IF Simplot can avoid paying penalty rates to its staff and reduce input costs on power and water, the company may have a chance of saving its Bathurst manufacturing plant.
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However, the worst-case scenario – that the local factory closes – is still a possibility amid concerns from management it is no longer a competitive operation.
Simplot dropped a bombshell last week when it announced it would cease manufacturing in Bathurst unless it could improve its bottom line.
Lagoon market gardener Jeff McSpedden is one of 10 local corn producers who grow a crop to
supply Simplot and 22 across the Central West who do business with the multinational corporation.
“The high cost of labour is killing Simplot,” Mr McSpedden said yesterday.
“Unless they can change their ways and the dollar moves, they are in big trouble. The base hourly rate under the Food Preservers Union is $26 an hour and you double that at the weekend.
“Over in New Zealand the hourly rate is just under $13 and they don’t pay penalty rates.
“It’s pretty simple. It’s why McCain’s couldn’t compete here and went over there.”
Mr McSpedden said he was in Queensland after attending the annual AusVeg conference on the Gold Coast when the news broke last Tuesday.
“Like everyone, it did come as a shock,” he said.
“The Americans were here in Bathurst about a month ago looking at their local operation and I asked then how it all went because I was about to order another central pivot irrigator.
“They said they were happy with the production side of things, so I thought things were okay and went ahead and purchased one.”
Mr McSpedden said he worried that Simplot’s closure in Bathurst would further erode Australia’s food security.
“Food is a basic industry, just like the military. It’s a primary need of society,” he said. “The government has some responsibility in this regard.
“There are 10 corn growers in the Bathurst basin and they supply half of what Simplot processes. If the company pulled the pin we would have to stop growing corn because we wouldn’t have a market.
“I am more fortunate than some of the others because I am not totally reliant on corn for an income. However, some who are may have to have a huge rethink and it could come to the point where they simply walk off the land.
“This is a critical decision for us. It’s probably the biggest thing to happen to the industry in my time.”
