23 December 2025
- More than $3.73 million invested in 20 Queensland agricultural businesses and 134 direct, long-term jobs to be created from round seven of the Queensland Government’s Rural Economic Development (RED) Grants
- Successful RED Grant projects located in 13 local government areas across rural and regional Queensland
- Projects covering a range of industries from fishing to beef and funding jobs-creating projects including agricultural manufacturing to automation
The Queensland Government is delivering a $3.73 million boost to 20 Queensland agricultural businesses and creating up to 134 direct, long-term jobs under round seven of its Rural Economic Development (RED) Grants program.
The 20 successful applicants for round seven of the RED Grants program are located across 13 local government areas including Balonne, Bundaberg, Burdekin, Cairns, Cook, Lockyer Valley, Mareeba, North Burnett, Rockhampton, Southern Downs, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba and Whitsundays.
Each successful applicant will receive up to $200,000 to complete shovel-ready projects that stimulate economic and employment growth in Queensland’s agricultural industry.
Activities being funded under round seven of the RED Grants program are diverse and range from agricultural plastics recycling to packing facility expansions and high-tech manufacturing.
The Round seven RED Grant projects are expected to be completed by December 2026.
The Queensland Government’s RED Grants program has provided more than $25 million in funding over seven years to support 134 successful regional agribusiness projects, worth more than $75 million.
These projects support the Queensland Government’s Primary Industries Prosper 2050 blueprint, which sets a bold target to grow the state’s agricultural output to $30 billion by 2030. This vision focuses on unlocking new opportunities across rural and regional Queensland, ensuring the sector remains strong and sustainable for decades to come.
For more information about the RED Grants program, visit QRIDA's RED Grants webpage.
Further information:
The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) administers the RED Grant scheme on behalf of the Department of Primary Industries.
The successful round seven recipients are:
- Barden Farms (Lockyer Valley) – Asian vegetable cooling and packing facility construction.
- Mackay Land (Cook) – Shed and cold storage expansion with electrical upgrade.
- Little Tuna (Cairns) – Tuna processing facility construction.
- Toowoomba Saddlery (Toowoomba) – Equipment and machinery purchase for saddle frame manufacturing.
- Dandy Produce (Bundaberg) – Integrated avocado packing facility construction.
- Mt Alma Farms (Burdekin) – Shed extension to accommodate a new cold room and ground-level loading dock facilities.
- North Queensland Fresh (Whitsunday) – Fruit grader upgrade with colour vision sorting technology.
- Enviroplas Recycling (Mareeba) – Equipment purchase for agri-plastics recycling.
- Flourish Plants North Queensland (Mareeba) – Greenhouse construction and equipment purchase.
- Leichts Welding Industries (Toowoomba) – Tube laser technology installation for a manufacturing plant.
- Maranoa Meats (Balonne) – Beef processing facility expansion, coldroom upgrades and freezer purchases.
- Rocky Repro (Rockhampton) – Bovine reproduction export and training facility construction.
- Templeton JT and Templeton Ginger (Sunshine Coast) – Cold room facility construction and equipment purchase.
- The Fruit Company (Sunshine Coast) – Automated fruit sorting and grading system purchase.
- Vanadit (Bundaberg) – Grading and packing equipment installation and shed upgrade.
- Innovative Design and Manufacturing (Southern Downs) – Infrastructure upgrade and equipment purchase for software and hardware solutions.
- Lerch Farms (Lockyer Valley) – Packing facility expansion.
- Meats R Us (North Burnett) – Compliance and animal welfare digitisation.
- JB Citrus (Mareeba) – De-greening facility construction and fit-out.
- OX Equipment Group (Southern Downs) – Welding cell purchase to manufacture trailers.
