Grants for food and beverage manufacturers open under $1.3B initiative

Project funding is now available for Australian food and beverage manufacturers as part of the federal government’s $1.3 billion Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI).

The funding is set to help local manufacturers in the sector to capitalise on the growing global appetite for Aussie made products.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said this funding would unlock investment to further grow what is the biggest manufacturing sector in Australia.

“The world already can’t get enough of Aussie made food and beverages but there are opportunities to further build on our international reputation for producing premium, safe and high-quality products,” Minister Andrews said.

“Investing in our food and beverage manufacturers will ensure they remain on the front foot and maximise every opportunity to tap into global markets and create jobs here at home,” she explained.

Food and Beverage is the fourth of six National Manufacturing Priorities to be supported under the MMI. The goal is to help manufacturers to scale-up production, commercialise their products and operations, and integrate into domestic and global supply chains.

Minister Andrews continued that to strengthen our economy, we need to make the most of our natural advantages in agriculture, and that means adding as much value as we can to raw materials through manufacturing.

“The other great thing about food and beverage manufacturing is its imprint on regional Australia – both in where many of the factories are located and the support for businesses right along the supply chain,” she said.

Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud said this support for food and beverage manufacturers will have significant flow-on effects for Australian farmers and agriculture producers.

“Australia already makes world class value-added products from fruit and vegetables, grain mill and cereals, dairy products and meat,” Minister Littleproud said.

He said the funding will open up further opportunities for the development of new products and the expansion of existing product lines beyond the farm gate.

“This will be good for our farmers, our transport industry and the regional communities they all support.”

To guide the investment, an industry-led road map has also been released, setting out a ten year vision for the food and beverage manufacturing sector.

Opportunities identified include smart processing and packaging methods, products for health and wellbeing and enhanced nutritional value, high value-add products such as those containing new and enhanced proteins, products with strong food safety, origin and traceability systems and the adoption of solutions to increase differentiation of food and beverage products in domestic and overseas markets.

Road maps in the two remaining priority areas – Defence, and Recycling and Clean Energy – will be released soon to coincide with the opening of their respective MMI funding rounds.

Initial applications will be limited to the Translation and Integration streams of the MMI, with expressions of interest for the larger Collaboration stream to open in coming months.

Source: Minister for Industry, Science and Technology press release