Council on the verge of releasing marketing prospectus for initiative

Written by STEVEN BURKE.

THE push to turn the Ovens and King valleys into a food bowl will hit top gear this month, with Wangaratta Unlimited set to launch a marketing prospectus.

Wangaratta Unlimited’s Graham Nickless, who has been seconded to the food bowl project for the past three months, said it was hoped the prospectus would attract major industry stakeholders to the initiative.

"Even without the prospectus, the work we’ve already done has elevated the profile of the region, and there has been a lot of outside interest in what we are trying to do," he said.

But it won’t be just one crop, or product that will drive the food bowl initiative.

"It will be a raft of different initiatives," Mr Nickless said.

"There are currently studies being done into the revitalisation of the dairy industry and with the issues facing the North East there may be more opportunites for dairy up into the Mitta, Kiewa and Ovens valleys."

And while the Ovens-Murmungee aquifer study could play a key role in paving the way for more intensive agriculture in the North East, Mr Nickless said the food bowl initiative would press ahead regardless of the study.