Neutrog unveils plans for Kanmantoo tourist hub
Brewing bugs and chicken poo mightn’t sound like a recipe for success but it’s done so well for one Hills company they’re planning to showcase their efforts with a 9-storey visitor’s hub.
Adelaide Hills
Don't miss out on the headlines from Adelaide Hills. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Bugs and chicken poo aren’t your usual ingredients when creating the perfect blend.
But for biological fertiliser company Neutrog it’s been the secret to success.
The Kanmantoo-based business has revealed plans for a tourism hub at its Mine Road site to grow awareness of its enterprise.
This includes converting two former mining silos into a nine-storey visitor centre, complete with a viewing platforms and a brewery-like set-up to observe the fertiliser fermentation process.
There’s even the possibility of taking home a bottle of “probiotic bug juice” – but this one is strictly for use in the garden and definitely off the tasting menu.
Managing director Angus Irwin said the tourism hub concept had been 32 years in the making and he hoped it would educate the wider public on the importance of soil health.
“The bizarre thing about what we do is that we use the exact same tanks and methods as you would for brewing beer, it’s just for a different purpose,” he said.
Neutrog now has a sister company in South Africa and exports products all over the world, as growers seek to improve soil health for optimal produce production.
Retail sales have also boomed as more people spend time at home gardening due to COVID-19.
“We’re very keen to get as many visitors up here to see what we do. If I can give it an analogy, it’s no different than having a kitchen where people can see what you can cook,” Mr Irwin said.
Neutrog already offers tours to school students.
“We are going into a new area of agriculture where we are discovering and finding bugs that do various functions and allow us to brew up different bacteria, which is really exciting and fascinating to people who have never seen it before.
“So to have a visitor centre that’s enclosed and safe from dust and 20,000 tonnes of chicken shit will be a great thing to have.”
In the past two years, Neutrog has built a 2500sq m warehouse, a 7000sq m composting pad and a 100,000 litre fertiliser brewery.
Mr Irwin said he hoped to open the visitor centre by 2023.
“We’re in the process of putting together a three-year site plan to complement what we’ve already done. Because our growth has been as such, we have to continue planning to keep up with the curve.
“The visitor centre will play a pretty big key role in that, as we want visitors and to educate people what our business is about.”
