Agriculture grant treasured

By Lachlan Ellis

A Moorabool business has been given a four-figure grant from a neighbouring shire, which its owners say will boost communication with customers.

Truffle Treasures in Spargo Creek is run by sisters Sue and Sharon Daly, and was awarded $2,200 under Hepburn Shire Council’s Small-Scale Artisan Agriculture Grants.

Sue Daly said the money would be used to boost the business’ communications, which have been unreliable in the past.

“As a small-scale truffle producer located in a ‘black spot’ telecommunications area we face diverse challenges, including effective mobile phone coverage. In addition to poor mobile signal strength, we have discontinued our land-line access due to the lack of reliability,” Ms Daly told the Moorabool News.

“As a result, our phone communications are compromised resulting in interrupted conversations, call backs and the potential for lost business opportunities from customers who become frustrated with the challenges of an efficient phone conversation. The issue also impacts on our business processes including marketing, social media and invoicing clients.

“The objective of this project is to complete installation of a Telstra repeater in order to gain a reliable signal strength for everyday business communications.”

Ms Daly thanked Hepburn Shire Council for the timely funding, as business picks up again after COVID lockdowns.

“We are very grateful for this funding opportunity provided by Hepburn Shire through their Small-Scale Artisan Agriculture Grants, and acknowledge the work of Sharon Hebbard in coordinating a great program of work to support small scale artisan producers in our local area,” she said.

Hepburn Shire Council Mayor Cr Brian Hood said the $34,000 of grants, shared between to 18 farmers and producers across the Central Highlands, would provide boosts to the local economy and community.

“We have a strong and diverse group of farmers and artisan agriculture producers across the region. We’re very pleased to be able to offer this support through our grants program,” Cr Hood said.

“The grants program aims to help create an environment that will support the small-scale agricultural industry to innovate, evolve and thrive.”

For more information on the Small-Scale Artisan Agriculture Grants Program, head to www.hepburn.vic.gov.au.