New peanut processor under construction

After years of planning, the Crumptons' new peanut seed processor is finally going ahead.

BUMPER: This year's crop completely full of peanuts. Picture: Madeline Grace

AFTER years of planning, the Crumpton's new peanut seed processor is finally going ahead.

Darryn Crumpton has been heavily involved in the planning process and is looking forward to working with his new processor.

"It's been in the works for years,” Mr Crumpton said.

"We had to get everything council-approved first. It's being built now. We've already got some silos and others bits and pieces set up.

"It should be up and going around this time next year. It's going to create about three to seven new full-time seasonal jobs.

"It's going to be where everything to do with breeding different varieties happens. This will help because everything will run smoother and we're going to have bulk turnover.”

The seed processor will not be used for any peanuts the Crumptons grow commercially.

"Everything from the trials will go to the seed processing plants in smaller batches to get shelled and sorted through and then tested,” Mr Crumpton said.

"Because you've got to keep everything pure it takes a lot longer to sort through and to clean everything.

"Everything needs to be thorough. With everything moving it'll be good to do all of that properly without having to worry about the pressure of production on your back.”

Mr Crumpton was recently in Mexico, where he picked a new peanut variety to test in his new seed processor.

"All the locals over there kept recommending this one type of peanut,” he said.

"So I got it. It has to stay in quarantine for another 12months or so yet. Which is really important to prevent diseases. You don't want that. Then once we get it out it'll be in the seed processor for five or seven years before we can grow the final variety to sell commercially.

"Even though it's a really slow process, it's honestly a really important one. It would be just terrible if we had another disease pop up in the Australian peanut industry. Once it's out of quarantine we start trialling them. You might only get a handful of seeds from quarantine so then you've got to multiply them up year after year.

"Then my plant breeders cross-breed them to figure out what the winner is. But the thing is you've got to have them separate. You don't want any cross-contamination between them when you're trialling things otherwise it can all get messed up.

"It is best to keep the breeding trials and not-quite-ready varieties separate. That's why we're doing this new big seed processor in town. To keep everything separate.”