Fermentation Tasmania update

At last!  An update from the home of Fermentation Tasmania.

Again, a big thank you for taking the time a few months ago to complete the short industry survey. We had 98 responses to this survey, which is fantastic. The thoughts, ideas, suggestions and overwhelming support we received for this concept have proved immensely useful as we have stepped through the process of further consultation and planning.

And we’ve been making progress . . .

• We convened a combined meeting with industry, government, UTAS and Tas TAFE to test further the concept – and again the Fermentation Tasmania concept came through with strong endorsement.
• We have had very encouraging discussions with commercial service and equipment providers who see great value in being involved once we are set up.
• Members of our core team have been successful in winning a couple of international fellowships to gather and bring back knowledge of what is happening overseas in the areas of industry development (in fermentation) and climate resilience:
  • Tom Lewis was awarded an Agrifood Skills Australia research fellowship through the International Specialised Skills Institute.  Tom will use this fellowship to explore training and skill development needs related to fermentation-based food and beverages.
  • Nat Fryar was awarded the 2015 Dr Don Martin Sustainable Viticulture fellowship.  Nat will use the fellowship to investigate wine varieties and clones best suited to Tasmania in the face of climate change.
• As we move more closely towards starting to raise funds to support the scoping study and business case, we have established a formal Board for fermentation Tasmania to provide the necessary governance and accountability. Our foundation Board is Kim Seagram, Michael Harvey, Caro Brown, Jan Davis and Tom Lewis. (More details will soon be available on our website – fermentasmania.com – once we get that properly set up).

We are now at the stage where we need to get into the detail – we need to scope out exactly what Fermentation Tasmania might look like and what value it will deliver.

To this end, we are refining our scoping study itinerary to gather information about fermentation operations and training facilities around the world and bring these ideas back to Tasmania to discuss widely amongst industry, research and government circles.  This is just the first part of creating a dynamic and innovative business plan that we want completed in 2016.

In this way we will see what sort of Centre will best serve the interests of businesses in the Tasmanian fermentation sector and what a sustainable business model for this would look like. Assuming that there is indeed a model that we think will work well, we will then need to work on attracting the investment needed to set it up and get it running.

So, once the governance formalities are bedded down, we will start talking seriously to industry, government and other agencies to decide how best to raise the funds for the scoping study and business case. We will be casting a wide net, and will be appreciative of any support we can attract.  We’ve been holding discussions with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), who are Deductible Gift Recipient endorsed and may be able to act as a recipient on behalf of Fermentation Tasmania - therefore making any payments received tax deductible.  As mentioned earlier, we already have attracted support through a couple of international fellowships. And a big thank you to those Tasmanian fermentation industry members who have already indicated that they will be willing to contribute. Every dollar we can raise from industry itself will count strongly towards attracting additional government support.
So, once again, thank you for your continued interest and support of this exciting concept. Please feel free to keep in touch and to send through any ideas to tom.lewis@rdspartners.com.au.