BRING together sixteen thousand truck movements each year, a daily crush of 6000 tonnes of canola, 16 silos docked to each other and a utility bill of $6 million a year and you have an idea of the scale of Riverina Oils and Bio-Energy (ROBE) at Wagga Wagga.
D D Saxena, replete with global business connections and experience, established ROBE which employs 65 people.
This vertically integrated company processes, packs and distributes the end products throughout Australia and into the United States, India, New Zealand and South East Asia.
“The demand for certified non-genetically modified canola oil outside Australia is huge and the reason we can supply the 1000t into California each month is because it is still the most widely grown crop in the Riverina, and free of genetically modified contamination,” Mr Saxena said.
“ROBE has been certified by FoodChain Global, the recognised accreditation body. We buy 15 per cent of canola directly from farmers and we want to increase this but to do this growers need to have on-farm storage to supply throughout the year, not just at harvest time.”
Canola oil is used in the production of agricultural inputs but the largest market is for manufactured foods, especially ‘fast-foods’.
The transformation from seeds into oil has multiple stages including expelling the oil under high temperatures and pressure, then extracting any remains. The actual refinement commences with the removal of gums by bleaching, the removal of free-fatty acids by deodorising and neutralising the oil by adding alkalines.
“Here at ROBE we have flexibility to provide specific products for markets. To give some perspective of the markets we supply, India uses 20m tonnes of oil a year compared to the United States which uses 14m tonnes”. In 2017, Wagga Wagga Canola Oil is being launched in India with our partner, L T Foods. They have 250,000 distributors and, within three years, we expect to have this oil in more than 100,000 outlets.”
“There is a very good future for non-gm canola growers in the Riverina,” he said.
Pennie Scott
I am an independent scholar with interests and expertise in regenerative agriculture, equity and justice for farmers, functioning healthy landscapes and the culture in agri-culture. My aim is to inform holistically and honestly to ensure readers have access to what they need, now.
I am an independent scholar with interests and expertise in regenerative agriculture, equity and justice for farmers, functioning healthy landscapes and the culture in agri-culture. My aim is to inform holistically and honestly to ensure readers have access to what they need, now.
