Rural Councils Victoria (RCV) has developed a web portal designed to help food and beverage manufacturers expand their existing businesses or invest in rural Victoria for the first time.
The initiative stems from the findings of a wider RCV project that identified food and beverage manufacturing as a key growth industry.
The website gives information about industrial assets across rural Victoria, including:
- Location – town and council;
- Type – land, greenfield, brownfield;
- Value – relative sales prices from the Victorian Valuer-General;
- Contact details – for the local councils in which the assets are located;
- Maps – informative, interactive maps of locations;
- Data – a downloadable database of all assets across rural Victoria; and
- Information – on economic trends for food and beverage manufacturing in rural Victoria.
“Rural Victoria offers food and beverage manufacturers and their employees benefits that just can’t be found in metropolitan areas or in regional cities,” Rural Councils Victoria chair Mary-Ann Brown said in a recent RVC news story.
“There is a wide range of industrial landholdings, land and buildings that are much more affordable, with no encroaching residential development to limit expansion plans, no traffic congestion and large buffers from other activities.
“The new website showcases opportunities for businesses across rural Victoria and provides the contact details of knowledgeable Council employees for businesses to follow up with,” she said.
“ABS data shows that Victoria’s food and beverage manufacturing sectors had a $4.8 billion growth in revenue with $1.9 billion, or 38 per cent, of this revenue growth based in rural Victoria. This trend provides food and beverage manufacturers with an amazing opportunity to grow their operations and rural Victoria is open for business.”
Source: Website to help food manufacturers invest in rural Victoria I Rural Councils Victoria