Sergeants Session: Chairman Tom ran an open fines session in the Sergeant's absence and managed to extract quite a tidy sum from such a small attending group.
Fine of the night was on Ken Jenkyn for being hard of hearing, subsequently discovering his hearing aid was turned off!!
Guest Speaker Intro ; Brett Guthrie introduced
Mr Neil Wandel to address us on his grain handling enterprise.
Guest Speaker-
Neil prefaced his speech by indicating He and Mary had arrived in Esperance in 1979.
Shortly after arrival, they became the proud owners of some 2000ac (quote" the only farm they ever need to own" he told Mary) at Scaddan. It wasn't until a chance meeting with Dick Thorpe from Thorpe Realty in 2000 saw the acquisition of the original shed on the Beckwith Street block, which preceded establishment of the grain drying and handling business we see today. The business has expanded over the years from an original 7 silo facility operated by abt 3-4 people to some 37 silos requiring abt 9 fulltime people expanding to 20 including casual staff over recent harvests.
Their primary exports are pulses, comprising faber beans, lupins, lentils and peas, with the vast majority heading to China.
Main activity of the facility is the drying, cleaning and testing of product on behalf of clients from this area. Recent bumper seasons have been a boon to the business with a record 195,000 tonnes being handled.
Keeping an adequate number of capable staff has been their biggest ongoing drama.
Next major project is the integration of a colour sorter which will give them the ability to separate impurities from product during processing.
Neil answered a barrage of questions on various aspects of the business from the floor.
Guest Speaker Thanks
Neil McCallum thanked Neil in the usual fashion, presenting him with our engraved biro.
