THE cutting of an appropriately bright red ribbon officially marked the opening of the $2 million Elders' state-of-the-art new branch in the Muchea Industrial Park at its grand opening sundowner on March 31.
After a welcome to country by Beverley Port-Louis representing the Yued people, who spoke of her family's connection to the region, it was Elders Melbourne-based chief financial officer Tania Foster who did the honours with the scissors.
Ms Foster who is still involved in her family's farm at Casterton on the Victorian-South Australian border, was right at home among the more than 160 invited clients, suppliers and Elders staff in attendance.
Elders State general manager WA Nick Fazekas acknowledged it was a special milestone in Elders' WA history.
"This is the first of our new look branches of the future which displays the company's commitment to safety and sustainability and we intend there will be another four or five branches to follow in WA in the next 18 months to two years," Mr Fazekas said.
"This building is soon to be equipped with solar panels, all walls have a three hour fire rating, there is a one-way traffic management plan in place and multiple loading sites colour coded according to their set purpose.
"This site is strategically positioned to be a gateway to the north and its warehouse-style design ensures there is plenty of room for storage, so we won't run out of stock," he said.
The site covers 5500 square metres in total, with 270m2 of undercover loading zone and pallet racking capacity of 900 to 1000 pallets and an exciting product range of more than 3500 lines.
"Elders Muchea is the one-stop agribusiness shop catering for all producers whether you have five acres or 5000 acres," Mr Fazekas said.
"All seven major product offerings are included from rural products with an emphasis on horticulture, an agronomist is based here and, of course, livestock, wool, real estate, insurance and agri-finance.
"Projects like this don't happen overnight or without an army of people working behind the scenes and there are many people to thank."
This included Muchea Industrial Park developers, Harvis Group, building owners and lessors, the Lester Group, architects from Commercial Design Management, builders Sanpro Construction and the many contractors who played a role including Ascot Signs, Zenith Furniture, APC Racking, ADT Security, Toyota Materials Handling and industry self-regulation partner Agsafe.
"And I especially want to thank our team in the pink shirts for the tireless hours you have put in," Mr Fazekas said.
"From operations manager Shayne Paskins, to project manager John Gilmour and the teams at Midland and Carmel branches led by MST (Michael Sala Tenna) who have had to pick up the slack while this build took place."
On a night that was all about agriculture The Nationals WA Agricultural Region MP Martin Aldridge, Gingin, who was introduced as a local farmer, volunteer firefighter and someone embedded in his local community, said Elders' new facility reflected the confidence in agriculture in the region.
"The Wheatbelt provides about $4 billion annually in gross regional product and $600 million of that comes from Gingin and Bindoon," Mr Aldridge said.
"This new branch will act as a gateway to servicing that region from a company which has a long and proud history of more than 180 years."
Ms Foster, who has a background in banking, said there had never been a better time to be in agriculture and WA was playing an important role, providing about 18 per cent of Australian agricultural production.
"If farmers are doing well, Elders is doing well and that has certainly been the case in recent years," Ms Foster said.
"We had a 24 million tonne grain harvest this year, which was up 30pc on last year and 52pc on the 10-year average.
"Rural property values are cheaper here than in the east, but WA has the highest growth rate in real estate of any State.
"If we look at lamb it was estimated to be 846 cents for the 2022 season, but it is already 20pc above that and cattle are likewise not getting any cheaper.
"But there are some challenges ahead with things such as live sheep export, which has gone from 30pc to now just 12pc, and urea which is up 200pc on February 21 prices.
"Glyphosate prices have doubled, fuel prices are rising which will affect WA given the distances you have to travel, unemployment is at its lowest in 50 years and inflation is expected to get to 5pc," Ms Foster said.
Despite the cautionary warnings, Elders Muchea branch manager Michael Sala Tenna was excited for the future and what his team could deliver through their new branch.
"How good is this shiny new building, expanded range of products, carefully thought out design, built in a location that can serve the whole northern half of the State and the local community?" Mr Sala Tenna said with a beaming smile.
"It's humbling to think my team and I are merely custodians of this Elders' brand which has survived 183 years in the agribusiness sector.
"Long after we have gone, Elders will continue to partner with producers all over the country, but the success of our Midland business has allowed us to push the limit in terms of the product range and design of this Muchea store.
"I have to thank my colleagues Jason Clarke, Shayne Paskins and Nick (Fazekas) for just letting us get on with it and do it our way.
"Thanks too to Matt Nalder and the rural products team, plus the greater Midland business for keeping the business running while we established the new site.
"And to project manager co-ordinator John Gilmour, it's fair to say that without him keeping us on track Shayne (Paskins) and I would probably still be sitting in a sandpit out here throwing bundies at each other," Mr Sala Tenna said.
"In John's honour we have named our back office the Robert John Gilmour Centre for Excellence."
Mr Sala Tenna also thanked his offsider Alan Barry, his "Robin to me as Batman" for working alongside him for the past four years as they "sought to expand the Midland branch product offering with a common desire to encompass any business that was sustainable for the clients and the business".
As a show of the appreciation Mr Sala Tenna had for the efforts of his staff across all divisions from product managers to two school age trainees, he called them to the front giving them front row viewing as Ms Foster cut the red ribbon to symbolise a job well done and they were now officially fully open for business at Elders Muchea.
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