The Adelaide Plains are ancient flood plains of South Australia that are nestled between the ecologically important mangroves of Gulf St Vincent, the foot of the Mount Lofty Ranges and stretching towards the Flinders Ranges. 

The area is ideally situated for intensive horticulture production as it possesses fertile red-brown sandy soils and a Mediterranean climate characterised by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Importantly, the region has ready access to water from several sustainable underground limestone reservoirs that are recharged from the scenic Mt Lofty Ranges; other sources include Class A recycled water and mains water. The success of the region can also be attributed to its ideal daylight hours for growing crops, and its proximity to Adelaide means food producers have close access to consumers and domestic and international transport networks. 

The region is home to a thriving, vibrant horticulture industry that lies immediately north of the Adelaide metropolitan region. It produces approximately 200,000 tonnes of fresh produce and over $300 million in farm gate value annually. The industry is largely comprised of family businesses, and often you will find several generations of the family actively involved in the business. The industry is fortunate to possess a skilled multicultural workforce that supplies premium products to discerning markets all over Australia and the world. 

The high quality of produce from growers on the Adelaide Plains is well recognised in Australia’s wholesale markets. The bulk of production is sold into the local Adelaide Market and the eastern seaboard. The South Australian Produce Market, located just 25 minutes from Adelaide CBD in Pooraka (http://www.saproducemarket.com.au/), is a key destination for much of the produce. You can find local growers there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings long before the sun comes up. Plus, many of the producers also sell directly to leading supermarkets and fruit and vegetable retailers.

Growing Techniques Used on the Adelaide Plains

Open field vegetable farming is a key production method on the Adelaide Plains. Crops are seasonally produced usually with fixed irrigation; although pivot irrigation is sometimes used. Key crops include potatoes, carrots, onions, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbages, and lettuces. The free draining soils are ideal for this type of horticulture.

Undercover cropping has been increasingly utilised on the Adelaide Plains in recent years. The region is now well recognised as the largest protected cropping region in the Southern Hemisphere with over 1000 hectares of greenhouse production, and continues to expand by 100 hectares per year.

Two main approaches are used in undercover cropping: in-ground intensive production in greenhouses, and high technology hydroponics. 

In-ground intensive production allows maximum flavour to be achieved. The enclosed plastic tunnels that are commonly used in the region allow for faster growth rates, increased yields, extended growing periods, and achieve the premium products the region is renowned for. Crops are seasonally produced under irrigation with capsicums, cucumbers, eggplants and tomatoes being the main products produced.

Hydroponics is a technique where plants are grown in environments such as rock wool or coco peat, or directly in water using a technique known as nutrient film technology (NFT). Specific concentrations of nutrients are added to the growing water that allows optimum growth rates to be achieved. On the Adelaide Plains these systems are usually contained in either shaded areas (NFT), large plastic greenhouses or increasingly in state-of-the-art glass houses that use world leading technology. These systems are innovative, increasingly automated and achieve extremely high volumes of production. The result is premium vegetables of a consistent quality, that are sought after by leading supermarkets. Key hydroponic crops include tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and lettuce. 

Tree crops are also a common feature of the Adelaide Plains with both almonds and olives growing throughout the region. The almond trees line local roads and, when in full bloom, provide stunning scenery. 

Advanced Processing

The area has also emerged as a major processing zone. Several sizeable businesses have been established for processing large volume crops including potatoes, carrots and onions. These facilities use advanced imaging systems that assess each individual vegetable for quality traits and incorporate high levels of automation to produce attractive packaged products that are seen daily in leading supermarkets. 

Sustainable water source

Since around 1997-1998 Class A Reclaimed /Recycled water from the SA Water wastewater treatment plant at Bolivar has been firstly, researched, and a little later introduced through a project known as the Virginia Pipeline Scheme (VPS). At the beginning of 1999 the scheme was introduced to commercial growers to supplement the use of groundwater from bores in aquifers that were becoming increasingly saline in some areas of the plains. The Class A water had a guaranteed level of total dissolved salts capped at around 1150 milligrams per Litre. This allowed expansion of the vegetable and tree industries and was designed to use up to 20 Gigalitres (20 billion litres) of wastewater from Adelaide.This greatly reduced the amount of wastewater going into Gulf St Vincent, which at the time was found to be severely affecting the environment, including by reducing the health of sea grass meadows that were a major food source for fish in the Gulf. This initiative was funded by the State Government and allowed the Government to buy back the Scheme from the commercial interests that originally funded its development after twenty years. This milestone has just occurred. The VPS is the second largest reclaimed/recycled water scheme in the world only behind Monterey in California, USA. Recently, the Australian Federal Government and South Australian State Government announced the building of the Northern Adelaide Irrigation Scheme (NAIS) which will provide another 12 Gigalitres initially but will be able to expand in future years to another 20 Gigalitres. When this stage is completed, the VPS and NAIS combined will rival Monterey for size.

INVEST IN THE REGION

For investment enquiries, please refer to the relevant Local Government Authority below:

City of Playford Council: https://www.playford.sa.gov.au/
Adelaide Plains Council: https://www.apc.sa.gov.au/Home
Town of Gawler: https://www.gawler.sa.gov.au/
Light Regional Council: https://www.light.sa.gov.au/page.aspx
City of Salisbury: http://www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/Home