's Food Council on the future shape of the Food Program.

That decision has now been taken and the number of FIDO positions reduced from 13 to 5, through amalgamation of the different regions.

The new areas covered are Eyre; Yorke/Southern Flinders/Mid North; Riverland/Murraylands; Limestone Coast; and the metropolitan area.

This considerable reduction in the program from 2004 - 2007, this is due to the fact that the State Food Plan funding available for 2007 - 2008 is significantly reduced from current levels.

The Premier's Food Council ultimately felt that the Market Development and Innovation Programs should have equal priority with the Program that funds the Food Officers, hence current levels could not be maintained.

Sadly the Adelaide Hills, Fleurieu, Barossa and Kangaroo Island all lose their FIDO positions. FoodSA say that the expectation is that they will access the services of the metropolitan FIDO who it is believed will be based at Regency TAFE.

There is recognition that having no Outer Metropolitan position leaves a big gap and I believe that there is still an attempt to access some partnership funding to support this, but it is very difficult to find out more at this stage and there is no indication yet when the new food officers will be appointed.

However we do know that these FIDOs will have a stated focus of working with identified growing businesses.

Clearly the lack of a FIDO in the Hills will have a bearing on Adelaide Hills Food. There have been very considerable achievements over the last six months and Mary Fowler has done an enormous amount of work as Chair of the Group.

She has successfully applied for funding for a member information pack from Adelaide Hills Regional Development Board. Worked on ensuring that a second edition of the very popular and well received Food Guide is published next spring, complete with tasting trails that will increase food tourism (see the statistics in the Crush article at the start of this newsletter to understand the potential of food tourism in the Hills).

Mary has also used her experience as a food journalist to put forward a proposal to Tasting Australia for a media Famil in October which will bring up to 40 food journalists to the Hills, an enormous coup for our region.

However this level of success can only be sustained if there is greater practical support for the Chair and the Executive from the wider membership.

Not everyone has the time to sit on the Executive, but involvement by members with short term projects would be an enormous help in the absence of a FIDO offering support to the group.

Everyone is very busy with their own businesses I know, but raising the profile of Adelaide Hills Food and raising the profile this region as one of excellent gourmet produce, is of benefit to every member, and it would be a great pity if all the progress that has been made is lost under these new changes.

Most of the groundwork has been done and the opportunity exists to build on this with much less pain.

OK - pep talk over. In my next column, which will be my last, I will write glowing things about you all, so don't skip it in fear of being lectured again!

The Brasserie at the Hilton

In the last edition of the Adelaide Hills Food Chain there was an item about our very enjoyable visit to The Brasserie at the Hilton during the time they were featuring the Adelaide Hills on their menu.

When I went in for dinner the following week I was delighted to see on the menu Cottonville Farms Tayberry and White Chocolate Tart. Alan Dawson of Cottonville Farms had taken a sample of berries down and talked to the chefs about them. Simon Bryant said he thought the product was excellent and was very enthusiastic about Adelaide Hills Produce in general.

The Brasserie were also kind enough to share the recipe for one of the featured desserts with us. This is one for those with large families or lots of friends!

Italian Gastronomy Students

On 24 June a group of Italian gastronomy students will be visiting the Adelaide Hills as part of their tour of South Australia. They will spend the morning in the Piccadilly Valley learning about the horticultural traditions there, visit Nirvana Organic Farm at Heathfield to cook chestnuts and go on to lunch at Duck Flat Community Garden.

Deb Cantrill of the Slow Food movement and I are putting this event together and any Adelaide Hills Food members who would like to be involved, or come to lunch and bring their produce are very welcome.

Fleurieu Olive Awards

Entries are now open for the Fleurieu Olive Awards which are judged at Fiesta in October.

Download the entry form [PDF 160kb].

Hello/Goodbye

Hello to Lynette McFarlane as the new cellar door manager at Bird in Hand as Kath Nugent goes off to await motherhood. Thanks to Kath for all her help with planning the new Food Guide and trails.

Farewell to Katie Cameron, Executive Officer at Adelaide Hills Wine Region as she goes off to Pirramimma Wines in McLaren Vale after three very successful years.

GRANTS UPDATE

Industry Cooperative Innovation Program (ICIP)

Provided by Ausindustry

Round Three of the Industry Cooperative Innovation Program opened on March 22, 2007 and will close on June 12, 2007.

The grant program aims to stimulate business collaboration to solve industry significant innovation challenges. Forfurther information on the program visit www.ausindustry.gov.au or call 132846.

New Industries Development Program (NIDP) - In Market Experience Scholarship (IMES)

Provided by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

The 2007 round of IMES closes on July 19, 2007. This grant program is particularly relevant for business managers looking to expand their knowledge of particular markets for their new* products, or to observe products, processes and systems that can be transferred to an Australian context.

*New means total sales from all Australian sources are less than $1 million.
For further information and to access application documents visit www.daff.gov.au/agribiz

Export Market Development Grants

Austrade is holding their next group coaching session on these grants on:
Friday, June 29, 9-11am and 2-4pm at Austrade, Ground Floor, 50 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide
Contact www.austrade.gov.au/exportgrants/coaching

Useful grant links

http://www.grantslink.gov.au/ This site gives a useful listing of Australian Government grants by category.
http://www.grants.ord.sa.gov.au/ This site is useful as a reminder due to its automated email listing. Care should be taken as occasionally some information referring to third party sources is out of date.
http://www.ausindustry.gov.au/ Lists Ausindustry's extensivesuite of innovation grant programs along with contact information for regional offices.
http://www.regionalpartnerships.gov.au/ Link to DOTARS key regional community development grant programs.

SMILE :)

Maturing cheddar becomes slow food Internet star

A large English cheddar cheese has become a star of the Internet, attracting more than 1 million viewers to sit and stare as it slowly ripens.

First placed in front of a webcam in late December 2006, the English cheddar gained the public's attention in early February and has since attracted viewers from around the world.

"The hits went over 1 million this morning. It has been a real challenge keeping the cheese up and running with all the interest it has generated," said a spokesman for the company running the www.cheddarvision.tv website.

"The whole idea was to show people how real food is made - and it seems to be working," cheesemaker Tom Calver said. "It takes a year for the cheese to mature.

"This is not fast food. It is slow food."

So you think you have distribution problems? #2

Fido Funny

You can have two, slightly more risque, this time to make up for the grim news above.

Testicle .......... a humorous question in an exam

Foreploy .......... any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

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New Members

InterProduct

Magdalena and Gilbert v. d. Aue

Magdalena and Gilbert v. d. Aue brought their knowledge of fruit processing from France where they learned the intricacies of plum growing and prune production in the famous fruit growing area around Agen (Southwest France).

When they moved from Singapore to the Adelaide Hills in 1997 they planted an orchard of d'Agen plums in Oakbank which now is the basis of their fruit processing business.

In the meantime, they ventured as well into other fruits and are producing prunes in Barossa brandy and port, plum paste, plum jam, quince paste and quince jelly.

Processing equipment bought in Germany and Spain helps them to work with larger quantities due the increased demand of their Hills grown products.

Contact: InterProduct  Pty  Ltd.
Phone +618 8388 4906. Fax +618 8398 0011

New cheesemaker for Udder Delights

Christopher Bremner-Macdonald

Udder Delights is excited to announce that we have appointed a new Head Cheesemaker.

Christopher Bremner-Macdonald has been making cheese at the well known Milawa Cheese Factory (Victoria) for the past 5 years.

He has expertise in making over 20 varieties of cheese, and is particularly good at Blue Cheese and Washed Rind.

Christopher will be making the move from Victoria to base himself in the Adelaide Hills and will be overseeing the entire cheese making at Udder Delights.

Saul will now be able to focus on expanding the factory, increasing the sales and working with our distributors (and he'll still make cheese with Chris).

Together they will form a great team and can't wait to start experimenting. So expect a few new cheeses from Udder Delights over the next 12 months!

Udder Delights Cheese Cellar is Firing Up with Fondue.

The new winter menu has arrived. We’ve kept the old favourites of ‘Pie in the Sky’ and our ‘Caramelised Onion and Goat Cheese Tart’. But we now have more hearty soups to pick from, risotto and the most delicious Cheese Fondue.

This cheesey fondue is served with Woodbake Ciabatta Bread, Hahndorf Venison Kabana, Mini Dill Cucumbers and Baby Balsamic Pickled Onions.

Events

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Calendar

Visit our on-line calendar for the latest dates

Please send information about upcoming events to food@southcentralacc.com if you would like them to be included in the next newsletter.

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Contacts

Administration

You are receiving this email because you opted to join the Adelaide Hills Food News list. If you were forwarded this email and would like to subscribe and have it delivered to your in-box each month click the Subscribe link at the end of this message. To unsubscribe to this list, select the Unsubscribe link. To read this newsletter with your web-browser click here. For other enquiries email ahf@adelaidehillsfood.com.au. For more information visit the Adelaide Hills Food web site at www.adelaidehillsfood.com.au