Select Harvests facts for kids
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Formerly
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Defender Limited |
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| public (ASX: SHV) | |
| Industry | Agribusiness |
| Founded | 1978 in Australia |
| Headquarters | , |
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Key people
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Mr Michael Iwaniw, Chairman Paul Thompson, MD (CEO) Paul Chambers, CFO |
| Products | Almonds, Muesli, Health food |
| Brands | Lucky, Sunsol, Nu-Vit, Renshaw, Allinga Farms, Soland |
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Production output
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| Revenue |  A$298.5 million (2019) |
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Operating income
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A$80.06 million |
| A$53.02 million (2019) |
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| Total assets | A$552.85 million (2019) |
| Total equity | A$416 million (2019) |
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Number of employees
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270 permanent, 500 seasonal (2015) |
Select Harvests is a big Australian company that grows and processes almonds. They are the largest almond grower in Australia and the third largest in the world! They have almond farms, called orchards, in different parts of Australia like Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. Besides growing almonds, they also make yummy food snacks and muesli. The company is based in Melbourne and has about 270 full-time employees. During busy times, like harvest, this number can grow to 500 people.
The company has two main parts. One part is the almond business. This part owns and manages the almond farms. They also handle the harvesting and first steps of processing the almonds. The other part is the food business. This part takes the almonds and other fruits to make different products. They sell these products to shops, distributors, and other food makers. Some of their past brands included Lucky, Sunsol, Nu-Vit, Meriram, Soland, Allinga Farms, and Renshaw.
In 2021, Select Harvests sold their Lucky and Sunsol brands. These brands were bought by Prolife Foods, a company from New Zealand. However, Select Harvests still owns and uses the Allinga Farms and Renshaw brands.
Contents
How Select Harvests Started
Select Harvests began in 1978. The company's earlier versions have been listed on the Australian Securities Exchange since 1983. Before it was called Select Harvests, it was known as Defender Limited and Defender Australia Limited.
Almonds in Australia: A Brief History
The first almond farms in Australia were planted in the 1800s. This happened on the Adelaide Plains in South Australia. This area was perfect for growing almonds. It had the right climate, enough rain, and good soil. From there, almond farms spread to southern Adelaide, especially near Willunga, South Australia. However, many of these old almond areas have now been built over as cities grew.
In the 1960s and 1970s, most of the almond industry moved. They went further east, along the Murray River. The main growing areas became the Riverland, Sunraysia, and Riverina districts. These new areas were better because land was cheaper. There was also plenty of water for irrigation, and the climate was even better for almonds. This is where Select Harvests now has most of its almond farms.
The total area of almond farms in Australia grew a lot between 1999 and 2007. It increased from about 9,000 acres to 62,000 acres. Select Harvests owns about 9,000 acres of this land. They also lease, or rent, another 4,500 acres. By the end of 2020, Select Harvests managed 22,886 acres of almond farms. Of this, they owned 12,619 acres themselves.
Where Select Harvests Grows Almonds
Select Harvests has almond farms in several locations. These include Robinvale in Northern Victoria, and the Riverina region in New South Wales. They also have farms near Hillston and Griffith in New South Wales. In South Australia, they have farms in Paringa, South Australia and Loxton, South Australia. In 2014, the company bought a large farm called Amaroo in Renmark, South Australia. At that time, it was the biggest independent almond farm in Australia.
In 2008, Select Harvests also bought 4,300 acres of land in Dandaragan Plateau in Western Australia. However, in early 2013, they decided to sell this project. They put their young almond trees, water rights, and irrigation systems up for sale. By December 2015, Select Harvests announced they had sold their Western Australian farms and land. They sold them to an Australian business for A$9.5 million.
Select Harvests is one of Australia's biggest almond exporters. This means they send a lot of almonds to other countries. They have been growing their sales in fast-growing markets like India and China. They also send almonds to Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
How Select Harvests Processes Almonds
Select Harvests has special facilities to process almonds. They have two large almond processing plants. Both of these plants are located in Victoria, Australia.
Thomastown Plant
One of their processing plants is in Thomastown, Victoria. Since 2002, this location has also been the main office for Select Harvests. The site has offices, a production area, a laboratory, and a warehouse. About 54 permanent staff work here. During busy times, 70 to 140 seasonal workers also help with production. Each year, this plant produces about 13,000 metric tonnes of packaged nuts and other related products.
Carina West Plant
The second plant is near Carina West. This plant can hull and shell 22,000 t of almonds in six months. This means it can process 10 tonnes per hour during its busiest times. The Carina West plant was built in 2008 and cost A$40 million. It also has large areas for storing, sorting, packing, warehousing, and fumigating almonds. Select Harvests makes sure its almond products meet high safety and quality standards. They follow rules from groups like the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service and the Global Food Safety Initiative. They also have halal and kosher certifications.
In 2015, Select Harvests received a grant of A$1.5 million. This money helped them build a special power plant at their Carina West facility. This plant uses biomass electricity co-generation.
Making Energy from Almond Waste
The project involves a biomass boiler and a steam turbine. This system uses almond shells and other waste from the orchards as fuel. It turns this waste into heat and electricity. Any extra electricity that is made is sent to the main power grid. When it was first planned, experts thought this plant would use 30,000 metric tonnes of almond and orchard waste each year. This would also reduce the company's carbon dioxide emissions by over 23,500 tonnes annually.
The company's sustainability report from 2023 showed how well this project is working. It stated that 27,685 tonnes of biomass were used in the co-generation plant. This created 17.8 GWh (gigawatt-hours) of renewable electricity. Some of this clean electricity was then sent back into the electricity grid for others to use.
