{"id":747564,"date":"2026-06-19T22:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/747564\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T22:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T22:16:15","slug":"crumptons-investment-gives-peanut-growers-renewed-optimism-after-bega-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/747564\/","title":{"rendered":"Crumptons’ investment gives peanut growers renewed optimism after Bega closure"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Bega Group, a major Australian food and drinks company, left the peanut industry 11 months ago, growers were uncertain about the future of their industry.<\/p>\n

But now there is renewed confidence in this year’s harvest.<\/p>\n

Queensland peanut growers were left in limbo when Bega decided to shut down its processing plants<\/a> in Kingaroy in the South Burnett and Tolga in the Far North last year.<\/p>\n

Tolga peanut grower Richard Standen did not even know if he would plant a crop this year after Bega’s exit from the industry.<\/p>\n

However, in September, Kingaroy-based family business Crumpton Group \u2014 a key player in the peanut industry for decades, both as a grower and processor \u2014 bought both processing sites.<\/p>\n

Mr Standen said it had been a lifeline.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

The peanut harvest has been under way across Queensland’s growing regions. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

“It’s terrific,” he said. “Growers needed the industry to stay here, so we were really grateful to Crumptons.<\/p>\n

“We wouldn’t have grown them [peanuts] if we had to send them further away. It just wouldn’t have been worth it \u2026 but it’s heartening to know that [Crumptons] are there to receive the crop.”<\/p>\n

There is a similar sentiment in Kingaroy.<\/p>\n

“We’re very thankful that Crumptons are still there because, if they weren’t there, I don’t know what would have happened last year when Bega closed down,” Kingaroy peanut grower Ben Campbell said.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

A relieved Ben Campbell is mid-harvest. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

Challenges remain despite optimism<\/p>\n

Mr Campbell is nearing the end of harvest, with about 75 per cent of his crop already delivered to the processing site.<\/p>\n

He is expecting to deliver about 350 tonnes this season but said yields and quality had been below average.<\/p>\n

Mr Campbell said a dry summer followed by a wet start to autumn had affected production.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in Tolga, Mr Standen is preparing to begin harvest and said his crop was looking promising.<\/p>\n

At the Crumpton Group’s Tolga facility, operations manager Alex Crumpton said some growers had been hesitant to plant this year after Bega’s exit.<\/p>\n

“There was uncertainty around whether we were going to buy the site or not, so a lot of farmers didn’t want to plant, which is understandable,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Alex Crumpton hopes more growers will have the confidence to plant next season.\u00a0 (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

About 20 growers are supplying peanuts to the Tolga facility this year, with between 2,500 and 3,000 tonnes expected to be processed.<\/p>\n

Mr Crumpton hopes more growers will plant next year and eventually lift throughput to about 6,000 tonnes annually.<\/p>\n

While confidence is improving, growers say profitability remains under pressure from imported peanuts.<\/p>\n

“The prices this year are down, maybe around 10 per cent on last year,” Mr Campbell said.<\/p>\n

“The reason for that is imports. We need to remain competitive.”<\/p>\n

\"Lots<\/p>\n

Between 2,500 and 3,000 tonnes of peanuts are expected to be processed at the Tolga site this season. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

Crumptons expanding Tolga site<\/p>\n

Currently, Tolga peanuts are shelled and graded at the local facility but then must be sent to the Kingaroy facility for further processing before reaching the market.<\/p>\n

Mr Crumpton said the group was investing heavily, with plans to significantly upgrade the Tolga site.<\/p>\n

“When we upgrade the [Tolga] facility, we’ll be incorporating colour sorters and X-ray machines so we can sell straight from here,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully, we can get more peanuts in the coming years, and I guess restore the Australian peanut industry to what it used to be when I was a kid.”\"Silos<\/p>\n

Crumpton Group has bought the peanut processing sites in Tolga and Kingaroy. (ABC Rural: Sophie Johnson)<\/p>\n

He wanted to give growers assurance that Crumptons was here to stay.<\/p>\n

“We’re putting a lot of money into the site. The family have sent me up here,” Mr Crumpton said.<\/p>\n

“I hope that sort of shows people that, by me moving up here, it’s not just like Bega being a massive company. I’m a part of the family.<\/p>\n

“So, hopefully I’m the next generation that can take over the business and keep running it for the next 50 years. [That] would be nice.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Bega Group, a major Australian food and drinks company, left the peanut industry 11 months ago, growers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[359311,64,63,94063,243128,99,94064,354464,359312,94068,359310],"class_list":["post-747564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alex-crumpton","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bega-group","tag-ben-campbell","tag-business","tag-crumpton-group","tag-crumptons","tag-peanut-growers-in-north-qld","tag-peanut-industry","tag-richard-standen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747564","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=747564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}