The news left farmers and about 150 employees in limbo about the future of the peanut industry in their regions.<\/p>\n
However, Bega Group has announced it will now sell its assets at the sites, including land, buildings and equipment, to Kingaroy-based Crumpton Group.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bega Group says it wanted to make sure the industry had a way forward. (ABC News: Brandon Long )<\/p>\n
Bega chief executive Pete Findlay said the group would still shut down the Peanut Company of Australia part of the business.<\/p>\n
But he was pleased with the sale of the processing sites, which he said would keep the assets in “local hands”.<\/p>\n
“We’re selling the properties around Kingaroy and Tolga to Crumpton, so they’ll \u2026 look to utilise those properties in future peanut processing,” he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Findlay said the sale included the main silos and roasting facility at Kingaroy, the primary processing plant and refrigerated storage at Tolga, plus some distribution centres.<\/p>\n
“We were looking for a solution to try and ensure that the industry had a way forward, and that would benefit the communities and farmers and employees,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We will separate the employees with all of their entitlements as we’ve discussed, and we’ll support those employees as we discussed.<\/p>\n
“Crumptons will buy the properties and then they’ll look to operate them in whatever format they see fit, and will employ some people back into the business again.”<\/p>\n
Crumpton Group general manager Sonie Crumpton said the company bought the assets to give the industry a way forward.<\/p>\n
He said while some staff would be re-hired, it was too early to know all the details.<\/p>\n
“We’re definitely going to re-hire some of those staff, but at the moment I don’t know who that will be,” Mr Crumpton said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The sale has provided hope for peanut growers and workers in Kingaroy and Tolga. (ABC Rural: Charlie McKillop)<\/p>\n
Decision provides hope<\/p>\n
Crumpton Group is a family-owned business that has been processing peanuts for decades.<\/p>\n
Its products include raw and roasted peanuts, peanut butter and peanut oil, among others.<\/p>\n
Mr Crumpton said when Bega announced the looming closures, the company began talking with growers across the South Burnett.<\/p>\n
Shortly after, the group was also approached by growers in Tolga, which pushed the company to step up and negotiate the deal.<\/p>\n
“Now that we’ve purchased the assets, we can comfortably handle the entire Australian crop,” Mr Crumpton said.<\/p>\n
“I think it’ll significantly increase our business.”<\/p>\n
He said he would visit Far North Queensland and contact growers as planting began.<\/p>\n
The sale to Crumpton has been welcomed by Tolga peanut farmer Richard Standen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Richard Standen grows peanuts in Tolga on the Atherton Tablelands. (ABC: Charlie McKillop)<\/p>\n
“It sounds very positive that there may well be a peanut industry continuing in north Queensland,” he said.<\/p>\n
He believes there are about 40 growers in the wider Atherton Tablelands region who will be affected, as peanuts are a popular rotation crop in the area.<\/p>\n
“We just need to get down to the details, I guess, and find out exactly what we’re being offered,” Mr Standen said.<\/p>\n
“It’ll be good for Tolga just to keep the plant where it is. I think that’ll be terrific too.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major deal has been struck that may provide a lifeline to Queensland’s peanut industry. Bega announced plans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[20615,64,63,94063,99,94064,25980,94066,94065,94068,94062,94067,7134],"class_list":["post-136630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-acquisition","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bega-group","tag-business","tag-crumpton-group","tag-farmer","tag-growers","tag-peanut-company-of-australia","tag-peanut-industry","tag-peanuts","tag-processing-plants","tag-sale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}