Lismore's Norco ice cream factory opens after $100 million rebuild from flood damage
Almost two years after it was gutted by a record-breaking flood, a farmer-owned ice cream factory in the northern New South Wales city of Lismore is back in full production.
The Norco factory remains on a flood-prone site on the bank of the Wilsons River, but this time the design is different.
Chief executive Michael Hampson said 130 people were now working in the factory, which is churning out more than 500,000 litres of ice cream a week for the national market.
"There's been a lot of people that have had the shoulder to the wheel, done the midnight hours over an extended period of time to get this factory operational," he said.
The rebuild has cost around $100 million, with the NSW and Commonwealth governments providing financial sweeteners totalling $46 million.
The factory redesign includes an electronic engine room perched high above record flood levels, and a submarine-style room where ice cream vats holding millions of litres of product are stored.
Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the rebuild was an opportunity to build back better.
"We know Lismore is a flood-prone town," he said.
"It's so important for this town's morale, the region's morale, to have these visible signs of progress and there is nothing more visible than the Norco ice cream factory.
"We have to take the opportunity to build back better and increase the resilience of this factory."
Farmers welcome new-look factory
Dairy farmer and Norco director Paul Weir suffered $3.5 million in financial losses from the February 2022 flood, including 110 cows and calves which were washed away in flood waters.
The 51-year-old from Tuncester said it was a huge relief to see the factory reopen in Lismore.
"From a farmer co-operative point of view, there's no way that we would have had the money to rebuild," Mr Weir said.
"Our whole farmer base had just been smashed with the floods and extended wet weather.
"There was a lot of worried nights, will it or won't it go ahead?
"Until they [the government] finally came out and said they agreed to fund it, then the pressure went off everyone's shoulders."
Bronwyn Herbert, ABC Rural, 24 November 2023.
To read the full story, click here.
Flood-ravaged dairy cooperative Norco delivers $9.1m profit while paying farmers record milk price
Despite a catastrophic flood forcing it to shut its ice cream factory in early 2022, Norco has delivered a $9.1 million profit for 2022-23 — up $0.2 million.
It has done so while paying its farmers a record milk price for the dairy cooperative of 87.08 cents per litre, with the increase costing an additional $30 million.
"Our farmers needed that price increase, they deserve that price increase and it was great that being the cooperative in the region, we were able to drive that for our members and for other dairy farmers in the region also," chief executive Michael Hampson said.
Mr Hampson acknowledged the past two years had been difficult and significant changes had been made to the business as a result.
Kim Honan, ABC Rural, 19 October 2023.
To read the full article, click here.
Norco flood loss: $27.5m loss for northern dairy co-operative
Norco may have been hit hard by the Lismore floods, but $46m in government grants is helping it rebuild farmer equity.
Lismore’s February floods have cost Norco dairy co-operative $41m in damages, as revealed in its 2021-22 annual report released to farmers this week.
By far the greatest loss was the damage to the co-operative’s Lismore ice-cream factory, which was undergoing a $30m upgrade at the time.
All up Norco recorded losses of:
• $24.5m to its ice-cream business
• $9m in stock losses
• $7.5m in employee expenses and clean-up costs
Those losses led to Norco recording a $27.5m net loss - before recognition of tax loss benefits.
However, the co-op recently won $46m in NSW and Federal Government grants to help rebuild its flood-damaged ice-cream factory.
The total cost of the rebuild is $59m, which should revive Norco’s equity position, which had slumped from $80.7m prior to the floods, down to $61.2m in its aftermath.
“The 28 February 2022 will be a date that will go down in history for our co-operative, our members and many of our staff due to the impacts of a devastating natural disaster,” Norco chairman Michael Jeffery said in his report to farmers.
“While our sites in Lismore could withstand a one-in-100-year flood event, with some short-term minimal impact, this flood event was more than two metres higher than any other flood in recorded history and it caused significant damage and losses at many of the co-operative’s facilities.”
Despite the floods, Mr Jeffery said Norco was still able to inject $4.5m to boost the farmgate milk price during the year, to aid members’ recovery from the floods and cover surging costs of production.
Norco chief executive Michael Hampson said the co-operative had built-in resilience over recent years, by reducing “net debt to $4.7m at 30 June 2022, the lowest level in many years”. “This is a considerable improvement on the 2019 financial year end, where net debt was $36.5m – this clearly points to the resilience now created in the co-operative, and the benefits of the change to our new operating model that we commenced in 2020,” he said.
He said the Norco brand continued to grow in Queensland and NSW, with an annual national retail sales growth rate of 5.3 per cent in 2021-22.
“When considering the white milk category declined at 2.1 per cent, this growth shows the focused activity of the sales and marketing team to communicate the point of difference of the Norco brand to consumers.
“It also shows that consumers do understand that supporting a 100 per cent farmer-owned co-operative is a unique value proposition.”
Norco introduces phone mental health support for dairy farmers
Dairy co-operative Norco has introduced a dedicated telephone service for farmers struggling with their mental health.
The new service is in response to a spike in mental health issues among farmers following devastating floods earlier this year.
Queensland dairy farmer and Norco supplier Ross Blanch leads the new program.
Mr Blanch has farmed at Lower Mount Walker, Qld, for 50 years.
For the past 23 years he has donated his spare time to counselling and helping farmers in his local community, particularly after natural disasters.
Mr Blanch said he had spoken to more than 40 farmers this year and their mental wellness had declined since this time last year.
Farmers were still suffering from shock following the severity of the floods, resulting in self-isolation and reclusion from social events.
"I have noticed that many farmers are socially distancing themselves from their communities," he said.
"Where there was once over 100 farmers attending industry events, we're now lucky if there are 15.
"The new program with Norco works brilliantly because we know farmers are open to talking about their mental health if it is with a fellow farmer who understands and knows the daily struggles they go through.
"I just drop in for a chat and because I'm a farmer also, they tend to open up at the end of the conversation and their whole tone of voice changes."
Norco Milk supply manager Dr Mark Callow said the 2022 east coast floods were devastating for dairy farmers, as they threatened their lives, properties, livelihoods and cattle.
"One of the main messages we want to share with other farmers - and indeed the broader farming community - is the importance of mates talking to mates, and doing what we can to look out for each other," Dr Callow said.
"We're privileged to have Ross on board to lead this program, knowing that he can connect with farmers, by speaking openly and honestly about his own personal experiences, and how he maintains his own mental wellness."
Dr Callow said the motivation to take positive action and establish this new program was amplified by learning how long farmers, and those living in rural and regional Australia, were waiting to speak to a mental health professional.
"Having to wait up to three weeks to speak to a professional is simply not good enough, let alone at such a critical time as when mental health support is needed," he said.
Dr Callow said the floods tested the resilience of their farmer members and their ability to manage and cope.
"Providing mental health support to our farming community by giving them the opportunity to talk to a trained and likeminded farmer has certainly been well received," he said.
"And at the end of the day, we simply want them to know that there's somewhere to turn and someone they can relate to when in need of some extra support."
The new program is part of Norco's Employee Assistance Program.
It was implemented in response to a 40 per cent increase in community referrals compared with last year, with heightened pressure being felt by farming families after the devastating floods earlier this year.
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