Mullaley-based business Lively Linseed has taken out the prestigious 2015 Northern Inland Innovation of the Year Award announced at a gala dinner in Glen Innes on Friday, November 20.
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Lively Linseed also received the award for Best Employment Agriculture/Horticulture and Associated Services, with the Shenhua Watermark Coal/Gunnedah Meals on Wheels project winning the Innovative Community Contribution Award.
Other local projects to be recognised were the Boggabri Drovers Campfire (Retail, Tourism and Leisure category) and the Gunnedah-based Wholegrain Milling Company (The Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Manufacturing and Engineering Award). Both of these finalists were highly commended.
“Plain Camp” on the black soil plains near Mullaley, has been farmed by the Donoghue family for 150 years and Jacqui and Chris Donoghue’s decision to grow linseed and value-add with Lively Linseed Products was so innovative that they have essentially pioneered a health food product.
The couple went from growing a niche commodity to also being the manufacturer, distributor and marketer of nutritious milled linseed products, which range from coarse flour and breakfast cereals to biscuits.
The products are sold throughout Australia and to high-end Asian supermarkets. Growth in demand for the innovative range of seven different Lively Linseed products has meant linseed is now sourced from other nearby farmers.
Linseed is not a common crop in the region and is generally grown for the Omega 3 in linseed oil.
Jacqui Donoghue has had to discover a huge amount – from the challenges of linseed growing to how to mill it, with its oily properties.
Ground linseed products, such as the biscuits baked at Watson’s Kitchen in Narrabri, are not only nutritious, they also suit niche consumer markets. They are high in fibre and fatty acids while being gluten-free.
RDA Northern Inland chairman Russell Stewart said the level of the entries this year had been particularly high.
“Aussies don’t like to blow their own trumpet and these awards have recognised outstanding regional innovators who have generally been quiet achievers, until now,” he said.
“Lively Linseed is a great agricultural value-adding business and most of us didn’t know they existed.”
Jacqui Donoghue said the awards had been a wonderful experience and she was encouraging others to be involved.
“I had no idea what wonderful, innovative businesses we have in this region and it is important that through these awards, they are being recognised,” she said.
“Agriculture contributed about $48 billion to the GDP but that figure rises to around $144 billion when value-adding is included.
“The economy and local businesses can benefit greatly from value adding,” she said.
“I’d also encourage people to engage with the government departments that are there to help – AusTrade and the Department of Industry, for example, have helped develop our South East Asian export markets so much.”
Mrs Donoghue said this sort of recognition added profile, integrity and credibility, especially where exporting was concerned.
The Innovative Community Contribution Award went to the Shenhua Watermark Coal/Gunnedah Meals on Wheels project, which involved Shenhua employees becoming volunteers in 2012.
Three years later, 23 of the 26 Shenhua Watermark staff had become involved, with half on permanent roster and half on a call-up roster to deliver meals to senior citizens.
“This is a commendable 83 per cent of the Shenhua workforce contributing to the Gunnedah community, in an innovative approach to community contribution and integration,” Mr Stewart said.
This is a multicultural, mining company Meals on Wheels first. Shenhua had earlier contributed a grant of $19,000 for the purchase of a large freezer and fridge and renovation for the MOW kitchen to cater for an increased demand for frozen meals at the weekend.
The company has also signed up to the important Gunnedah Meals on Wheels “buddy program”.
Highly commended was the Wholegrain Milling Company at Gunnedah which fuses age-old and modern flour mill equipment.
The supplier of certified organic milled flour has innovatively prepared for the future, when there may not be a reliable supply of certified organic grains.
Certified Sustainable grain and flour from Wholegrain Milling continues to capitalise on contemporary market demands.
The increasingly popular Boggabri Drovers’ Campfire, a successful, unique tourism event, was another proud local finalist at the awards.
With “dinky-di” innovations like showers for campers converted from horse floats, it celebrates the quirky and warm country hospitality that the name suggests.
The annual event has innovatively catered to a niche tourism market, attracted in excess of $260,000 in funding and massively boosted return visitor numbers and community pride along the way.